Book Review: The Intercessor by Arlene Goldbard

 

It’s not uncommon to set about our day and experience a barrier. Often we can remove the obstacles ourselves, but sometimes we need help. I got a call today from a buddy who needed his car jumped. I stopped what I was working on and was there in 15 minutes, knowing he was on a time line. He carefully attached the cables between the batteries, and in a few minutes there was enough voltage to get his rig started. 

The Intercessor is just like that jump start. A transmission of electrifying writing that will spark your creative sensibilities, and perhaps remove a barrier or two. This book is unlike Arlenes' past works. She introduces us to a group of individuals whose lives are bound together by Jewish community. It starts out innocently enough, but soon things get spicy. These are familiar characters but not archetypal, flawed, emotional, thirsty, real. Their beloved Rabbi has just passed, and the search in now underway for his replacement. The community is in turmoil. Thus an intermediary is called upon, a  Meilitz Yosher; someone to advocate on one's behalf in the heavenly courts.

Showing up is perhaps the hardest part of being in any community. All the various personalities, assumptions and miscommunications dissolve momentarily when we dance, sing or play games together. This need to be acknowledged, seen and listened to is universal. 

After October 7 many in the Jewish community were slowly pushed out of civic and public spaces. We were being held collectively responsible, as individuals, for the actions of a nation state. “Anti Zionist” curatorial polices pre-empted censorship. As one group of young art history students proudly told me “we are erasing you Jews from the art history books”. For progressive Jewish people dedicated to social justice this shunning was especially complicated. The right to be self-defining, or even of basic human rights now denied, we created new cohorts and communities of practice. It’s within this context the Intercessor unpacks a story that will inspire you in some unexpected ways. 

You can order the book here. 
https://arlenegoldbard.com/essays/books/the-intercessor/

The Intercessor
Arlene Goldbard
Waterlight Press
206 pages
ISBN (print) 978-0-9891669-4-2
ISBN (ebook) 978-0-9891669-5-9

My Visual Review of the Intercessor

 
I added layers of paint as the various inter and intra personal narratives emerged and intertwined themselves. The painting feature one of the principal characters in an open field on a spring day reading, and pointing upwards in what is an expression of joy, hope, realization and curiosity.  

“The Intercessor by Arlene Goldbard”
Painting By Michael B Schwartz
Acrylic on Canvas
18” x 24”
2026