1. In so far as the book is a comment on Israeli culture, it is is an inaccurate commentary. Israel's political issues are exacerbated by religion, but the main factor is (secular) nationalism.
2. I am reminded of of Sabbatai Zevi: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbetai_Tzvi>. Gershom Scholem's biography is well worth the read (and IIRC will also help you understand the one or two references to Kabbalah in Gravity's Rainbow).
On Thu, 2009-10-15 at 19:38 +0200, joel schalit wrote:
> I agree with your wife's reading of the book, Marv, though I would also say
> that Chabon uses their book stand-ins as a way of giving voice to evolving
> political differences between American and Israeli Jews.
>
> Joel
>
> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 4:56 PM, Marv Gandall <marvgandall at videotron.ca>wrote:
>
> > My wife read it. Also enjoyed it a lot. She also saw it as a vehicle for
> > Michael Chabon to contrast the former vibrant progressive Yiddish-speaking
> > culture of Eastern Europe with Israel's increasingly right-wing culture.