The Orchard
Yochi Brandes, יוכי ברנדס
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
4.25
· 8 ratings · 394 pages · Published: 18 Apr 2012
At the heart of the book is Rabbi Akiva and his complicated relationship with his wife, Rachel, who met him when he was a forty-year-old illiterate shepherd, married him against her father's wishes, and compelled him to study the Torah until he became the nation of Israel's greatest sage. His novel method of interpreting Scripture provides his people with a life-giving elixir, but also gives them a lethal injection the Bar Kokhba Revolt (the second rebellion against the Romans), which brought a terrible holocaust upon the nation of Israel that nearly caused its end. The Orchard offers a brilliant narrative solution to the riddle of the Bar Kokhba Revolt by tying the rebellion to one of the most fascinating stories in the Jewish tradition, the story of four sages who entered a metaphysical orchard: one died, one lost his mind, one became a hater of God, and one, Rabbi Akiva, made it out unscathed. Or did he?