Hoodie Rosen. A Book By Isaac Blum

"The same? No. God set us apart. We are the people he gave his Torah to. You're bearing the brunt of this because they don't expect this from you. They expect it from non-Jews. Gentiles have treated Jews poorly in the past, and they expect that to continue. They've seen that story play out over and over, and they expect it to play out again and again. That's why - well, it's one of the reasons - we stick together like this," she went on, waving her hand to indicate our big crowd. "Because we know that in this hostile world, we can rely on each other. But if you show your people that they can't rely on you, well it's the ultimate betrayal." Hoodie, which is his nickname and not his formal let alone Yeshiva school Hebrew name, first saw the girl his age dressed in white outside of the Halacha class window. And it was then that he began to wonder if G-d, or rather also the God of Abraham, Isaac and all of his small-town community was trying to tell him that it was time to get married. "Do white T-shirts count?" He thought.

Hoodie or better yet, Yehuda his Jewish name, and his family live in an Orthodox Jewish community. The community, a lot like owning their own town is a village where all is provided for, and all is exclusive. They have their own Kosher food and clothing style and shops and their own religious schools and therefore along with all of their own Torah and additional books to go with that. Even both the transportation and the houses are Kosher. Everyone pretty much knows each other, and everyone fairly watches out for each other. But when Hoodie becomes curious about the girl and her pet dog, an outsider, still he is cautious. It all started up though after she touched his arm, a sign of Jewish marriage engagement. Now Hoodie is launched into a dilemma about God or G-d as you are not really supposed to say the actual name of a G-d whose name is too holy to barely mention out loud - is he obligated now to marry this girl he does not know all that well? According to his limited knowledge at Yeshiva so far, he is supposed to begin making plans to get married. But according to the girl, or otherwise known as the daughter of the single, unmarried mayor of the town he has ancient beliefs that do not fit into this world. "Exactly," Hoodie tries to explain to her. His holy books instruct him that he is of God and not a part of this world.

As he slowly begins to explore the very world which teenage Hoodie has not spent even one hour of all of his life thinking about, his ventures are some noticed by his friends and some of the families of his community - who don't appreciate Hoodie's explorations. Especially the women. Having lived among the median of the German Amish communities of California with my youngest daughter when she was about eight through to past twelve years old, I embrace a pure belief system desire to maintain the tradition and values and teachings of God passed down to believers by divine inspiration through their often both sage and beloved ancestors. Who would wish to just dispossess such wisdom? Even among the Amish, the children are allowed to leave the community once they reach the age of adulthood or at about the age of eighteen, to go out and live in the world for a time in order to find God on their own, to get to know themselves - to be able to make an adult decision as to whether or not they want to spend their life in the God-inspired community of their childhood or live in the common world. Those who stay gone for good and who do not return are as rare as the Orthodox Jew who departs home only to go out into the secular world for all the days of all of their lives.

While being on your own in the world may mean the ability to operate as an independent adult who must be reliable on self alone at times, the Amish communities much as the Jewish Kibbutz or town communities are both self and each other efficient. Farming communities of the two comparable religions often require members and families to work together planting and reaping, building homes and farm buildings and join to pray together on the sabbath. But Hoodie faces a bigger challenge. His new friend is a person of the world. "Marriage?" She wonders why anyone would even think of it. She has plans to go to college in New York. But she has touched his arm with her hand and now he feels marriage bound. Hoodie has done the unforgivable and fallen in love. What will happen now? Will he be punished by the other Rabbi? Is this now like that bad scene in the Woody Allen film where the Rabbi stand around him shaming him? Or can he convince his family and community to consider making friends with the outsider? And then he finds out that the mayor was just using her own daughter's friendship with Hoodie to make herself look good politically on the outside for her own personal political career. Hoodie stands at a fork-in-the-road of life. He has some big decisions to make ahead. What is more, one even begins to wonder whether or not Isaac Blum might not be Hoodie Rosen.