Kabbalah of Stone

Written by Irene Reti

Published by Juniper Lake Press

280 pages

Review by Emma Harrison

Receives: 1/2

One of the joys of reading historical fiction is learning about a time I am not personally familiar with. I have not read much about the Spanish Inquisition, and in her novel Kabbalah of Stone, Irene Reti focuses on the Inquisition in 1492. In Girona, Spain the Jews are used as targets and scapegoats, and to avoid injury, jail, or death, many Jews have publicly converted to Christianity, though some of the conversos struggle to maintain whatever parts of their Jewish heritage they secretly can. The conversos are in contrast to those who have remained true to their Jewishness, people forced to live sequestered from the rest of Gironan society.

Within this socio-political backdrop, we meet Domingo, a young scribe who is in love with his childhood friend, Pau, who is in training to become a Catholic priest. Domingo resists entreaties from his mother to marry Nuria, Pau’s sister, because he does not and cannot love her. After following his mother to the Jewish part of town, Domingo discovers his family’s secret—they are Jews. As Domingo struggles to make sense of his new identity, calling himself Amos now, his Jewish name, he finds himself attracted to Raphael, the rabbi who teaches him. Weaving in and out of the story is the spirit of the biblical prophet Huldah, who has things to say about man’s love for man, and she sees a prophecy of the Jewish exile from Spain. As he struggles with his relationship with Domingo and against pressure from the Spanish Inquisition, Raphael must do what he can to save the places important to his Jewish ancestry.

The story begins with Huldah in the year 621 BCE, and when we first see her she is worshipping the goddess Asherah. I was fascinated by this brief glimpse into this early form of worship, and I wanted this part of the story to last longer than it did. I enjoyed following Domingo and Raphael’s journey, and I appreciate that the novel shows how difficult it is for Domingo and Raphael to be both Jewish and gay in a restrictive society. At times, as Huldah preaches her opinions or Raphael studies, I felt like I was hearing the author’s voice instead of the characters’, as if Reti had a religious-social-political point to make instead of a story to tell. A few times I felt removed from the story because I felt more like I was in a classroom being lectured by a professor, someone very knowledgeable about the subject, but it was still a lecture. A great example of a biblical-based novel that is large on story is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. In that novel, Diamant pulls us into the world of women and we are shown how women are treated as second-class citizens, but it is up to us to form our own opinions about what we read.

Kabbalah of Stone is not only a feminist interpretation of a bible prophet. I learned about how difficult life was during the Spanish Inquisition. I enjoyed learning more about Judaism as a religion and discovering more about Jewish history. This novel is obviously well researched, and Reti has a vast knowledge of Judaism to draw from. It is good to see a historical novel consider the experiences of gay characters because it is important to show all people in fiction, and all people deserve to have their stories told. ______________________________________________________________

Emma Harrison is a writer who is starting a blog reviewing books, movies, television, and anything else that needs reviewing. Look for her blog coming soon.