Oh Molly!

[Michael Joseph]

No, Vincent. You're thinking of the Nova Dispensation!


On Fri, 6 Jun 2003, Vincent A. Maeder wrote:

> Did he bring the lox, though?  Then he's everything.  Am I right?
>  V.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Joseph [mailto:mjoseph at rci.rutgers.edu]
> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 12:00 PM
> To: Vincent A. Maeder
> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: RE: Oh Molly!
>
> > "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
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