Roberto di Modena

Roberto di Modena is a Jerusalem lawyer who serves as an intermediary between Alexander Gideon and Boaz Brandstetter at a moment when Boaz is being offered a choice about where and how to live. His role is chiefly practical: Gideon gives him authority to implement Boaz’s decision, and Roberto arranges Boaz’s move to the property near Zikhron Yaakov. Later orders concerning the property and Boaz’s wages reveal that this seemingly straightforward task becomes entangled with a dispute over who may control Gideon’s affairs.

Identity and Position

Gideon identifies Roberto as a lawyer in Jerusalem, working in the same office as Manfred Zakheim. He directs Boaz to go to Roberto rather than to Zakheim, emphasizing that Roberto has already been instructed to carry out whichever option Boaz chooses. The distinction matters: Roberto is presented not merely as a contact but as the person empowered to translate Gideon’s offer into action, while Zakheim is explicitly not the person Boaz should approach for this decision.

Roberto’s position also places him within a working relationship with Zakheim. In a telegram to Gideon, Roberto reports that his partner is furious about the arrangements concerning the property. Gideon later tells Roberto not to let his partner interfere in Gideon’s affairs. The exchange makes Roberto a point of contact inside a professional relationship whose interests do not necessarily align with Gideon’s instructions. The evidence does not establish that Roberto himself opposed Gideon’s plan; it shows him reporting the complication and receiving further directions.

Carrying Out Gideon’s Offer

Gideon gives Boaz two alternatives. He can travel to the United States, where Gideon will arrange a ticket, accommodation, work, and possibly study; or he can live in a large, empty house near Zikhron Yaakov. The second option is conditional on no demand that Boaz follow a prescribed way of life. Gideon proposes wages for work restoring the neglected building and offers to cover building materials and other costs. He also says Boaz may invite others to live there. The choice is therefore framed both as a practical opportunity and as a way for Boaz to exercise independence.

Roberto is the agent assigned to put that choice into effect. Gideon tells Boaz to inform him of the decision and says the arrangements can be implemented immediately in either direction. A subsequent telegram from Roberto confirms that Boaz has been installed at the property. Roberto reports that he has dealt with formal difficulties, given Boaz the sum Gideon set aside for preliminary expenses, and will pay him monthly according to Gideon’s instructions. Boaz has already been in Zikhron since the previous day. These particulars show the lawyer’s part in moving the offer from correspondence into housing and income, while leaving the source of the money and the terms of the arrangement under Gideon’s control.

Property Dispute and Instructions

The arrangement becomes less secure when a purchaser is prepared to pay for the Zikhron property and employ Boaz there for a monthly wage. Manfred Zakheim sends Gideon an urgent appeal to honor the agreement and warns that he remains Gideon’s friend despite feeling deeply humiliated. Gideon’s reply to Roberto is more direct: Roberto is to prevent his partner from meddling in Gideon’s affairs, find out who the purchaser is, and continue paying Boaz. The instructions separate two matters that could otherwise be confused: a prospective transaction involving the property, and the continuing obligation to support Boaz.

Roberto is thus involved in the administration of a property whose possible sale could affect the place Boaz has just been given. The evidence does not say that Roberto arranged the proposed sale, identify the purchaser, or explain what ultimately happened to the transaction. It does establish that Gideon regards the matter as his to control and relies on Roberto to protect Boaz’s monthly payments while investigating the buyer. That dependence gives Roberto a consequential role even though he is not presented as the owner, the purchaser, or the author of the broader plan.

Limits and Narrative Significance

In a later brief message, Roberto tells Gideon that he has returned Gideon’s files to his partner and that there are no hard feelings. The note marks a change in the immediate handling of the matter, but it does not explain whether the property dispute has been resolved or whether Roberto’s responsibilities have ended. His appearances remain administrative rather than confessional: the reader sees what he is told to do and what he reports having done, not an account of his private motives.

That limited perspective makes Roberto a useful figure in the novel’s treatment of delegated power. Gideon’s offer promises Boaz freedom, but that freedom depends on a chain of instructions, formal arrangements, preliminary funds, wages, and control of a house that may be sold. Roberto helps make the promise materially real, while the conflict with Zakheim shows how quickly another person’s business interests can threaten its terms. The lawyer’s significance lies not in an independently developed personal history, but in the practical hinge he provides between Gideon’s distant intentions and Boaz’s immediate circumstances.