An Excerpt from the novel Congregation Eli Stone steadied the pages of his sermon against the motion of the car and jotted down a few notes in the margin. He still committed his sermons to memory.  It was a lifelong habit and even though he took the pages with him to the pulpit, he seldom referred to them.  He looked forward to this evening’s service. There was something immensely gratifying about being in the pulpit on the High Holidays.  Religion no longer held a central place in the lives of most of his congregants, but no matter how far they strayed during the year they still flocked back to the synagogue on Rosh Hashonah, like birds following some ancient migratory path, seeking to reaffirm a commitment to their faith. His wife, Rachel, took her eyes off the...

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