THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

The author of Elijah’s Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas (1992) takes another careful, penetrating look at cultural and religious boundaries. When Jared sees posters announcing the upcoming St. Francis Festival at St. Catherine’s, right across the street from his new apartment, he sees no reason why he can’t take his dog Shayna to the Blessing of the Animals—sure, he’s Jewish, but Shayna isn’t. Understandably, his mother takes a dim view of the idea. She is willing, though, to let him make up his own mind, so long as he first listens to the opinions of eight others on the matter. Enter a priest, two rabbis, relatives and acquaintances of several generations, most of whom offer complicated insights into what it means to be Jewish, and the assimilative pressures faced by minority groups, rather than a simple yea or nay. This is clearly a teaching story, but Rosen fleshes out the situations and characters with buoyant good humor. Christian and Jewish readers both will ponder the issues he raises, but will also come to care enough about Jared to make his eventual decision—the Blessing, no. The potluck afterward? Definitely yes. (Fiction. 9-11)