Two Jews = Three Shuls

The year is 1992. A very respected Rabbi is found murdered in his synagogue located in a wealthy suburb on Long Island. Deborah Katzman is the first woman to become president of the synagogue. She is a child survivor of the Holocaust and a successful bankruptcy attorney. The synagogue’s lay leaders had hoped that a woman with her background would be able to reduce the growing friction within their walls. The Rabbi had been growing more and more traditional at the same time as his congregants were becoming more liberal. Younger women were clamoring for equal participation in religious services; older congregants were opposed to the Rabbi’s newly heightened religious practices. Emotions were exploding . . . but is all of this enough to cause someone to murder a man of God? The Temple leaders, each an interesting character in their own right, are trying to achieve some modicum of harmony within this once peaceful house of worship. The search for the killer is the plot that is carried forward until the murderer is uncovered in a surprise ending.

Sandra Tankoos has been a teacher and a successful entrepreneur. She has served on the boards of several organizations within the Jewish community and has been president of a congregation in Roslyn, Long Island. She is familiar with the dynamics at play among congregants with similar objectives but varying opinions on how to achieve their goals. Ms. Tankoos has always had a desire to write and now, as a senior and a retiree, has written her first novel. Ms. Tankoos is currently retired and living in Boca Raton, Florida.