The Instructions by Adam Levin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Talmud in a Weird World.

According to some Kabbalists, there is at least one Messiah in every generation. He of course may refuse to recognise his calling or, in any case, is likely be rejected when he announces himself to the world. Nonetheless the Messiah is essential for the attainment of justice: "..it is good to do justice because God will kill you and your family whether you do justice or not."

So what if, just what if, a young Chicagoland boy feels himself called, responds to that call with caution but also with persistence, and creates a following of other young Jewish kids? He might know the odds are against him but so what:

"If ever you are asked if Adonai can create a boulder too heavy for Him to lift, you will answer the fool who asked you: 'Fool, we are two of seven billion such boulders, you and I.' And when the fool insists that Adonai cannot then properly be called almighty, you will not argue, for the fool will be correct. Instead you will answer: 'He is Adonai nevertheless. We re superior to the Angels not because we control ourselves, but because Adonai does not control us.'"

Then what if that young boy choses to resist the admonitions and restrictions of unsympathetic adults as well as the low level threats of school yard anti-Semites? What might happen? Well, a surprisingly thrilling saga of human rebellion and retribution. And an even more surprising confrontation with the Almighty himself: "Our thoughts to You are what You are to us. Noisy but hidden...Even if you can read our faces you can do so only in the way we read Your scripture." In other words "You may interpret us as human beings but don't claim, for heaven's sake that you can understand much less judge us."

It's hard not to be on the side of the putative Messiah, against Adonai as well as the bigots and bureaucrats, despite the disruption and even death that he initiates. At over 1000 pages, Levin has to be good to keep the reader. And that he does. Amazing for a first novel.

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