Tally is clear about dealing with her own anxiety, a welcome inclusion of mental health in a Jewish young adult novel. One of Tally’s friends on the trip is also a traditional, heterosexual Jew who keeps kosher. Tally also deals with her own and others’ perceptions about whether she is “Jewish enough,” because her father is Jewish but her mother is not.

The trip participants on this Temple-led trip include several well-developed characters representing a diverse range of Jewish teens, including David, a Yeminite madrich Saron, a new close friend of Ethiopian Jewish descent and several LGBTQ+ leaders and friends on the program. It is, the problem is, in Israel and in Palestine, we all do not agree on the terms.” Tally’s Safta has told her about this: “We want peace we all want peace. Tally is also up front about her own mixed feelings related to security in Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tally’s experiences in each location provide good context and description for teens going on an Israel trip. The participants also meet Israelis, who will later join them for a parallel trip in the United States. Tally is introduced to Israel through the iconic moments of most Israel teen tours: a swim in the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, a kabbalistic lesson in Tzfat, the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem, camel-riding and camping in a Bedouin tent, climbing Masada at sunrise, and putting notes in the Western Wall. As the story progresses, Tally begins to accept her own grief as it relates to Max’s accident as well. Her goals for the trip include helping her brother out of his grief-stricken depression and supporting him to apply to attend Boston University with her. Will a winter youth trip to Israel through their synagogue help them get back on track? Narrator Tally is intending on it. Max was involved in a tragic car accident, in which he survived but the drunk driver did not. Tally and Max are eighteen year old twins recovering from a tough year.

Once More with Chutzpah by Haley Neil