Group Discussion Questions

The following questions are suggestions intended for discussion among people who have read What Was Forbidden; that premise won’t be true, however, of everyone reading this page. The meaning of some of these question can’t be understood without referring to events or actions in the book. To avoid spoilers, those events or actions are referred to obliquely. Questions with these oblique references direct the reader to the chapter in the book where the meaning of these questions will become clear.

• As the story progresses, Yehudit develops more clarity about the role she must play and more courage to pursue her own path. Today we might say that she asserts more agency. What does she gain and what does she loose by becoming more empowered?
• Have there been times in your life when, like Yehudit, your choice between speaking or withholding the truth had serious consequences for you or a person you cared about deeply? What factors did you weigh in making your decision? What were the consequences of your choice?
• The novel portrays Mordechai as someone who frequently hides his Jewish identity when outside the Ghetto among Gentiles (particularly when in the company of Grazia DaSilva), behaving, dressing and even speaking differently. The book makes frequent mention of the Marranos, the Jews who avoided expulsion from Spain or Portugal by outwardly converting to Catholicism while secretly practicing Judaism behind the closed doors and drawn curtains of their homes. Somewhat similarly, it was not uncommon among Jews immigrating to America to change their surname to sound less Jewish. W.E.B. DuBois famously coined the term “double consciousness” as a condition of Blacks in America, and today the outward manifestations of this “two-ness” is referred to as “code-switching.” Some might say this is a condition common to all minority communities in a culture in which they are seen as “others.” What are your thoughts?
• Yehudit’s loyalty to her brother Mordechai increasingly comes into conflict with her loyalty and responsibility to the other adults in her family and to her children, much as her brother Yehoshua’s and father Menachem’s loyalty is divided between the Ghetto community and Mordechai’s memory. In chapter 43, we learn that Yehoshua, Menachem, and the Ghetto leadership have agreed that it is in the interest of the Ghetto community to prevent certain information from becoming public. Yehudit then must decide whether or not to reveal this information. Discuss their motivations and reasoning. What are your thoughts about the choices they make? Do you see alternatives to their choice? What would you have done?
• The original 1516 Venetian Senate Decree establishing the Ghetto said, “Jews have been permitted to come and live in Venice, and the main purpose of this concession was to preserve the property of Christians which was in their hands. But no godfearing subject of our state would have wished them, after their arrival, to disperse throughout the city, sharing houses with Christians and going wherever they choose by day and night, perpetrating all those misdemeanors and detestable and abominable acts which are generally known and shameful to describe.” The Ghetto was enclosed by walls, and Jews were forbidden to leave between sunset and sunrise. What do you think were the motives of the Venetian government in closing the Ghetto at night? On balance, do you think the segregation imposed by the Ghetto was more beneficial or more harmful to the Jews of Venice in the 1500s and 1600s?
• When Yehudit says (chapter 21) that she told her brother, “We live within walls within walls within walls,” what do you think she meant?
• Isaac Bentovim agreed to a vow that was required of him and to keep the vow a secret thereafter. His decision had profound implications. Yehudit tries to learn what the vow was and why Isaac keeps it secret. (See chapters 32 and 38.) Do you think Yehudit makes the right choices about the vow?  What would you have done if you were Yehudit? If you were Isaac?
• What do you think happens to Yehudit, Isaac, and Grazia DaSilva (or any other character) after the end of the book? Do you think Grazia would have gone to Amsterdam had Mordechai not been killed? Why?

• Chapter 5 includes Yehudit’s thoughts about remarrying after the death of her husband. Do you think she ought to have remarried? If you do, whom would you have had her marry? What would you have done in her situation?
• Discuss Yehudit’s relationship with her father Menachem and brother Yehoshua.
• In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, a woman in Grazia DaSilva’s position would have been considered a “cortigiana onesta,” translated as an honest courtesan but also with the connotation of an honored courtesan. The term was reserved for those courtesans with the talents of a courtier, whose patrons were usually men of wealth or high title. There are occasions in the novel when Grazia lies. On those occasions, why do you think she does that?
• When Shabbetai Tsvi converted to Islam, the Jewish leadership in Venice ordered the destructions of all records of the Shabbatean movement in Venice. In today’s world, an action like that might called a cover-up. What do you think the leadership’s motivation was for that order? Do you think it was a wise or necessary choice? Is there an alternative policy you would have chosen at the time?
• The novel portrays a dichotomy between the aspirations of the Shabbetean believers and those of advocates for Spinoza’s separation of religion and state, such as Mordechai. This dichotomy can be seen as a classic choice in modernity as to which should be primary: nationalism or individualism, national cohesion or personal rights. How (if at all) do you see this conflict playing out in the world today? Does this dichotomy sometimes present a difficult choice for you?
• Historically, while most followers of Shabbetai Tsvi completely forsook him when he converted to Islam, a minority continued to believe he was the messiah and invented creative explanations for his apostacy. Those who continued to believe in an apostate messiah might be thought of today as adapting to a cognitive dissonance. There is a character in the book who is one of these believers. Do you see examples of this kind of adaptation to cognitive dissonance in contemporary public affairs in the United States or in your community?
• Residents of the United States and other liberal democracies can thank the Enlightenment, spearheaded by philosophers like Baruch Spinoza, for their religious freedom and status as full and equal citizens. Spinoza’s groundbreaking treatise advocating for freedom of religion got Mordechai in trouble with the Venice authorities. One thing Mordechai found appealing in that treatise and in Voice of a Fool (see chapter 32) was the criticism of Jewish law, halakha (see Glossary). Voice of a Fool called observances not written in the Torah embellishments invented by rabbis to make themselves more needed and important. Spinoza thought these types of observances in Christianity and Judaism served primarily as training in obedience and objected to them as not necessary to true faith. Yehudit thought Mordechai’s attraction to these ideas was selfish and irresponsible because he elevated his freedom or convenience over the cohesion, continuity, and identity of the Jewish community.  Isaac Bentovim feared these ideas would cause Mordechai to cease to be a Jew. Discuss this. Do you see this debate in contemporary religion? 
• What facts does the synagogue memorial to Mordechai Baldosa (in the Epigraph) contain or imply? How are these facts used or changed in the plot of the book?
• The book refers to Jews as “Ebrei,” meaning Hebrews, the Italian word for Jews. Why do you think the author chose to do this?
• Does the book’s depiction of the Venice Ghetto differ from your prior understanding of the Venice Ghetto or of other ghettos?
• Shabbetai Tsvi preached that in the messianic age the Torah would take on an entirely new meaning and what had been forbidden by Jewish law (negative commandments) would be allowed. Spinoza asserted that most observances and rituals imposed by Christianity and Judaism should be set aside because they “contribute nothing to the true knowledge or love of God, or to living a life of virtue and morality.” In this regard, can the popular appeal of Shabbetai Tsvi be equated with the appeal of Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise? Do you think the title of the novel refers only to these proposals to repeal religious strictures?
• Are there ways in which the contemporary United States can be compared to early modern Venice?
• The novel begins with the discovery of Mordechai’s death, then proceeds along two intertwined timelines: one timeline begins five weeks earlier and ends with Mordechai’s death; the other begins with his death and moves forward from there. Did this structure affect how you engaged with the story? What do you think of the author’s choice to structure the novel this way?
• One epigraph of the novel is from Isaiah Berlin’s essay “Benjamin Disraeli, Karl Marx, and the Search for Identity.” Berlin was writing about emancipated Jews of the 19^th century. Was it appropriate of the author to apply Berlin’s thought to the 17^th century?
• The book is written as a “third person limited” narrative. Each chapter of the book is from the point of view of either Mordechai, Yehudit, or the investigator Valentin Zachera, but never of more than one character. Discuss whether this editorial choice affected you as you read the book, and if so, how.
• Shabbeteans generally thought of the messiah as a new king of Israel and expected the reborn Jewish kingdom to be a theocracy. This is not the only concept of the role of the messiah in Judaism. What are your thoughts and feelings about this expectation of the messianic age? Can liberal democracy be compatible with the concept of a messiah as you understand it?