The United States is a recurring point of reference in the novel’s documentary record rather than a fully depicted setting. Its clearest associations are Alexander A. Gideon’s university affiliation, the American currency used in requests for financial support, and the New York City doctors consulted about his illness.

Academic Affiliation

A letterhead identifies Alexander A. Gideon with the Political Science Department at Midwest University in Chicago, Illinois, and gives that American institutional address alongside Jerusalem and a February 1976 date. The same affiliation appears on another letterhead. These details establish a professional connection to the United States, but do not show where Gideon was living when the documents were written.

Currency and Financial Requests

American dollars provide the measure for substantial sums discussed in correspondence between Gideon and the Sommo family. A request specifies $180,000 for the family’s mortgage, an additional room, and provision for the children, followed by a further $95,000 toward purchasing and renovating Alkalai House in Hebron. In a later letter, Michel-Henri Sommo describes receiving $107,000 in Israeli pounds in three installments and renews his request for $120,000 for the Hebron property. The use of dollars links the American frame to financial dealings centered in Israel; it does not make the proposed land purchase an event in the United States.

Medical Reference

When Gideon later describes his advanced kidney cancer, he reports that doctors in New York City saw no point in another operation. This brief reference places American medical consultation within the account of his worsening condition, while the rest of his letter focuses on his return to Israel and his relationships with Ilana and Boaz.

Narrative Significance

The United States enters mainly through institutional and documentary traces, not through scenes of daily life there. University letterheads, dollar-denominated requests, and the consultation in New York City give the correspondence a cross-border dimension, while its central conflicts—family responsibility, money, and the proposed redemption of property in Hebron—remain rooted elsewhere. The evidence does not establish that Gideon resided in the United States or that the country itself becomes a principal setting.