CompleteMartialArts.com - The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom And Wit in the Wild West
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List Price: $16.99
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Manufacturer: Jewish Lights Publishing
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5
EAN: 9781580233101
ISBN: 1580233104
Label: Jewish Lights Publishing
Manufacturer: Jewish Lights Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 123
Publication Date: 2006-08
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
Studio: Jewish Lights Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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After finishing school in New York, Rabbi Harvey traveled west in search of adventure and, hopefully, work as a rabbi. His journey took him to Elk Spring, Colorado, a small town in the Rocky Mountains. When he managed to outwit the ruthless gang that had been ruling Elk Spring, the people invited Harvey to stay on as the town's rabbi. In Harvey's adventures in Elk Spring, he settles disputes, tricks criminals into confessing, and offers unsolicited bits of Talmudic insight and Hasidic wisdom. Each story presents Harvey with a unique challenge--from convincing a child that he is not actually a chicken, to retrieving stolen money from a sweet-faced bubbe gone bad. Like any good collection of Jewish folktales, these stories contain layers of humor and timeless wisdom that will entertain, teach and, especially, make you laugh.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great book except. . . .
Comment:
I really enjoyed the stories except for Rabbi Harvey's version of Rav Nachman's Turkey Prince story--given the sensitivity of today's religious environment, this is not a story for teenagers. Plain and simple.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Talmudic Logic Saves the Day
Comment: The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey is a graphic novel (comic book) that is engaging, witty, and enjoyable for adults as well as for children age eight and older (I tested it on various grandchildren). It is successful at creating interesting stories short enough to hold a child's interest and witty enough to engage an adult. The kis loved the convoluted logic of Rabbi Harvey as he solved a variety of problems botheringpeople in the Old West, and he used intelligence and compassion, not a six-gun!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Black-Hatted Rabbi Tames the Wild West Without Firing a Shot, Relying on Faith, Wits and Jewish Folklore
Comment: In the revival of comics in recent years, there's nothing quite like Rabbi Harvey, which is why this black-suited, black-bearded, black-hatted rabbi has popped up occasionally in news stories across the U.S. about trends in faith and comic books (or, in this case, graphic novels).
Without firing a shot or turning to some exotic form of martial arts, Rabbi Harvey manages to tame his little corner of the Wild West. His non-violent style, relying only on his faith and his razor-sharp wits, holds the potential to help tame graphic novels as well. Perhaps other comic artists and writers will pick up this concept of a non-violent, spiritual hero and run even further with it.
Harvey is the creation of Steve Sheinkin, whose other professional pursuit is writing history textbooks for schoolchildren. As you might guess, Sheinkin's true passion in working on history texts is trying to provide students more of the fascinating bits of history that are left out of traditional textbooks.
In the case of the two Rabbi Harvey graphic novels, it's a little tough to sort out what's history and what's not. There were Jews in the Old West, but Rabbi Harvey himself is a fictional character. He's a creation of Sheinkin's fertile mind, but he's also acting out roles in traditional Jewish folk tales that span many centuries. (In fact, in the back of this first book, Sheinkin provides a suggested list for further reading in Jewish folklore. In the back of his sequel, knowing that readers are interested in these connections, he expands this appendix and explains in greater detail where the original patterns of these stories emerged.)
Each book has about 120 pages of comics (a few more in Volume 2). The comics are black-and-white drawings, colored in a limited pallet of beige, gold and brown that suggests antique images from many years ago.
In this first volume, we meet the rabbi. There's an extended flashback to explain how he first came to this town high in the Rockies - and managed to defeat the deadly foe "Big Milt."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Delightful!
Comment: I enjoyed this book so much that I used it for a Sunday School class and bought extra copies for gifts. Rabbi Harvey's wisdom and dry wit are just perfect for all ages and denominations.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fabulous, Fun and Even a Little Educational
Comment: I loved, loved, loved this "graphic novel" (not so much a novel but a collection of stories). The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey is a collection of Jewish folktales told as Western adventures featuring Rabbi Harvey of Elk Spring Colorado. Rabbi Harvey's stories involve his own travels and encounters with double-crossers and odd types like the boy who insists he is a chicken, as well as moral dilemmas brought to him for his rabbinical ruling. Since I'd read/heard some of the stories previously, I am assuming that many of them are based on traditional Jewish folktales but some seem to be original stories. It's a nice mix and all are deftly and humorously illustrated, with funny asides from the rabbi, onlookers, even the occasional animal or inanimate object (when a traveling merchant attempts to cheat a woman out of a bag of money he is supposed to deliver, throwing only one coin on the table, the head on the coin wonders, "Why am I not surprised?"
There is a distinct Jewish flavor to the tales, set in a neverland of all-Jewish Western towns, and I definitely recommend this book for older kids and adults alike who want a fun and easily digested book of Jewish stories. But even for non-Jews, this is an entertaining book of stories with moral points of view, told with a sense of humor. HIghly recommended, this one is a keeper for me and I sincerely hope there are more Rabbi Harvey books to come.
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