The Pagan Rabbi Archive Nature and the Mind in Cynthia Ozick’s “The Pagan Rabbi” Author: Ariel Katz | Jan112018 Categories: Critical Essays No comments In “The Pagan Rabbi,” nature is not a fixed, objective entity, but an animated, unpredictable, menacing presence. Set in the shadow of World War II, the story follows one scholar’s increasingly surreal perception of the natural world.