405 / 142
The Unlikely Blessings of Living on Borrowed Time in a Leased Land 405
Landsman, shocked by the indifference
—
the “ten thousand miles of
frozen sea” (142)
—
he sees in the eyes of Mendel’s father, Rabbi
Shpilman, when he informs the Rabbi of his son’s death.
As Landsman plods on, the murder case leads to the discovery
of an anti-Arab conspiracy engineered by Zionist Jews and aided by
the American government, with the dual aims of precipitating World
War III and returning the Jews to their promised land in Palestine.
Before Landsman acts on this knowledge, the Zionists-Evangelists
launch an attack at the Dome of the Rock
—
a sacred site for both
Jews, Muslims, and Christians
—
which is reduced to a “magnificent
plume of black smoke” (358), a scenario that resonates with the twin
towers destruction on 9/11.
9
The novel ends with Landsman
debating whether to go public with his theories, as he doubts the
information will make a difference. In other words, however hard
he tries to name the murderer, unveil the truth, and uncover the
conspiracy, Landsman is convinced he can neither change his
personal destiny nor save the world from an imminent warfare, as
the Dome has already been destroyed and a global killing spree
already started, with Jews, Muslims, and Christians pointing fingers
at one another for maliciously destroying their sacred religious
shrine. So, why and what does it matter whether or not the truth of
who killed Mendel is unveiled, or the conspiracy uncovered? Why
should one act, think, or feel otherwise; that is, what is the
justification for counterfactual thinking? What possibilities would it
open up?
9
I’m here echoing the argument made by Margaret Scanlan that by centering his
novel on an inverse 9/11, Chabon explores an issue that touches the heart of his
contemporary American readers; that is, “the relationship of American Zionists,
both Christian and Jewish, to their militant counterparts in Israel, as well as the
implications of that relationship for the War on Terror and for the American Jewish
community” (2011: 506).