Snow in August is a 1997 novel by American journalist, essayist, and novelist Pete Hamill. Set in Brooklyn in 1946, it traces the development of an unlikely friendship between a Catholic altar boy, Michael Devlin, and the Orthodox Rabbi Judah Hirsch. A New York Times bestseller, the novel was adapted into a movie of the same name in 2001. Michael wakes up to find that a blizzard has covered Brooklyn in deep snow. Still, he must do his duty: he is supposed to serve as an altar boy at the eight o’clock mass. On the way to church, Michael passes the synagogue. A rabbi calls to him from the doorway. It is the Sabbath, and the rabbi needs a non-Jewish person to switch on his lights for him. Michael agrees, and the rabbi gives him a nickel. With two friends, Sonny Montemarano and Jimmy Kabinsky, Michael earns a dollar shoveling snow. They take the dollar to the candy store, where a teenager, Frankie McCarthy, tries to take it from them. The owner of the store, Mr. G, intervenes, and Frankie viciously beats him. When Michael tells Sonny and Jimmy about his encounter with the rabbi, they tell him that the rabbi must have secret treasure, and urge Michael to search for it. Michael goes to visit the rabbi, who introduces himself and gives Michael a cup of tea. Rabbi Hirsch explains that he is from Prague, and he is struggling to learn English. Michael offers to teach him, and Rabbi Hirsch offers to teach him Yiddish in exchange. As they begin their lessons, they learn about one another’s lives. The rabbi tells Michael about Prague, meeting Franz Kafka, Kabbalah, and Jewish magic. Michael wants to hear more on this topic, and Rabbi Hirsch tells him about Rabbi Judah Loew and the Golem, a magical creature summoned by Rabbi Loew to defend the Jews of Prague from a pogrom. The rabbi admits that he has tried to summon the Golem himself, but failed. The police question Michael about Frankie’s attack on Mr. G. They know he was there, but he refuses to say anything. However, soon afterward, Frankie traps Michael in an alleyway, threatening him and his mother. Frankie also warns Michael not to fraternize with Jews. Michael’s friends continue to harass him about finding the Jews’ treasure. At the same time, they complain about the discrimination faced by African-American baseball player Jackie Robinson, and Michael is angered by their hypocrisy. Frankie is arrested. Michael is on the scene, and members of Frankie’s gang, the Falcons, look at him accusingly. Michael begins to fear for his life. A neighbor, Mrs. Griffin, advises him to pray and his fear subsides. While shopping with his mom for new Easter clothes, Michael gets a discount from the Jewish salesman by speaking to him in Yiddish. Rabbi Hirsch tells Michael the story of Passover. Michael asks the rabbi why God didn’t save the Jews from the Holocaust, and the rabbi’s answer hints that he has lost his faith. On his way to Mass, Michael sees Rabbi Hirsch trying to scrub swastika graffiti from the wall of the synagogue. Horrified, Michael runs to the church and asks Father Heaney to help. Father Heaney enlists the local Christians to help the rabbi clean the synagogue. As they work, Frankie and the Falcons watch and make fun of them. Soon afterward, Michael’s apartment is also graffitied with a swastika and the words “JEW LOVER.” Frustrated by the discrimination against Jackie Robinson, Michael asks Rabbi Hirsch to use kabbalah magic to help his favorite player. The rabbi prays that God will let Robinson hit. The Falcons jump Michael and beat him badly. He wakes up in the hospital with broken ribs. Michael tells his mother who is responsible, but he doesn’t talk to the police. On his first night home, there is a knock on Michael’s door. His mother is alarmed, but it is Rabbi Hirsch. The rabbi explained that the police wouldn’t allow him to visit Michael in hospital. Michael’s mother asks the rabbi about his history and learns about his lost love, Leah. Before he goes, the rabbi tells Michael he has bought them tickets to watch Jackie Robinson play. At the baseball game, some people in the crowd yell anti-Semitic slurs at the rabbi. A fight breaks out, and the police haul away the instigators. Michael and the rabbi end up befriending other people in the crowd. The Falcons surround Michael and his mom. Michael is still on crutches, so they can’t run. The Falcons tear his mom’s blouse and molest her. Afterward, she is frightened and depressed. Michael goes to the synagogue to ask for Rabbi Hirsch’s help. He finds the rabbi beaten nearly to death. The rabbi is taken to hospital, where Michael is not allowed to visit him, but he learns that he is in a coma. Sonny and Jimmy tell Michael that Frankie has a gun and has been boasting about killing Michael and his mom. She begins preparing for them to flee Brooklyn. Michael sneaks into the hospital and finds the rabbi’s room. The rabbi wakes, and Michael tells him everything that has happened. Then Michael asks the rabbi to tell him how to summon the Golem. Michael digs dirt from the Quaker cemetery and takes it to the synagogue, where he uses it to make a Golem. Michael instructs the Golem to destroy the Falcons. The Golem demonstrates his power by making it snow, even though it is August. The Golem fights Frankie and the Falcons, defeating them. Michael takes the Golem to the hospital, where he heals the rabbi with a kiss. Michael and the rabbi must send the Golem back to its place in history, but on the way, the rabbi is allowed to visit his beloved Leah. Exploring themes of faith, community, and discrimination, Snow in August was praised by Publishers’ Weekly for examining with a “cool head and a big heart the vulnerabilities and inevitable oneness of humankind.”

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Pete Hamill

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Snow in August

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