WOMEN AND GOD

In this novel, a rabbi investigates her spiritual mentor—who is accused of sexual indiscretions—and gets drawn into a complicated web of dark lies.

Rabbi Yael Gold is forced into an unenviable assignment—she is asked to investigate the unseemly accusations made against Rabbi Moishe Weinstein, who is charged with “impropriety of a sexual nature.” She’s known Moishe since she was only 13 years old—he’s been a mentor and, more importantly, a father figure to her. The latter role is especially significant given her emotional estrangement from her own father, now lost in a haze of dementia. Moishe strenuously denies the substance of the allegations, but as more accusers come forward—eight in total—Yael finds it increasingly difficult to believe him. Before she can get to the bottom of it all, Moishe commits suicide, although there is reason to believe he was in fact murdered. Fashioning herself as a kind of “existential detective,” Yael is compelled not only to determine Moishe’s guilt or innocence, but also to figure out her own complex relationship with him. This introspective exploration stirs long-interred memories she’d just as soon keep buried. Graubart tells the gripping tale from multiple perspectives, creating a layered narrative that deepens the novel’s epistemological drama, raising provocative questions about the gossamer veil that separates truth from fiction. With both comic verve and affecting subtlety, the author chronicles Yael’s fraught encounters with men, including within her own “childless marriage, defined by mutual bafflement.” At one point, she asks: “My God, who were these testicled creatures?” Graubart seamlessly and originally combines multiple literary genres—this is a crime drama, a story about emotional trauma, and a tale of spiritual awakening.

An impressive brew of storytelling and theological reflection.