And the Flames Did Not Consume Us : A Rabbi's Journey Through Communal Crisis [Paperback]

Gary Mazo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2000

A YOUNG SPIRITUAL LEADER AND HIS COMMUNITY FACE AN EMOTIONAL CRISIS AND A TEST OF FAITH. On November 1, 1994, Cherry Hills, New Jersey was rocked by the murder of Carol Neulander, wife of Senior Rabbi Fred Neulander of Congregation M’kor Shalom. Allegations of Neulander’s sexual improprieties were followed by his emergence as a suspect in his wife’s murder. Associate Rabbi Gary Mazo, just 4 years out of seminary and barely embarked on his career, found himself responsible for leading a 4000-member synagogue. Somehow, he had to find a way for his community to overcome their shock, heal their pain and renew their faith.

This concise, eloquently-written book relates Rabbi Mazo’s journey through storms of a magnitude he never expected to face. Crisis reveals character. Despite his youth and lack of experience, despite advice from colleagues to leave the perilous situation, he made the commitment to stay and bring healing to his community.

Adding to the complexity and the burden he faced, Fred Neulander had been Rabbi Mazo’s mentor--the man he most admired and wanted to work for. This part of Mazo’s inner struggle is not yet over: the Camden County District Attorney has upgraded the charges against Neulander to capital murder, meaning a death sentence is possible if he is found guilty. Mazo expects to be called as both a prosecution and a defense witness when the trial starts early in 2001.

The title of the book refers to Moses finding God’s word in a desert bush that was burning, yet somehow not consumed by the flames. The metaphor brought him hope: yes, flames may surround us; but they don’t have to consume us.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Carol Neulander was found beaten to death in her suburban New Jersey home on November 1, 1994, local gossip mills began churning. Was it true that her husband, a charismatic rabbi with a large and loyal following, was a philanderer? Did he have something to do with her death? The answer to the former, according to Mazo, may be yes. The latter has yet to be resolved; the rabbi will soon stand trial for capital murder and felony murder. Even without the ending, this tale has all the makings of a great true-crime story. But Mazo, who served as Rabbi Neulander's assistant for four years before the murder and remained at the synagogue until 1999, deliberately avoids "salacious details" and taking sides. Instead, he tells the powerful story of how he helped to shepherd the synagogue's 1,000 families through a protracted process of grieving and acceptance that was complicated and compromised each time additional rumors surfaced about their former spiritual leader. Mazo felt safest addressing the issues through his sermons, many of which he scatters throughout the book (and which would have served better in a separate appendix). His lessons on the dangers of gossip, the importance of keeping a synagogue holy despite the encroachments of the outside world and the reality that one very flawed individual does not embody the whole of a religion are valuable even outside the context of this tragic story. (Dec. 15)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

We were privileged to have the opportunity to publish Rabbi Gary Mazo's careful account of this tragic event and its effect on the Congregation M’kor Shalom. It truly is a "care full" work, and an important learning opportunity for others. The reader can easily insert their own experience with fallen leaders and learn much from how Rabbi Mazo guided this congregation from disillusionment back to the sense of purpose that brought them together in the first place. Rising Star Press

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Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Rising Star Pr (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933670060
• ISBN-13: 978-0933670068
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #667,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cautionary: How to Pick a Rabbi, December 22, 2000

By 

Edmond H Weiss (Voorhees, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: And the Flames Did Not Consume Us : A Rabbi's Journey Through Communal Crisis (Paperback)

This memoir is, on its surface, an account of what happened to Congregation M'kor Shalom, a moderately affluent congregation in a moderately affluent New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia. (In fact, it is an interesting study of rabbinical temperament and style.) In November 1994, the synagogue was plunged into crisis by the murder of the wife of its founding rabbi, Fred Neulander. Eventually, Neulander, a charismatic (read: highly seductive) figure was driven from the congregation in disgrace when the murder investigation uncovered a pattern of sexual excesses; later he was charged with capital murder for arranging the "hit" on his wife. Throughout this mess, it fell on young Rabbi Gary Mazo simultaneously to deal with his disillusionment over the sins of his hero/mentor and serve as the "spiritual leader" of a shaken community. This book consists of a series of sermons delivered at critical moments in the unfolding of the story, interspersed with what appear to be personal journal accounts of the events. It is more a personal than analytical book: the working out in public of one young clergyman's private torment. It is also a cautionary sermon against charismatic spiritual leaders, who tend become romanced by their own charms and, thence, led to the borders of sociopathology. The contrast is between the colorful, bombastic, voluble, womanizing Neulander and the soft-spoken, modest, family-oriented Mazo, who sacrificed his personal needs to sustain people in need (all the while dreaming of a small congregation who'll leave him time to attend his kids' soccer matches). It is a warning to every Conservative and Reform synagogue about to hire a rabbi: Beware the charms of the smooth talker!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surviving the unimaginable, December 3, 2000

By 

Neil L. Ringler DDS (Barnstable, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And the Flames Did Not Consume Us : A Rabbi's Journey Through Communal Crisis (Paperback)

When I was young if someone in the news did something terrible, inevitably my mother would say "Thank God he wasn't Jewish". It was always apparent that one should never do anything to embarrass the Jewish community. This is a book about someone who was not only Jewish but also a Rabbi who did something very terrible, he allegedly had his wife murdered. The book while telling the story in a very respectful way is really about how a Jewish community copes with the fact that one of their own has done the unimaginable. It is the story of a young Rabbi who is thrust into a leadership position he did not desire. This young Rabbi led the congregation of M'kor Shalom through this crisis. I know Rabbi Gary Mazo. I was the head of the search committee that brought him to our Synagogue to pursue his dream to become the spiritual leader of a small congregation on Cape Cod. From the very first it was obvious he was a Rabbi whose abilities were well beyond his years. A read of this book and you get an understanding why. My guess is that Rabbi Mazo probably had special gifts before the murder of Carol Neulander and the later accusations about her husband Rabbi Fred Neulander. Whatever skills he possessed could never have prepared him for this crisis. One cannot help but have compassion for the members of this Synagogue as they journeyed through their healing process. I have known Rabbi Mazo for several years and I have seen him struggle with his own feelings as he seeks closure on this terrible episode. This is a wonderful book for religious communities everywhere who must cope with unforeseen disasters. The book shows how with caring and loving leadership a community can emerge with a feeling of healing and perhaps become stronger. Oddly enough there was a power outage as I was finishing the last fifty pages and I was forced to finish this book by the flames of a candle. It might seem odd until you read this book.

Neil L. Ringler

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Easily Consumed This Book!, December 4, 2000

By 

Gordon (Cotuit, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And the Flames Did Not Consume Us : A Rabbi's Journey Through Communal Crisis (Paperback)

This book is an emotional true story about a junior rabbi who is torn between the love for his mentor, the senior rabbi in his synagogue, and the horror that his mentor inflicts, not just on his own family, but on an entire congregation. This junior rabbi is thrust into the flames that the horror ignites. And The Flames Did Not Consume Us is the story of the journey that a rabbi takes his congregation and himself on in order to regain spiritual peace in the sanctuary of their synagogue. It is a journey undertaken in the face of insensitive lawyers and the media. It is a journey that will usurp the young rabbi's life. This story is rivetting. It is a book that you just can't put down as you, too, are taken through the horrors. You, too, are taken through a journey to a most powerful message. At the end of this book you just can't help from saying, "WOW!"