Cracks in the Wall

An ancient wall, a dying Jew, a new immigrant and the panorama of the holy city combine in this warm and gripping novel. Reb Yossel is an elderly "Yerushalmi" who suffers a massive heart attack. As his health gradually declines, he develops a warm relationship with Dr. Yuri Petrov, a cardiologist recently arrived from the former Soviet Union. Petrov is searching for meaning in his life; Reb Yossel has found it, and as his life ebbs away, he infuses a lifetime of learning and experience into the probing, skeptical, and receptive physician. The backdrop to their unusual relationship is the Kosel, the Western Wall. Reb Yossel is a "Kosel Jew," a man who, daily, poured out his heart at the Wall and, in turn, received inspiration from it. For the last two millennia, since the destruction of the Temple, Jews have come to the wall, sometimes risking their lives doing so, to pray and gain strength at the last remnant of the Temple complex. In the cracks of its massive stones, are stuffed scraps of paper containing the prayers and longings of countless Jews. The Wall has ears, Jews say; it hears the prayers of its children, it absorbs the tremulously written prayers they place in its crevices. To Reb Yossel, as to countless others, the Wall has a life of its own: a life of the spirit, a life of hope, a life that survives sorrow and brings hope for a personal and national tomorrow. In this exceptional first novel, Uri Raskin spins together the relationship of patient and doctor, age and youth, teacher and student, Wall and supplicants, Jerusalem and its children. The history of Jerusalem becomes part of their relationship, and as we read this compelling story, it becomes part of us, as well. This a book that is hard to put down, and when you turn the last page, its glow will remain for a long time after.
by Uri Raskin