There is more than one question that those who did not marry young will ask, regardless if religious or not: what does it make it a good match? What can you do - besides being blacklisted by matchmakers - when no one is good enough for you?
The characters in Seven Blessings - allusion to the sheva brachot celebrated in the weeks after the wedding - are faced with difficult questions about love, relationships and trust, while looking for that life partner projected by the religious family model. It applies to both women and men, most of them in their late 30s, with different religious/observant backgrounds. They belong to the so-called 'Anglo' communities - English-speaking professionals that made aliya.
Being religious doesn't make the choices easier compared to the secular world and the deep questioning of the characters applies easily to the non-religious dilemma.
The religious world itself changed tremendously and admirably Ruchama King is featuring women deeply involved in the study of the Torah, that besides a job and a busy family life are able to put aside a couple of hours for learning the holy texts. Although limited mostly to the modern communities, it is a tremendous change unheard of a couple of years ago.
The story as well as the characters has many tensioned moments which takes the book out of the relatively limited from the literary point of view - read boring, bland - of religious novels shelf for adding it to the largest range of quality literature. The search for love, the difficulties to accommodate desire with intelligence and many other complex inner monologue singles of any age are elaborating is relevant to anyone looking for a partner, regardless the geographical location and the religious denomination - or lack thereof.
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