Beinoni
by: Mari Lowe
July 15, 2025 Levine Querido
288 pages
Mari Lowe books have always been the epitome of Orthodox Jewish representation for me. The first time I held one of her books in my hand (Aviva vs. the Dybbuk) was the first time I saw myself in a traditionally published book. It was a meaningful moment, followed by even more meaningful moments as that book and Lowe’s subsequent book both went on to win many honors, including Sydney Taylor awards. In her third middle grade offering, Beinoni, Lowe moves away from the world of contemporary orthodox Jewish girls and into the realm of orthodox Jewish boys who fight monsters. Literally. Beinoni has a male main character named Ezra and his bar mitzvah is going to come with one huge hitch. Forget messing up the Torah chanting or fumbling the speech. Ezra must fight a demon or watch the whole world go up in smoke. Talk about parties to end all parties.
The story takes its inspiration from a mysterious Talmud story (admittedly the Talmud is full of mysterious stories. We love to see it!). After the destruction of the temple, so the story goes, the Rabbis prayed to God to remove mans inclination toward idol worship. God granted their wish and the evil inclination took the shape of a lion cub that was promptly trapped in a lead container. Thus explaining my lack of drive to bow down to inanimate objects and whatnot. The trade off? Man was no longer capable of prophecy. The Talmud story goes on to explain why the process couldn’t be repeated towards other evil inclinations, but we’ll leave it there to discuss the book at hand.
In the fictional world of Beinoni, Lowe takes the Talmud story even further. Instead of simply trapping the beast once, she sets up a premise in which the evil inclination returns every 70 years to face a special chosen one – a bar mitzvah boy or girl – who must slay it to maintain balance in the world. Should this young person who frankly never asked for this anyway fail in their job, the evil inclination will grow stronger and spread its awfulness across the world until the next chosen one becomes thirteen and gets another chance at defeating it. In Lowe’s take on the story, this is not just the evil inclination for idolatry, but rather the source of all evil. Without it there world is in a Beinoni state. Beinoni translates to in between, medium, so-so, meh, tepid, you get the picture. Sure, nothing terrible can happen? But the trade off? the world didn’t just lose prophecy. It lost the ability for anything exceptional – good or bad. Fail to kill the beast, and there will be war and famine and unspeakable atrocities, but cage it and you’ll get nothing but mediocrity from the entire universe.
How anyone has the right to say that’s a good deal, and make that decision for everyone, is a central question of the book. Especially sine the decision appears to be resting with a random thirteen year old who just so happens to have a funky birthmark.
Ezra is proud to be the chosen one, and feeling really pumped for his mission, until the Beinoni state of the world starts to slip. There are wars, fires, and tragedies abound. But even more disconcerting? As Chosen One, Ezra was always on top of his class and his fighting game. With the breaks taken off everyone else, he’s suddenly struggling to keep up with anything. And nobody believes him. If they suspect the state of the world is slipping, they most certainly don’t want to admit it. Which is how he ends up totally failing school and hanging out with students his father does not approve of. All while some secret society appears to be trying to kidnap him to keep the world out of the Beinoni state. It’s a lot for one almost thirteen year old to handle. Then again? So was defeating a mythic beast in the first place.
Readers who love Lowe’s surprise twists will not be disappointed (although I am proud to say I figured this one out about 1/4 into the book). In addition, while we have a male protagonist, the coolest character is arguably Mariam whom we will forgive for the unconventional spelling of her name because she is a total badass even without being the chosen one. Seriously, when the boys finally let her into the investigation she pretty much blows the whole thing wide open for them. Making all of us wonder if that birthmark maybe ended up on the wrong kid. Plus, there is a warm and loving depiction of Orthodox life, both at home and in Yeshiva. Including how to deal with an ADHD diagnosis. Lowe is an educator and it shows in her thoughtful depiction of what goes on at the yeshiva once the boys can finally reach their potential – or fail spectacularly – since Beinoni is broken.
There are deep questions here, both about friendship and good and evil. Nothing is black and white, and as the Rabbi’s learn in the original story – sometimes the evil inclination is a necessary thing. Other times not so much. How to find that balance is a great question for bar or bat mitzvah children to be asking themselves, even if they don’t have to slay a fiery demon.
Note: Bookishlyjewish received a copy of this book from the publisher after we asked for one.