Circumsise Me

Even Yisrael Campbell admits getting circumsised three times comes closer to "fetish" than ritual, yet there is nothing morbid about Campbell's spiritual quest and conversion to Judaism. The star of one-man show "Circumsise Me," Campbell was born to “a manic-depressive Italian woman and a pathologically silent Irishman which makes me wildly emotional in a very quiet way.” His acerbic wit more closely resembled the Jews of my childhood than his peyes, long black coat and tfillin, but both physical and mental transformation had been Campbell's life-long quest. The story of his search is a tragicomic confession, spilling out with all the cadence and shoulder shrugging of our tribe. Is this public play entirely Kosher for a man who's gone under the knife thrice to be inducted into Orthodxy? Maybe not, but I've always loved bacon.

-Royal

Amen, Amen, Amen

My neuropsychologist mom taught me how to diagnose people from a young age. She also left me with a deep jealousy for her patients, who stole away her time. If I had Autism or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Mom could stay home to treat me. Amen, Amen, Amen (Scribner Hardcover) by Abby Sher is a memoir of uncontrollable OCD, the product of childhood pains and passions.



Sher perfectly captures youth's rituals--small things we do to control a world often wild and unruly. Yet, demonstrations of love and loss turn to demons that force Sher to obsessively incant the Shema, starve and finally slice at her skin. Sher's fiercely funny candid book is inspiring, causing me to question my own ways of coping with crippling loneliness, confessional Jewish family and death. No better way than attending superb scribe Susan Shapiro's generous fete thrown for Sher, who toasted Amen, Amen, Amen, a true triumph of faith.


(Royal Young, Pomp & Circumstance, Executive Editor, Susan Shapiro, Author, Speed Shrinking, Abby Sher, Author, Molly Lyons, Agent, Samantha Martin, Editor)

-Royal