Authors Dr. Anjali and Justin Ferguson with their son at Author Talk and Holiday Shop. Dr. Anjali and Justin Ferguson reading to the group Dr. Anjali and Justin Ferguson's book, An Ordinary Day Author ...

Congregation: Yes. Did you think that it made a good point? Rabbi: Yes. I have something to confess to all of you. Congregation: And that would be … ? Rabbi: I have never liked responsive readings.

Shortly after I started writing this column six years ago, I was chatting with a colleague about the mystifying--but, to a columnist, obsessively fascinating--topic of reader response. This colleague, ...