10/26/2026
The Rebbe of Baton Rouge
Authors Jennifer Moses and Stuart Green in conversation with Dale Russakoff about their new book.
Wednesday, November 4
7:30pm - 9:00pm, in the Social Hall
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Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing after the talk. Cost is $20, cash, Venmo or check payable to Congregation Shomrei Emunah.
Please remember to bring your fob to access the building.
About the Book
Are there Jews in the Deep South, and if so, are they really, you know, Jews? The kind who daven, kvetch, observe Shabbat, complain about their rabbi, and yearn for a deep connection to God?
Jennifer Anne Moses and Stuart Green spent thirteen years immersed in the Jewish community of Baton Rouge, where they raised their children, made many dear friends, and learned more than a thing or two about how to make kosher étouffée. They came to know and love this unexpected Jewish community and eventually decided to write a novel inspired by their experience.
They came up with a story about “the new rabbi,” heartsick and unloved by both his ex-fiancée and his new congregation; an exiled professor of Yiddish who takes refuge with her parents in Baton Rouge after a campus s*x scandal; and a Yiddish-speaking ghost who shows up at the most inconvenient times. Meanwhile, the congregation is falling apart, the “other rabbi” across town is poaching members, and just about everyone is falling in love with the wrong person. Not to mention that the whole town has football on the brain.
None of the events recounted in the novel are true. Except maybe the Yiddish speaking ghost.
Questions? Contact
Shomrei Office, [email protected]
(973) 746-5031
