As I drifted through the sci-fi section of my local public library, I looked for a story that would keep me reading for hours. When I happened upon a cover with a paper airplane above a fiery city, I knew I’d found something fascinating. I flipped to the blurb at the front and was completely surprised by what I read. The novel follows a Jewish couple as they create a life together during an antisemitic apocalypse. I was stunned. By complete chance, I had found a book that speaks to one of my biggest passions: Judaism.

‍Next Stop by Rabbi Benjamin Resnick turned out to be one of the best books I have read in years. The central premise starts when the state of Israel is suddenly swallowed by a black hole, an event known as the “First Event.” From this chaos sprouts a world enveloped in antisemitism and political turmoil. Then, smaller black hole "anomalies" begin to appear across the world, called the “Second Event.” Many of these anomalies seem to exert a strange gravitational pull on Jewish people specifically. Some Jews choose to go through these anomalies, as they believe they will enter a new world. The story picks up among antisemitic paranoia, restrictions on Jewish life, and spasms of violence, where two young Jewish people meet and fall in love.

While apocalyptic stories such as these can be depressing, such unique speculative fiction about the Jewish experience kept me glued to the page. Resnick has a very direct and descriptive writing style that never becomes boring or uninteresting. The plot always took a unique approach, and the world building of this completely new American society was gripping. With each new character you meet as you journey through the story, you hear a different reaction to what is happening around them. Without spoiling too much, some characters choose to join a militia and build weapons; some choose to hide and reject their Judaism; and others, like our protagonists Ethan and Ella, choose to live as normal lives as they can.

About halfway through the novel, thousands of planes are pulled into these anomalies, air travel ends, borders close, and refugees flood the streets. All Jews in the protagonists’ city are forced to relocate to a segregated zone called “the Pale,” a futuristic Jewish ghetto. This plot line was especially interesting. It shows how quickly rights can be stripped away from everyday citizens. With each new precarious event that occurs, the Jewish people are blamed, with no actual evidence against them. But even as society collapses, the story tracks the intimacy of daily life. The novel’s focus is on relationships, parenting, love, grief, and fear. I found this to be a strong choice that emphasizes human bonds over dystopian spectacle. 

Of all the Jewish writing I have read, Next Stop really empowers the reader to consider antisemitism in their own community. The bold premise portrayed in the book is a complete fiction, but as we have seen throughout Jewish history, the extreme scapegoating of Jews is unfortunately far from implausible. In a way, the book is an allegory for historical and contemporary Jewish experiences around the world. 

Here in BBYO, we can use the lessons in Next Stop throughout our daily lives. We see so much antisemitic paranoia online, and it’s our responsibility as the next generation of Jewish leaders to shut down that rhetoric and educate people on what being Jewish actually means. I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a fascinating dystopian story who feels passionate about the fight against antisemitism or is interested in a compelling Jewish novel.