When a Buenos Aires physician reached out to a Uruguay rabbi for advice, neither of them had any idea that such a simple e-mail would forge an ongoing friendship and provide fodder for a book.
Book Chronicles Bond Between Atheist and S. American Rabbi
When a Buenos Aires physician reached out to a Uruguay rabbi for advice, neither of them had any idea that such a simple e-mail would forge an ongoing friendship and provide fodder for a book.
But when Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov’s appropriately-titled A Bridge to Somewhere: A Rabbi and an Atheist Explore Their Jewishness was published by Spanish-bookseller Empiria Editores this year, both stood side by side to celebrate its release.
To hear them tell it, Dr. Raul Rovner was struggling with his daughter’s decision to embrace the tenets of a religiously observant Jewish life, specifically in the Chabad-Lubavitch community. He contacted Shemtov, director of the Montevideo-based Beit Jabad del Uruguay, telling him of his atheism and his two sons, one married, and one engaged, to non-Jewish women. At the root of it all, he didn’t understand his daughter’s spiritual path.
It was Rovner’s daughter who suggested he contact Shemtov, who had written several online pieces about various issues relating to Judaism. She thought he might provide her father with some answers.
To Rovner, at first, it seemed a bit strange to discuss personal issues with a virtual stranger. But he gradually gained confidence as a result of the interest and respect that Shemtov showed.
“That was what motivated me and pushed me to get more deeply and intensely involved,” said the physician. “I realized that I was able to express myself freely and present my ideas knowing that they would be taken into consideration and valued for what they are, even if disagreed with.”
What followed was a correspondence that lasted almost two years, and a friendship that continues to this day: A dialogue that transcended the external differences between the two men and forged the way for a deep and lasting closeness.
The questions and Shemtov’s responses covered a wide range of subjects: from the basis in Jewish law for not turning on lights during the Sabbath to the cultivation of faith in an infinite G-d even when one doesn’t understand His ways. When Rovner expressed concerns about his non-Jewish grandchildren, Shemtov recommended some of his writings on the subject of intermarriage.
The correspondence between the rabbi and the doctor first appeared in installment form on the Jewish Web site Chabad.org in 2009.
