Who knew, at age twelve, that there could be a direct link between little Mary-Anne Hamilton and Adolph Hitler? But there was. The innocent Sunday school cross around her neck may as well have been a swastika, to anyone who survived the war, as my mother did. I saw a cute little girl in pigtails; my mother saw “Hitler Youth,” saw ovens and smoke and her dead grandmother.

“Jesus said, “Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there will I be also.” The Jews never had it so easy. They had to gather ten or more before God would show up. Nine other shleppers in the room and what you say counts. Otherwise your deepest soul cry is considered idle chatter upstairs…”

Minyan: Ten Jewish Men in A World That is Heartbroken, Sobel’s award-winning first novel, was shuffled between multiple agents and accumulated rejection slips for nearly 15 years. Then, in a coincidental and staggering wave of encouragement from the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, of all places, the Knoxville Writer’s Guild awarded Minyan the Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel, and only weeks later Knoxville’s New Millenium Writings awarded Mordecai’s Book, loosely excerpted from Minyan, its First Prize for short fiction.

This is the first time Minyan is available as a paperback and in e-book formats.

Widely Praised

“…Existentially enigmatic… there is a taste of bitter herbs along with the sponge cake. And then a final vision — not so much one of happiness as of grace.”

— John Casey, author, Spartina

“Funny, sad, poignant, absurd, raucous, self-depracating, compassionate, irreverent, meditative — and Jewish through and through…”

— The Hook

“A great ear for shtick and never fails to find the comedic grain in life’s situations, however grim they may be…”

— Southeastern Virginia Jewish News

“… Seinfeld with meaning, humor with tragic bite, sorrow with one-liners.”

— The Daily Progress

“Not for Jews only…”

— Allen Wier, author, Tehano

Pick Up Your Copy Now

Or why not ten and make it a minyan already?