In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist

by Ruchama Feuerman

National Jewish Book Award Finalist: A “sophisticated and engaging” novel of three innocents drawn into a criminal scheme in modern-day Jerusalem (The Wall Street Journal).

Brokenhearted haberdasher Isaac Markowitz has fled the Lower East Side for Israel, where he now assists a renowned elderly rabbi who tends to the hungry and hopeless in his courtyard. Tamar is an American hipster-turned-observant Jew who has come to Jerusalem to find a devout man to spend her life with. And Mustafa, a devoted Muslim, works as a janitor at the Temple Mount, also known as al-Aqsa, a site holy to both faiths.

After Mustafa finds a shard of pottery that may date back to the ancient era of the First Temple, he brings it to Isaac. But this simple act of friendship will lead Isaac into Israel’s criminal underworld, put Mustafa in lethal danger, and send Tamar on a quest to save them both . . .

This edition also includes “The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard,” a short-story sequel to In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist.

Genres: Fiction

348 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Zhelana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've heard of a slow burn, but this is ridiculous. I was promised a story about the criminal underworld of Jerusalem, but 50% of the way into the book we're still faffing around trying to figure out what to do with this piece of pottery that supposedly leads these characters there. The entire first half of this book should have been a chapter, at most and maybe this should have been a short story. i've been told this is a good book, and that's why I stuck with it for so long, but I really... i just can't. learn some pacing, get an editor, shrink the entire first half into one chapter, figure out what you want to write about and then get to the point, I don't know. Something. Something other than what got published here.

[Challenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short-story sequel, “The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard,” included in these Open Road Media editions of In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist is a longer, reworked version of her short story, “Somehow They Get into You,” which was a finalist in Narrative Magazine's Winter 2017 Story Contest. You can join for free to read “Somehow They Get into You” online at the magazine's website.

“The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard” was first released as an Audiobook, The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard, read by Sam Guncler.

[G.P. Gottlieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mustafa was born with a twisted neck and treated with disdain throughout his life. He works long hours as a janitor on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Isaac is a religiously observant new immigrant who stumbles into a position as assistant to a famous kabbalist known for curing the uncurable. Their chance encounter could lead to an international incident in this charming tale about flawed people trying to get by during tense times. I was honored to interview the author: https://newbooksnetwork.com/in-the-co...