Judas

The story is set in Jerusalem in the winter of 1959 Shmuel Ash a sensitive student who has dropped out of university because his fathers finances have collapsed takes a livein job as a companion to an elderly incapacitated man Gershom Wald who needs someone to argue with Wald learns from Shmuel that he has stopped working on his thesis which dealt with Jewish views on Jesus The conversation between these two protagonists revolves around the humanity of Jesus Shmuel tells Wald about his alternative theory on Judas Iscariot he says he believes Judas was not a traitor at all but in fact the truest believer in Jesuss divinity Furthermore a relationship develops between Shmuel and Walds daughterinlaw Atalia Abravanel a sensual and mysterious woman Shmuel falls in love with her in what becomes a tender comingofage tale