A Cheap Shofar: Un-Orthodox Short Fictions

Ilie's short stories focus on the inner turmoil and external strife that exist across a vast spectrum of Jewish lives. The author has a perspicacious style filled with rich exposition. The collection's most daring story tells of a synagogue gabbai's uncomfortable peek behind the curtain of Zionist extremism. While a few of the stories draw their fodder from Jewish and Israeli politics, others deal with the everyday differences within the Jewish faith. In "The Righteous Path," two friends' life paths diverge, only to cross again later in a moment of unexpected rage. These stories aren't merely moralistic musings on Judaism, nor are they a coarse satire of it; rather, they are a compassionate exploration of what it means to be born into a deeply rooted cultural identity.