God's Ear — Rhoda Lerman

“Hilarious . . . Lerman proves herself mistress not only of side-splitting one-liners but also of pregnant perceptions about faith and virtue” (Publishers Weekly).
 
From a novelist whose characters have ranged from ancient deities to suburban housewives to Eleanor Roosevelt, God's Ear is the story of a rabbi who opens his heart to God, only to have every shnorrer in his congregation fill it with pain.
 
Yussel Fetner's ancestors had been such rabbis. Yussel, the last of the Fetner line, is not. Yussel turns his back on a thousand years of Fetner destiny, eschewing his family's twinned piety and poverty to sell life insurance in New York. But the history of a thousand years is not to be thrown away so lightly. On his death, Yussel's father discovers he will be unable to enter heaven until Yussel repents and enters the faith. The old rabbi will have to dip into a kit bag full of family lore, Hasidic tales, Kabbalistic wisdom, outright lies, and Jewish justifications to tease, trick, and torment his son until he accepts the pain of loving God.
 
“A unique voice -- wildly funny, achingly spiritual, profoundly Jewish.” -- The New York Times Book Review