Summary

“In the long aftermath of the destruction of Israel, Jacob moved into his new house” (537). There is considerable exploration of how it was constructed, how it was decorated, and how Jacob started to make it an actual home. There are also comments on how Israel physically reconstructed itself, and on how difficult it became for Israel to reconstruct itself politically and morally: “…even a massacre or two would have been easier to accept than the complete and explicit abdication of responsibility for non-Jews” (539). This comment, related to how Israel refused medical treatment and / or reconstructive support to any non-Jew, is juxtaposed with Irv’s comments about how, no matter what, he would prioritize his own family – and with the revelation that in the aftermath of Isaac’s death, Irv and Jacob became closer, even while Tamir and Jacob became more distant from each...