Summary

There Are Things That Are Hard to Say Today. Even as the earthquake-triggered conflict in Israel is continuing, the family gathers for Isaac’s funeral. Jacob is simultaneously angry and jealous about how easily and casually Tamir moves through the whole thing, while at the same time uncertain about why his generally irreligious father is going along with the service at all. He also is inclined to resent the young, seemingly self-conscious rabbi, but then the rabbi speaks, his words laced with humor and recollections of visiting Isaac on the morning of the day he died, a visit during which Isaac apparently said “Not to have a choice is also a choice” (347), narration commenting that Jacob does not believe Isaac ever said that. The rabbi also speaks at length about how Isaac, in many...