The Laws of Gravity, a novel by Liz Rosenberg, Amazon Publishing, (c) 2013, ISBN: 9781611099546, 310 pages, $24.95.
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Ari was always protective of his younger, first cousin Nicole. He was fascinated by her long red hair, and though he would not admit it to anyone else, he was in love with his close relative. Never able to have her, however, he settled on a marriage to her best friend who was plain but very funny, a regular stand-up comedian.
After Ari and Nicole married their respective spouses, Mimi and Jay, they continued to socialize. Practically brought up together on Long Island, Ari’s and Mimi’s son, Julian, enjoyed with Daisy, the daughter of Nicole and Jay, a loving relationship, seemingly replicating his father’s feelings for her mother.
But this picture went out of focus after medical tests showed that Nicole had developed cancer and would probably die unless she could obtain cord blood from the placenta that had once nourished Julian as a fetus.
Ari had paid for the umbilical cord blood to be saved in case it was needed by either of his children, Julian or Arianna. The same protectiveness he once had lavished on Nicole, he now spread over his children. When Nicole asked Ari to allow her to be treated with the cord blood, he reluctantly agreed. However, when Julian came down temporarily with a sickness, alarm bells went off in Ari’s head and he withdrew his agreement. He explained that the cord blood really might be needed by Julian or Arianna, and his child, not his cousin, must be his first priority. Mimi disagreed
This sets the stage for a trial in which Nicole sues her cousin to release the cord blood — a trial that attracts national media attention and poses the question of the sanctity of an individual’s body versus one’s obligation to help another.
The case impacts not only the two litigating cousins, and their immediate families, but also the retiring New York judge to whom the dispute is assigned. A humanitarian, Judge Solomon Richter wants desperately to be able to find a way to save Nicole’s life, but as a jurist who follows the law — rather than one who makes it — he knows that most points and authorities are on Ari’s side of the argument.
While the legal drama comprises a good portion of thenovel, author Rosenberg in turn examines the relationships of Nicole to Jay; Ari to Mimi; both sets of parents to their children; Julian to Daisy, Solomon Richter to his wife, Sarah; and the Richter’s daughter, Abigail, to Rabbi Teddy Lewin, who is instructing Sarah for her adult bat mitzvah.
With all the main characters in this book being Jewish, it is natural that some reflections on Torah teachings help us evaluate the case from a perspective beyond the laws of the State of New York.
This is a thoughtful and intriguing novel, which I predict will qualify as a topic for discussion among book groups, especially those which are synagogue based.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com