Secular versus Religious Beliefs and Lifestyles

The story presents the tensions between two different ways of life within the Jewish communities in New York state. Rebecca, although she is Jewish, has been raised in a secular environment, without religious observance. She is not used to observing Jewish customs and rituals. The relatives with whom she stays are the opposite. They are part of a Hasidic Jewish community which rigorously observes all aspects of its faith and is suspicious of outsiders. This wariness of the world beyond the borders of their community is apparent when Dovid Frankel tells Rebecca that some of the people in the area are scared of her, believing that since she comes from worldly Manhattan, she may show her young cousins a fashion magazine—the orthodox community has a strict dress code that involves long-sleeved blouses and long skirts for women even in hot weather—or...