Preview of Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry Summary:

Kemelman's second novel in the Rabbi Small series, Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry, is an obvious extension of "The Building of a Temple" — the manuscript on Jewish suburban life from which the whole series germinated. With its subplot focusing on efforts to build an addition to the temple, this novel readily articulates Kemelman's ubiquitous and singular social concern and theme: consequences for Jewish culture and religion during postwar migration of Jews from inner city to suburb. Kemelman sees the movement of Jewish families from the city core to the suburb as a threat to their ethnic continuity. He believes these families will lose their sense of history, surrender their culture and religion, and become assimilated by the secular, Gentile culture around them.

Such assimilation Rabbi Small resists by continually reminding his congregation that they are a chosen people and that their religion differs...