Rebecca asks tough questions about her faith, her family, and her society.

"Elijah, don't you think God has better things to do than check up on how I'm breaking the rules?" She wonders about rules—whether they define a person or interfere with a person's living a good life. Is her faith defined by rules? If so, which rules are the right ones? She regards her father as a strict observer of Jewish religious laws, yet notes that she knows of families where the laws are even more strictly followed than in her own. Are those families closer to God? She does not find answers to such questions, but they are more than just expressions of her rebellious efforts to define herself as an individual human being; they are problems that may reasonably be asked of religious life and society in general. Exactly what are...