She Knew Mitch Albom When

Albom at the Disney ABC Television Group & The Hallmark Hall Of Fame Premiere Of ?Have A Little Faith? Image by Getty Images
While the critics savaged and the rest of the world yawned, Jews in Cherry Hill, New Jersey eagerly tuned in to ABC to watch “Have a Little Faith,” by Mitch Albom, best-selling author of “Tuesdays With Morrie.” The Jewish community there is hopeful that now, when an outsider asks about “that Rabbi,” they’ll be able to answer with pride, referring to Congregation Beth Sholom’s Rabbi Albert Lewis, the subject of Albom’s sappy book-turned-TV movie. Up until now, that question might instead have brought to mind the scandal-ridden former Rabbi Fred Neulander. The founding rabbi of Reform temple M’kor Shalom is currently serving 30 years in prison for hiring two hit men, including a former congregant, to murder his wife. (Disclaimer: my mother taught Hebrew school under Neulander).
Just when South Jersey Yiddishkeit was recovering from the Neulander scandal, another local rabbi resigned his position due to the existence of a second family. For those who’ve been shaken in the faith department by these “Rabbis Gone Wild” episodes, Albom’s book and movie about Lewis have provided much needed spiritual elevation. In a book that could be subtitled “Thursdays with Rabbi Lewis, Sundays with Reverend Covington,” Albom recounts his relationship with two different men of the cloth: a rabbi from South Jersey, and a Christian minister from a poor section of Detroit.
The charismatic Lewis, brilliantly played by Martin Landau in the Hallmark presentation, faithfully served his flock for almost fifty years. He always knew the right thing to say and was a great comfort during difficult times. When a former congregant was tired of serving on the board of directors because “nothing ever got done,” Lewis persuaded her to keep her post on the board by saying, “That’s how you know that God exists. The building is still standing even though nothing gets done.” Riding to the cemetery with a grieving family, he encouraged them to laugh when someone giggled at the thought of stopping the funeral procession to go to the bathroom at a gas station. He said, “God never minds laughter.”
Though publishing juggernaut Mitch Albom may have burst into the national conscience and Oprah’s coach upon the publication of his best-selling book, “Tuesday with Morrie,” I’ve always known that Albom, my escort to the United Synagogue Youth (USY) sweetheart dance, was going to be famous someday. But I never imagined that he would be an author; I thought he would become a performer. He mesmerized his fellow USYers with a star-making turn in “Grease” and with his band “The Lucky Tiger Greasestick Band,” which played 50s music.
We regularly skipped out of Hebrew school classes together. One time, we unsuccessfully attempted to smoke cigarettes for the first time. We smoked cherry cigarettes from the wrong end.
Given his lack of dedication to Hebrew school, I was surprised to discover that Albom has chosen to write several books about religion. When I asked him about how this 180 degree transformation occurred, he reminded me, “I later attended Akiba High School [a Jewish school in Lower Merion, Pa.] and Brandeis University.”
For fans of Albom’s books, there is good news. He emailed me to say that for the next three months he’ll be hard at work on a new book.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover
- 3
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 4
Opinion Passover teaches us why Jews should stand with Mahmoud Khalil
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants?
-
Opinion Trump’s followers see a savior, but Jewish historians know a false messiah when they see one
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
-
Opinion This Passover, let’s retire the word ‘Zionist’ once and for all
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.