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Lewis Weinstein's debut novel
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1
15th-century Spain at the dawn of the
Inquisition, The Heretic is a tragic but
hopeful novel, many of whose charac-
ters have good reason for taking issue
with God's neglect.
The protagonist, Gabriel Catalan, is
a goldsmith, a respected member of
the Seville community, and a converso
(a Jew who has converted to
Christianity) with a guilty conscience.
nce upon a time at Big
Boy's, my friends and I were
talking about our fathers'
life philosophies, and we
discussed which of these best reflected
Jewish culture as we knew it.
Mr. Z's was "Hope for the best,
prepare for the worst,"
which struck all of us as
far too reasonable to be
Jewish. My father took his
from Rocky and Bullwinkle:
"Never underestimate the
power of a schnook."
Although this credo hinted
at Jewish paranoia and
even used a Yiddish word,
we still felt it lacked some-
thing.
Then Dave told us a
phrase that his father recit-
ed at least three times a -
day, a kind of secular day-
ening: "Why do I always
get screwed?" Our approval
was unanimous and we
declared it the winner.
That a life philosophy
could be a question was an
ingenious notion on Dave's
part. Questioning is inte-
gral to Jewish culture, and
asking impossible ques-
tions to no one in particu-
lar is practically a-mitzvah.
As for the getting
screwed part, Jewish histo-
ry as I was taught it is but
A historical novel about Spain's secret Jews, "The
variations on a line from
the Haggada: "In every gen- Heretic," says its author, seeks to expose the Christian
roots of anti-Semitism.
eration they rise up to
destroy us ..." Applying
He also is the son of a converso who
Dave's father's motto, then, to the his-
was murdered by a mob of anti-
tory of the Jewish people, we ask,
semites.
"Why do we always get screwed?"
When the novel begins, Gabriel
In his debut novel, The Heretic
secretly practices Judaism with other
(goodnewfiction.com ; $24.95), Lewis
conversos, and his resistance to the
Weinstein posits this question and
Church grows over the course of the
dares to attempt an answer. Set in
book from diffident resentment to
Brian Selfon, a resident of White Lake
fearless — and ultimately fatal —defi-
Township, will graduate from Brown
ance.
University in May.
Gabriel's principal method of resist-