Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of religious discrimination and violence.

A central conflict in The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is the Orthodox Jewish community’s struggle to co-exist with their non-Jewish neighbors. The novel centers Hoodie’s Orthodox belief that a strong community is central to a fulfilled life and maintaining one’s personal faith. As the novel begins, Hoodie and his family have moved from the expensive town of Colwyn to the more affordable town of Tregaron. Although other families have moved with them, Hoodie misses the thriving Orthodox community in Tregaron because “everybody there had been Jewish, and everybody knew [him] and [his] family” (43). The presence of the community was a comfort to Hoodie and his family, especially on Shabbos, when they “would meet up with other families on the way to the synagogue, and [he] would walk with a big group of [his] friends, and [their] sisters would create flash mobs of girls running around” (83). Hoodie concludes that, in Colwyn, “everywhere you went, you were with your people. It felt like you were always among family” (113). The repeated use of the word “family” in these passages positions the Orthodox Jewish community as a loving, familiar presence in Colwyn—a community that made Hoodie and his immediate family feel comfortable and happy.