64 pages • 2-hour read
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, pregnancy termination, and racism.
The Value of Uncertainty
Chabon’s novel argues that the world is inherently mysterious and ambiguous, and uncertainty must be accepted as a given rather than as a problem to be solved. This idea is central to the novel’s narrative structure and its character development.
This theme is demonstrated most clearly in the characterization of Mendel Shpilman, whose status as the Tzaddik Ha-Dor of Jewish tradition is a recurring question that hangs over Landsman’s investigation. Mendel’s refusal to be the messianic figure that his father wants him to be is complicated by the clear demonstration of his supernatural gifts. These contradictions deepen with the revelation of his sexuality, which disrupts his parents’ efforts to leverage him as an asset in the power struggle between Sitka’s religious factions. Mendel’s death, which is the inciting incident of the novel, also has troubling implications on his status as Tzaddik Ha-Dor, either suggesting that he isn’t the Messiah despite his abilities or that the world has rejected the Messiah and failed to realize its own promised destiny.
The many ambiguities that surround the character of Mendel parallel those that shape Meyer Landsman’s life. On one hand, the nature of Landsman’s occupation has him striving toward certainty. On the other hand, detective work constantly relies on inference and partial knowledge. Chabon uses this tension to build Landsman’s character arc around the necessity of acting without certainty and choosing to do what he believes is right, even if he isn’t certain about the outcome. This is echoed in his lingering guilt over the abortion that led to the end of his marriage with Bina. In his heart, Landsman takes responsibility for the decision because he believed that he could not care for the child without hurting them in some profound way. In the final chapter, Bina reassures Landsman that his decision is forgivable because he was acting on limited information. She says: “We had a few facts. We knew our limitations. And we called that a choice. But we didn’t have any choice” (410). Bina can forgive Landsman because he was doing what he thought was right at the time, which was to support her in her own state of doubt.
Landsman’s secular moral code stands in contrast to the vast multitude of Sitka’s residents, who turn to prophecy as a form of absolute certainty. Part of the reason Landsman and Bina are shocked when the fabricated news of the attack on Jerusalem breaks is that they can see how quickly their peers accept what they have been told at face value. This speaks to the human craving for certainty. Chabon challenges this impulse, suggesting instead that meaning and morality arise from accepting uncertainty as a given and acting with integrity despite this.
Using Sacred Tradition to Justify Violence
The central conspiracy that Landsman unfolds reveals how sacred traditions can be weaponized to justify violence. While Chabon doesn’t critique religious belief itself, he does criticize the political and ideological manipulation of religious symbolism in the pursuit of power.
Litvak, Heskel Shpilman, and Cashdollar orchestrate their plot around the idea of returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the Temple, and they claim this move is supported by divine prophecy. This is why Mendel’s status as the Tzaddik Ha-Dor is so important to them at first. With the Tzaddik Ha-Dor in their control, they hope to also control the spiritual and emotional momentum of the Zionist cause.
Each of these three characters embodies a different kind of distortion of religious tradition. While Heskel believes in sacred tradition, as a Verbover, he also believes that he is destined to thrive as a criminal kingpin. The Verbovers believe their survival and success are proof of divine sanction. Batsheva critiques this mindset in Chapter 25, noting that the Verbovers confuse their endurance with their righteousness. Consequently, Heskel sees the conspiracy as a holistic business opportunity for his criminal empire. The way he treats Mendel suggests that he sees his son as an asset rather than as a person. He maintains strict control over Mendel’s activities and agrees to marry him off to strengthen ties between crime families and consolidate power.
On the other hand, Litvak is a nonbeliever motivated by the promise of power. Even after Mendel is killed, Litvak pushes forward with his plan, realigning the conspiracy to suggest that the Tzaddik Ha-Dor is still coming. Litvak’s ability to strip Mendel of his divine importance shows how little sacred tradition actually means to him. Even then, Litvak becomes terrified when he witnesses the miracle Mendel demonstrates before him. This moment underscores the unpredictable and transcendent force of faith, which is greater than Litvak’s exploitative agenda.
Cashdollar justifies the novel’s violence by claiming to be acting according to biblical prophecy, arguing that his actions are divinely sanctioned. In practice, his actions provide cover for the United States government’s political agenda, since his rhetoric about prophecy conveniently aligns with the government’s desire to reclaim Sitka from the Jewish refugee community. Thus, he aligns religious belief with the United States’s geopolitical strategy.
Through these characters, Chabon critiques the danger of cloaking violence in religious rhetoric. He shows how sacred tradition can be emptied of meaning and used as a convenient tool for nationalist or imperial agendas.
Reconciling Fate and Free Will
The novel examines the question of humanity’s fundamental freedom by examining it through the lens of Jewish historical experience. Although Sitka was established as a temporary refuge, it has come to represent a permanent Jewish homeland to its residents. The imminent Reversion threatens to demolish that hope and leave the residents without a singular place where they can celebrate their shared heritage and identity. To Landsman, who has spent his whole life in Sitka, the threat of Reversion is the threat of his world being destroyed. These circumstances force the characters to consider whether their lives are governed by destiny or shaped by choice since they lack the power to affect the outcome.
This dilemma is most deeply explored through Mendel Shpilman and the forces who try to prop him up as the Tzaddik Ha-Dor, including his parents. Mendel is raised to believe that he is destined to do great things for the people of Jewish Sitka—specifically, he is to restore the Temple in Jerusalem and reclaim it under Jewish sovereignty. However, while Mendel’s early miracles prove that he is capable of doing great things, they also show him questioning his path. For instance, after blessing Zimbalist’s mistress, he asks Zimbalist to pass on his blessing to everyone else at the hospital so they can be healed, too. Mendel does not restrict his blessings on religious grounds, as he has been instructed to. As he grows older, he begins to reject the title of Tzaddik Ha-Dor and refuses to let it define his life. However, Mendel’s addiction and loneliness while hiding from his family show that he feels trapped. Though he arrives at Beth Tikkun believing he can seek help for his addiction, he quickly learns that Litvak and his co-conspirators want to use him as a figurehead for their ulterior motives: Mendel is still seen as a symbol rather than a person. His final act of posing a chess problem to Hertz that has no solution is a metaphor of his perceived lack of choices. His death reflects his belief that his fate has already been written by others.
As he unravels the mystery behind Mendel’s death, Landsman’s journey parallels Mandel’s. He, too, wonders whether he is destined to suffer or if he has the choice to redeem himself. Like Mendel, Landsman contemplates ending his life because he cannot endure the many losses he’s experienced and cannot see a way forward. He cannot stop reliving the role he played in terminating Bina’s pregnancy, which, in retrospect, he feels is the poorest possible choice he could have made. By the end of the novel, Landsman slowly regains his sense of agency. By acting on instinct and personal ethics, he is able to find Mendel’s killer and restore his relationship with Bina. His redemptive arc suggests that while free will may not erase all suffering, it does allow for the possibility of meaning.
In the novel, fate and free will are entangled forces. While external systems, like politics, religion, and history, can seem akin to destiny and impose themselves on individuals’ lives, individuals can still choose how to respond.
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