Partly Strong, Partly Broken

A microcosm of America—a suburban congregation where deeply held values clash and political conflicts threaten to tear the community apart.

The protagonist of this quietly devastating novel is Rabbi Adinah Feld, progressive in her politics, sentimental in her relationships, and devoted to her motley congregation in suburban New Jersey. The novel takes place in the month before the deadly Hamas attack on Israel, October 7, 2023, and the Israeli decision to lay siege to Gaza.

Rabbi Adinah returns from a summer sojourn in Israel to find her synagogue in disarray. A hurricane has ripped a hole in the roof, her office is flooded, her building manager is incompetent, and a young Syrian refugee she mentored lies in a coma, victim of a hate crime.

When a new conservative member stirs rancor in her weekly Torah class and things turn uglier, the rabbi desperately tries to hold her beloved community together, even as her most treasured beliefs and alliances are betrayed. What will happen when news of the Hamas attack arrives? Will the congregation rip apart? Does Adinah’s vision of an all-embracing society have a future?

A personal as well as political tragedy, the novel raises provocative questions about faith, empathy, and what it takes for any community to survive in today’s America.

Novelist, essayist, editor, documentary writer, and critic, NATHANIEL POPKIN is the author of six books and co-editor of the anthology Who Will Speak for America?