Jewish Lineage

The author uses this theme to highlight the ways in which the Jewish people are linked by a common history and belief system. Jules Epstein's journey toward transcendence begins when he meets Rabbi Menachem Klausner in New York. Klausner informs Jules that he is a descendant of the biblical David, the man who slew the giant Goliath and later became the King of Israel. The story of the Jewish people is one of connection and community despite hardships and persecution, and both Jules and Nicole find meaning in their Jewish heritage. Nicole explains, “We bind and are bound because the binding binds us to those who were bound before us, and those bound before them, and those before them, in a chain of ropes and knots that goes back three thousand years” (75).

There are several mentions of the Holocaust in the novel; Nicole recalls meeting...