Customer Reviews

So Strange My Path: A Spiritual Pilgrimage

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In the process of finding my way from the Episcopal Church to life as a Jew, this is one of the most power things that I read and re-read. It gives one an idea of where to go when the idea that Jesus was God incarnate no longer holds. I have recommended this book to everyone I have met on the path to conversion, and others with crises of faith, for over 25 years. It is still one of my most beloved books.

A convoluted and strange path indeed.

Mr. Carmel, of blessed memory found his spritual home in a most unlikely place, and only after diligent search and much discouragement: from his family, his colleagues, and for quite some time, from the community he sought to join. He found joy and contentment as a high school English teacher. To hear Shakespeare from his mouth was an experience, but to be privileged to have known him well and to have been one of his students was a singular honor. Shunned for the most part by his family, he never married; his funeral was so large that traffic and bus lines had to be diverted for the crowd that assembled outside the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School. Such was the measure of the love his students and his adopted People had for him.
A remarkable man.
May his memory be for a blessing.

The story of Mr. Carmel's spiritual journey is very worthwhile reading. His strange path from Anglican priest, to Roman Catholic priest and subsequent conversion to Judaism is well told. His modest, gentle and generous nature will come through to any reader. Plus it's very well written. After all he spent the latter part of his life as an English teacher.

I had the priviledge of meeting this wonderful gentleman, may he rest in peace. I approached him, and got to know him, because I found his story fascinating. Unfortunately he retired from teaching at my high school before I could formally become his student.

Mr. Carmel was my English teacher in high school at the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn during the Seventies. I was a bit of a "problem student", not in the way of kids who did not learn, but as a rebel. Abraham Carmel was a menotr to me, everything that comes through in his book -- kind, generous, forgiving to a fault, and wise about human nature beyond his gentle nature. In an environment that was full of supposedly street-smart wiseguys, as well as modern orthodox Brooklynites who didn't quite know what to make of him and his background but knew, instinctively, that they had to respect him, he brought a level of humanity and intellectual intelligence that made people seek to elevate themselves above the cynicism of the place and time and try to be better people. With his tremendous help, I was made the editor of our school newspaper, of which he was faculty advisor, and we sought to produce as good of a product in his honor as possible, though we got him into a bit of trouble in the process for breaking censorship behind his back -- and yet he never scolded us for this.
My copy of this book is dog-eared and yellowing, but it is priceless to me as a reminder of the man Abraham Carmel.

Abraham Carmel's story is truly inspirational. It reminds us that our priorities in life today are so misdirected. This man had one goal that he centered his life on: Finding a religion that he could flourish with, and that did not leave him full of doubt and contradiction. Like other reviewers, I had the privilege of being a student of Mr. Carmel (of blessed memory), but I knew little of his journey until I read this amazing book.