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Paperback Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels Book

ISBN: 0807036277

ISBN13: 9780807036273

Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels

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Format: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

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Book Overview

An exploration of Hasidic Jews struggling to live within their restrictive communities--and, in some cases, to carve out a new life beyond them When Hella Winston began talking with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn for her doctoral dissertation in sociology, she was surprised to be covertly introduced to Hasidim unhappy with their highly restrictive way of life and sometimes desperately struggling to escape it. Unchosen tells the stories of these "rebel" Hasidim, serious questioners who long for greater personal and intellectual freedom than their communities allow. She meets is Malky Schwartz, who grew up in a Lubavith sect in Brooklyn, and started Footsteps, Inc., an organization that helps ultra-Orthodox Jews who are considering or have already left their community. There is Yossi, a young man who, though deeply attached to the Hasidic culture in which he was raised, longed for a life with fewer restrictions and more tolerance. Yossi's efforts at making such a life, however, were being severely hampered by his fourth grade English and math skills, his profound ignorance of the ways of the outside world, and the looming threat that pursuing his desires would almost certainly lead to rejection by his family and friends. Then she met Dini, a young wife and mother whose decision to deviate even slightly from Hasidic standards of modesty led to threatening phone calls from anonymous men, warning her that she needed to watch the way she was dressing if she wanted to remain a part of the community. Someone else introduced Winston to Steinmetz, a closet bibliophile worked in a small Judaica store in his community and spent his days off anxiously evading discovery in the library of the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary, whose shelves contain non-Hasidic books he is forbidden to read but nonetheless devours, often several at a sitting. There were others still who had actually made the wrenching decision to leave their communities altogether. In her new Preface, Winston discusses the passionate reactions the book has elicited among Hasidim and non-Hasidim alike. Named one of Publishers Weekly 's Ten Best Religion Books of 2005. Honorable Mention in the 2012 Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism

Customer Reviews

7 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
Why are people so defensive?

I am truly amazed (but probably should not be) by how hard some of these reviewers are trying to discredit this book by claiming that the people portrayed in it are "rare" or that the author is in it for the money. As someone who knows this world VERY well, I can say that these stories are NOT so rare, and that it is about time that people stopped performing a cover-up for the sake of image and appearances. Yes, there are...

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Rated 5 stars
Challenging subject sensitively handled

This book deals with a challenging subject. Unlike some of the reviewers below, I do not see it as an attempt to smear Hasidic people or their way of life, but rather to tell the stories of those who cannot live that life. People who see it as otherwise might be reading something into this book that I do not think is there. To question why the author did not write about native american "rebels" or "rebels" from other groups...

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Rated 5 stars
explore this book with an open mind

This is an easy to read book, with important true-life stories. Told well and honestly. I recognize many of the characters from my own experiences in the litvishe yeshiva world. If you want to gain insight into the complexity of a wonderful but imperfect community -- read this book. It is not condemning, and it does not mean that all Hasidim are sad and wanting more. The author is quite matter-of-factly about what she...

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Rated 5 stars
Wonderful and informative

For a modern-day tale of the triumph of the individual in the face of a closed society that demands conformity, please read this book! This book documents the hidden stories of people, mostly young, who struggle to find their own identities within the ultra-orthodox Jewish communities of Brooklyn. As the author points out, these communities demand strict adherence to their perceived concept of Jewish Law. But as we see, this...

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Rated 5 stars
A Great Read

Reading Unchosen made me think that even a non-Jew could cook an authentic Cholent, something I never believed possible. What is sometimes referred to as a homogeneous body, "Chassidic Jewry" is in fact splintered into many different factions. At times, these factions are indistinguishable from each other, and at other times they are unrecognizable as belonging to the same religion. Sadly, most Chassidim--especially those...

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