1Q1A Here I Am Jonathan Safran Foer

Good Afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Jonathan Safran Foer author of Here I Am, published last year but just being released in paperback tomorrow by Picador.As most of you know Jonathan’s previous works include Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Tree of Codes and his non-fiction work Eating Animals.The title Here I Am ostensibly refers to Abraham’s response to God when the Lord calls out to him. The Lord tells Abraham--- He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Mariah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."…Now what does this have to do with a book about Jacob and Julia Bloch, their foundering marriage and their three sons Sam, Max and Benjy, grandfather (Irv) and great-grandfather (Isaac) as they face the possible destruction of Israel and an upcoming bar mitzvah.It’s the way Abraham responds and it is a gnomon of the Jewish religion and culture. You don’t respond by saying “Hey”, or What’s up, or what do you need or I’ll be there in a minute.It’s Here I am. For you. All of me. Whatever it is you ask.It could also mean that Jonathan is telling the reader, and there is an autobiographical tint to the book. Jonathan could be saying, here I am guys. This is me. Not me like this is everything that happened in my life. But here are my brothers, here is my Mom and Dad. Here is my elementary school. Here is my synagogue.The key is, and it runs through it is that in Judaism, the Judaism of Jonathan and the way I was brought up. There are certain things you don’t question. The unconditional love of a child, the obedience and loyalty to an ancestor, the belief in the preservation and defense of a homeland. And Primarily and you either have it or not, a rock solid, non-resonating core set of beliefs that might make you a bit irritating or humorous but gives you a piece of bedrock on which to stand.