The Judgment of Yoyo Gold

“The Judgment of Yoyo Gold” by Isaac Blum is a young adult novel exploring the world of Orthodox Judaism and the way in which one girl’s world is turned upside down when she discovers there is more out there than all that she has ever known.

Yocheved Gold, better known as Yoyo, is the daughter of the head rabbi in town. She is looked up to, admired, and considered worthy of respect due to her stature in society. Life becomes more difficult for her, though, when her best friend, Esti, is thought to have been sent away due to having proclivities toward living her life in a way that most Orthodox people deem as improper. While Yoyo continues to live her life, she is somewhat haunted by what has happened to Esti, wondering how exactly it happened, which is exacerbated by the fact that a friend’s older brother, Shua, who is also a good friend of her brother’s, is back from yeshiva in Israel due to seemingly having been kicked out for something else considered unbefitting of an Orthodox Jew.

When Yoyo meets a Reform Jew while performing chesed—acts of kindness—she quickly begins learning about a world she has never before experienced, which is her new friend Mickey’s day-to-day reality. Yoyo begins questioning her life and her upbringing in ways she never thought she would, and since she knows Shua knows how to work in technology, she asks him to remove the filter from her phone. As a result, she is thrust into the world of social media and begins posting videos. While she blurs her face and only uses first initials of names, she tells stories of the people in her town when she discovers that they aren’t quite as strict as they make themselves seem. But Yoyo herself is also starting to live her life in a way that most wouldn’t consider proper. It’s only a matter of time before it catches up to her.

Isaac Blum has crafted a story that encapsulates so many emotions, from uncertainty to honesty, longing to love. There is much to unpack in the pages of this book, especially for those who question who they are and how they fit into the world around them.