Yochi Brandes is one of the top authors in Israel. The Orchard, her eighth book, is considered the most daring and ambitious of her novels. Critics went so far as to call it a cultural phenomenon after it eclipsed the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy on the Israeli bestseller lists. The novel depicts the beginnings of modern Judaism and Christianity (in the first and second centuries) and the historical circumstances and tumultuous disputes that accompanied their births. The heroes of that generation (such as Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Ishmael, Rabban Gamaliel, Paul of Tarsus, and many others) become flesh and blood in this stunning interweaving of biblical and Talmudic lore into a page-turning read.

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?

What people are saying about The Orchard:

I read this marvelous book by Yochi Brandes in a single weekend. It swept me into the orchard and into the sources of our tradition.
-Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel

A fascinating, beautiful book about the roots of the Judaism we inhabit today.
-Peter Beinart, journalist and author of The Crisis of Zionism

In this riveting one-of-a-kind novel, Yochi Brandes channels her vast knowledge of the Bible, Rabbinic teachings, and Jewish history into exquisitely crafted characters and a powerful story…supremely relevant to the questions we struggle with as we face our future.
-Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism

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