Student Wendy Goldberg spends a year in Jerusalem questioning the lives of American Jews who "return” both to Israel itself and to traditional religious practices. Are they sincere? Are they happier? The unexpected answers and her experiences (a bus bombing, a funeral, an unexpected suicide, a love affair, a law suit),lead her to reconsider her own true identity.

Beth Kissileff: Kissileff's fiction and nonfiction on Israeli, cultural, literary, and religious topics appear regularly in many publications including the New York Times,the Forward, and the Jerusalem Post. A PhD in comparative literature (Univ. of Pennsylvania) she received fellowships from Yaddo, NEH,and Lilly.