Oh Molly!

[Michael Joseph]

> "So," Vince pauses, "I'm nothing?"


Nothing, Vince?

One of Elkin's novels begins with this parable (paraphrase ahead): A tall,
beautiful, well coiffed rabbi is standing before his congregation. "I'm
nothing," he says. "I'm worthless. I'm dirt." As he finishes, the cantor
(which, if you don't know, is the guy who does the singing, and may lead
the choir and the congregation in song), he also says, "I'm nothing. I'm
less than lint. I'm the dirt under your feet." Wa a a y at the back of the
temple, the janitor, who's making sure the coffee and rugelah are ready
for the Shabbas meal, arranging napkins and whatnot, for the first time in
his long worklife among the devout feels suddenly stricken with a sense of
the profound, seeing these two holy and reveered guys abasing themselves
in front of everybody like that. So, he calls out, without thinking what
he's doing, "I, too, am dirt. I am less than dirt, less than garbage. I
also am nothing." Naturally, everyone turns around the watch him, because
they've never seen him talk, let alone to join their service and partake
of their ceremony. And, while everyone's turned toward the back, the
cantor elbows the rabbi and says, "So, look who says he's nothing!"


Michael