Chosen by God: A Brother's Journey

by Joshua Hammer

Book Overview

Explaining the potential dangers facing our world, this series offers positive suggestions for securing our future. The books demystify terms such as global warming, acid rain and ozone layer and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786886013
• ISBN13: 9780786886012
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Tale of Two Brothers

I found this book fascinating and unputdownable. Hammer has accurately captured the ambience and atmosphere of the ultra-Orthodox world. Unfortunately, his memory fails him on a lot of the details of halachic observance. An expert should have carefully reviewed the manuscript before publication. But these flaws do not detract from the compelling story. The psychological implications are telling: the more sensitive brother, Tuvia, is drawn to religious life, seeking the warmth of family and the acceptance he may have lacked growing up in the shadow of a talented older brother. He finds close community in the ultra-Orthodox world and a father substitute in a charismatic Hasidic rabbi. The book also reveals the economic underpinnings of a society where men are not expected to earn a living, yet father large families. The families live in poverty, supported by the pittance wives can earn in home businesses and by minimal stipends from the yeshiva. Friends do favors, even the impoverished give to those less well off than themselves. But the major economic support is provided by well-to-do secular parents, who pay for housing, tuition, and everything else their children and grandchildren need. It is a system in which the compassion - and guilt feelings - of parents are fully exploited. The wives shoulder a greatly disproportionate burden, and they, too, are fully exploited. Hammer does not go much beyond reportage, and one would have liked deeper analysis and thoughtfulness. But the facts speak for themselves. This is a window on a subculture most readers would not otherwise have the access to penetrate.

chosen by god

Joshua Hammer's book is revelatory - both of himself and his brother Tuvia. I got a real sense that Hammer's trips to Monsey were as much to define himself as it was to describe his brother Tony's move into ultra-orthodox Judaism.Tony's move from Marxism to Chasidism was a change from one authoritarian system to another. He could just as easily become a Moonie, Catholic monk, Bahia depending on who found him first at that turmoiled time of his life.The author's own journey was from complete scepticism and hostility to an examination of a life, at first totally ailen, and them understanding, and finally acceptance. He still, however, could not accept the complete rigidity of his brother's life. Had it not been for his sister-in-law's Jewishness by choice and her, finally succesful attempt to bring Tuvia to an understanding of his role as a father and husband, the entire structure could have come crashing down. She also helped Hammer find some rationale for Tuvia.In the end, however, the author realized that in finding his brother,he found more of himself and a deeper understanding of the dysfuntion in part of his family.Joshua Hammer's journey is not yet complete. I'm looking forward to his next book

A peak into Orthodoxy

Joshua Hammer gives an illuminating look into ultra-Orthodox Judaism. What I also found thought provoking was his account of his "lost" brother who was drifting from one interest to another and was finally sucked into a cult-like sect of Hasidism. I have often wondered how baby boomers like myself who were raised as Reform Jews in a pluralistic society decided to choose to become a Ba'al Tshuvah or "Born Again Ultra Orthodox Jew"? I guess it's better than being a Moonie, or is it?Anyway, kudos to Joshua Hammer and his wonderful book. I was up until 2 am this morning reading it!

Chosen by God - A Reflection of his image

A reviewer, a Filmmaker & Theatre Artist, LA/NY, November 3, 1999, Chosen By God - A Reflection of His Image. As a reader of NEWSWEEK for years, I have followed journalist Joshua Hammer's writing from his serious journalism in Nairobi to his lighter fare in Los Angeles. In ten years of following his work, I came to know the honest, fearless and responsible journalist. I must be honest in telling you that I was shocked to meet the man in his first solo outing 'Chosen By God.' He is a journalist of the highest order, but what a marvelous surprise to discover his simple straightforward ability to tell a meaningful story. Mr. Hammer isn't afraid to let us in on his weaknesses, and his desire to find himself while finding his long-lost brother. There is no need to delve into the subject matter of this work, for it is dealt with in detail above, however, trust that as someone who is deeply familiar with the world that Mr. Hammer writes of, no matter what your faith or religious background, you will see yourself or someone you know in Mr. Hammer's tale. That is the true test of an enduring story. I recommend this work to those who are not looking for a pseudo-intellectual experience - but for those who are looking for a piece of life itself. Congratulations on a 'true' work.

AN ODYSSEY INTO FUNDAMENTALISM

To understand his brother's flight to the outer fringe of fundamentalist Judaism, Joshua Hammer explores his own soul, and inspires his readers to explore theirs. Chosen by God is a remarkably objective reporting job: one can imagine how difficult it is to be objective about one's own family. It's an odyssey of sorts in which the author travels from Israel to Hassidic enclaves around New York City; from his teen years with his theatrically talented brother, Tony, to later visits with the bearded, dovening Tuvia his brother has become. Along the way the reader is taken into the environment that affected the two boys as they grew up: the divorce of their parents; his father's remarriage to a non-Jew; the loss of their little half-sister to a rare disease. Readers' lives will in no way resemble those of Joshua or Tony (Tuvia) Hammer, but they will gain insight into the ups and downs of their own lives, a better understanding of themselves, and perhaps some understanding of those friends or relatives who abandoned the secular world for fundamentalism. And they'll do so through a compelling story that's almost impossible to lay aside