The Ruined House

“An absolute masterpiece, one of the most monumental works written in Hebrew in the last century.”

“Take the time, make the effort, and you’ll see that the novel, like all great works, contains multitudes: It’s about American Jewry’s search for meaning. It’s about faith in modern times. It’s about Judaism’s radical messianic spirit and its rebirth in each generation. It’s about exilic life in the aftermath of the Temple’s demise. It’s about the struggle for foundations in an era that seems to be built entirely on intellectual, moral, spiritual, and emotional quicksand.”

“It is, in short, the quintessential Hebrew novel. It’s hard to think of one more ambitious, more engaged with the core questions that have bedeviled Jews, in Israel and abroad, for so long. It’s also hard to imagine a novel like this being written in Israel: Its scope, its facility with both the trifles of contemporary life and the awesome rhythms of antiquity, its psychological depths and its theological seriousness—all those could have only been achieved far from the cauldron of everyday Israeli existence and its own boiling concerns.” - Liel Leibovitz, Tablet Magazine

“Above all, Habayit asher neḥerav (The Ruined House) is a keenly observed meditation on the failing inner resources of American Jewry at the dawn of the 21st century.” - Michael Weingrad, Mosaic Magazine

“…the awarding of Israel’s Sapir Prize—Israel’s premier literary award — to Israeli author Reuven Namdar for his stunning novel 'The House That Was Destroyed,' which chronicles a year in the life of a New York academic.

The Sapir Prize identifies, recognizes, and rewards (financially) the best book that was published during the year in the Hebrew language.

All to the good. Reuven Namdar’s novel was rightly acclaimed as a tour-de-force in the genre.” - Jerome Chanes, The Jewish Week

"A wildly original novel... Unsettling and beautifully written." - Mary Kaye Schilling, Newsweek