NOW IN PAPERBACK, WITH A DRAMATIC NEW AFTERWORD STEPHEN FRIED’S GROUNDBREAKING BOOK ABOUT THE POLITICS OF COMMUNITY, THE POWER OF INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS, THE RETAIL BUSINESS OF RELIGION, THE YEARNING FOR SPIRITUALITY, AND THE WONDERFULLY COMPLICATED WORLD OF AMERICAN JEWS

You Don’t Have to be Jewish to Love The New Rabbi … Just Look at Who’s Kvelling

"Fascinating ... illuminating ... Beneath the story about synagogue politics is a novel-like story about loss and love between fathers and sons"
– The New York Times

"Compelling ... extraordinarily valuable ... intertwines a personal search for religious meaning with a communal search for continuity ... Fried hoped to shed light on the future of the rabbinic profession--and indirectly, on the future of Judaism and of organized religion in America ... and [he] gets it absolutely right."
--Washington Post Book World

"Brave ... remarkable ... a book about leadership that you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate ... [Fried is] great company--a thoughtful explainer of difficult concepts ... unafraid to tie together intellectual threads and, above all, an able storyteller."
– Philadelphia Inquirer

"Illuminating … what is special about this book is its stylish, informed, and often witty depiction of American Jewish life."
--Boston Globe

"A nonfiction work with the intensity and character exploration of a novel, The New Rabbi is a moving book that has important things to say about Jewish life in America today."
--Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of Jewish Literacy and The Book of Jewish Values

"No book about Judaism since The Chosen has so deeply affected me … powerful …I came away with a new appreciation of the Jewish tradition…There is a lot in The New Rabbi that resonates with any reader who is attempting to follow any faith tradition filled with very fallible creatures of God."
--Father Tom Caswell, The Inland Register, Spokane, WA

"A vivid and funny book … an intriguing case study that raises pointed questions in measured tones…The rabbi search is clogged by the factions and intrigue we expect from all church and synagogue committees...but Fried never allows us to lose sight of either the gravity or the comedy"
--Books&Culture, Christianity Today

"If you’re fascinated, disgusted or just curious about religious politics at a congregational level—no matter what religion—this is a book you need to pick up. At some point, you’ll recognize a congregation you know—and maybe a rabbi or minister, too. And, if you look carefully, you might find yourself as well."
--Peoria Journal Star

"Fried took what many would consider a mundane topic—a Jewish congregation searching for a new rabbi—and turned it into a marvelous journalistic memoir that recorded his own spiritual development as well as a community's quest for leadership."
--Publishers Weekly (a PW Best Book of 2002)

"Reads like a good novel …a book full of wisdom, written with a lot of clarity and a healthy dose of humor ... its lessons can be appreciated by any reader who is interested in organized religion, congregational politics, and the perils of being a spiritual leader in any faith."
--Tampa Tribune

"Engrossing … a gripping, multilayered account that will resonate with anyone concerned about the state of organized religion today… An investigative reporter and winner of a National Magazine Award, Fried cracked the dark sides of the modeling world in "Thing of Beauty" and the drug industry in "Bitter Pills."... Yet while sheathing his journalistic knives in a surprisingly emotional quest, Fried comes up with his most revelatory work…"
--Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Like the creative nonfiction of Tracy Kidder or Susan Orlean, Fried’s writing engulfs the reader in the people and processes he describes …"
--Central PA Magazine

"The book contains many wise passages about the state of Judaism in this country, but the clergy search it describes should be familiar to many Christians ... if we can ever get past the politics, such searches can be tests of faith, spiritual journeys for both the searchers and the candidates"
--John Railey, Winston-Salem Journal

"Writing with clarity, candor and wit, Fried uses the case study of a rabbi's retirement and replacement to learn what organized religion means to a suburban congregation and its leaders."
----Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen To Good People

"Guided back toward faith by his father's death, Fried follows leaders through their agonizing and at times controversial search to replace their beloved rabbi ... Through Fried's exhaustive reporting, countless interviews and eloquent prose, the search for a new man with just the right amount of saykhel expands to a national examination of the ongoing struggle for the heart and soul of Judaism."
--The Forward

"It reads like a novel and could play as a blockbuster movie … [The New Rabbi] captures the human drama of a rabbinic search with painstaking accuracy, scrupulous detail, and unbridled suspense."
--Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

"Stephen Fried gets inside the congregational mindset the way no other writer has."
--New York Jewish Week

"Exciting, and I mean excitingly juicy ... Yes, some readers may wince at the mention of high holiday services being "fashion shows" to be seen at, but this is the real world, blemishes and all…"
--MyJewishBooks.com

"Stephen Fried teaches us all about the personal, intimate, human side of religious leadership. With acute observation and breezy, readable prose, he shows real life on and off the pulpit."
--Samuel G. Freedman, author of Jew vs Jew

"A surprisingly engaging chronicle of Jewish life at the turn of the 21st century. Fried proves himself to be ambidextrous in drawing an affecting and humorous story of rabbis and men, while also revealing the behind-the-scenes political, financial, and emotional workings of American synagogue life in a time of generational change. This is fun and enlightening reading for Jews and non-Jews alike"
-- Lesley Reed, amazon.com editorial review

"A literary delight ... Using all of his considerable journalistic skills, Fried delves into every nook and cranny of the 1,400-plus family Har Zion Temple with the sort of obsessive thoroughness and persistence I wish more reporters would bring to their coverage of government institutions."
--The Jewish Exponent

"What to American Jews say they want in a place of worship? And what do they really want—and need?You can find out much about the answers to these questions in The New Rabbi, [which] demystifies a process that’s often shrouded in secrecy…. For those with an interest in modern religious life, this book offers rich rewards."
--Providence Journal

"Should be required reading at all seminaries."
--Library Journal