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Marcelo in the Real World Chapter 12 Summary

  • Surprise: Rabbi Heschel's a woman!
  • She and Marcelo have just concluded their latest meeting, and they're sitting outside Temple Emmanuel when Marcelo decides to ask some hard questions.
  • He wants to know, first of all, why Adam and Eve felt ashamed when they realized they were naked in the Garden of Eden.
  • What Marcelo wants to know is, if sex is as good as Wendell says it is, why would it cause anyone to feel shame?
  • No pressure, Rabbi.
  • She tells him that they realized sex could be used for evil, which it can. Then she asks Marcelo if he knows how sex works.
  • He knows how getting pregnant works. The other stuff? Not so much.
  • Rabbi Heschel then has to explain to Marcelo how sex can be used for evil, and how people can use it to hurt each other. 
  • After explaining it all, she rubs her head like she has a headache, and Marcelo wishes he knew what to do to comfort her. 
  • But it's that human emotion thing that baffles him, so he just stays mum.