Have a Little Faith: A True Story

In this Author’s Note, Mitch Albom thanks those who helped write the book and clarifies that, while all the conversations and events mentioned in the book did take place, he has modified the timeline in some cases for narrative purposes.

In early 2000, 82-year-old Rabbi Albert Lewis, or “the Reb,” asks the author, writer Mitch Albom, to give his eulogy when he dies.

A different character and point of view is then introduced. In an unspecified past timeline, a man named Henry Covington hid behind a trash can with his wife and daughter. He promised to spend the rest of his life in Christian service if he survived the night.

In 1965, Albom’s father dropped him off at Sunday services, where the seven-year-old boy was intimidated by the Reb’s dramatic sermon.

In March 2000, Albom agrees to give the Reb’s eulogy, provided he can visit him and get to know him better beforehand. As he drives to the Reb’s house, Albom recalls his tendency, as a child, to run away whenever he saw the Reb approaching. He also recalls the Reb’s tendency to sing phrases, Broadway style, even during sermons or casual conversations.

Feeling hesitant, Albom arrives at the Reb’s house, where he is surprised to see the religious leader looking “goofy” in casual attire.

Albom reviews his religious development up to that point. Although Albom attended religious schools throughout his youth and assisted at a temple to help fund his education at Brandeis University, he stopped participating after graduation. As his career as a sportswriter took off, Albom had less time for worship and became apathetic, then cynical, about religion; he also married a Christian woman.

Despite moving to Detroit, Michigan, Albom maintained a connection with the temple in New Jersey where he attended as a child, joining his parents there at least once a year.

About Albom’s age, Henry’s past includes growing up in Brooklyn, New York. His large family lived in a small, rat-infested apartment. Henry’s mother, Wilma, went to prison for two years after shooting his father, Willie, in the arm. On Sundays, a kind Baptist preacher gave Henry ice cream.

In 2000, the Reb invites Albom into his home office, which is filled with disorganized notes and files, full of stories and ideas for sermons; Albom notices a filed marked “God.” Albom begins to interview the Reb about his relationship with God.

In 1966, Albom’s grandmother lit a candle and offered a prayer to mark the anniversary of her husband’s death. Young Albom saw the ritual as more magical than religious.

When he was 10, Henry attended a Bible camp, where a pretty camp counselor guided him in prayer.

In the present, on his way to a second meeting with the Reb at the temple, Albom wonders how his life would be different if he had stayed in the New Jersey suburb where he grew up. The Reb greets Albom in song and, seeing presents for a bride-to-be, comments that life is “lovely.”

In 1967, Albom passed a house decorated with a nativity scene on his way to school. Albom nervously followed his friend in taking a closer look at the baby Jesus.

At the age of 12, Henry attended a Pentecostal service. Following tradition, Henry took a turn kneeling in front of the congregation, where he called Jesus’s name repeatedly until he felt that he had received the Holy Ghost.

During his teens, Henry turned to drug use, but his mother remained convinced that he would become a preacher someday.

In the present, Albom reflects on the Reb’s powerful sermons and asks him why he became a rabbi. The Reb explains that he always wanted to be a teacher, but he was cut from the seminary. While serving as a youth camp counselor, he made an impression on one of the youth, who turned out to be the son of a prominent Jewish scholar. That scholar then arranged for the Reb to re-enroll at the seminary, this time successfully.

Henry’s father was a rough but occasionally tender man whom Henry idolized. He died of tuberculosis and emphysema when Henry was 14.

In May in the present timeline, Albom makes another visit to the Reb’s home. The two discuss a photo of the Reb taken atop Mount Sinai many years earlier. Seeing that the Reb is wearing tefillin, traditional boxes containing scriptures, in the photo, Albom asks the Reb about the role of ritual in his life. The Reb explains that faith is expressed through action and that rituals connect the generations.

Albom reflects on his own preference for flexibility over ritual. He asks the Reb how he avoids cynicism despite the flaws of the people around him. The Reb shares the story of a persistent salesman who, when someone spits on him, says that it must be raining. As he leaves, Albom hugs the Reb for the first time.