The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of religious discrimination.

Reflecting on recent events, Yehuda “Hoodie” Rosen believes that the crime he committed actually saved his whole community. Although he now recognizes the severity of the situation, he admits that, in that moment, he found it very funny.

The trouble begins on Tu B’Av, a minor Jewish holiday that is often compared to Valentine’s Day. As he sits in yeshiva, listening to Rabbi Moritz discuss ritual handwashing, Hoodie tries to remember the history of Tu B’Av. He is distracted by a girl dressed all in white dancing in front of a tree across the street. The sight of the girl reminds him that Tu B’Av celebrates an ancient tradition in which unmarried girls in Jerusalem would dress in white robes and dance through the vineyards during the grape harvest. Their simple white robes would disguise their class and tribe, and the boys working the harvest could choose a wife without prejudice. As Hoodie watches the girl dance, he guesses by her clothing and behavior that she is a gentile (non-Jewish) girl and that he is not allowed to talk to her.