August 20, 2015
UnOrthodox review
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is not the first OTD [Off the Derech] story I've read, so seeing how the Satmar and other ultra-Orthodox women live wasn't so shocking. Deborah Feldman is an excellent writer, but after she was married it seems like all we hear about is her abysmal sex life. When she finally does get divorced, there's nothing about how she managed to keep her son - which she led us to believe would be incredibly difficult. Also no word on how she manages to support herself and her son while attending college; there's only a tiny thanks to her mother in the epilogue for this. Or maybe she's living on a big advance from her publisher. If she and her mother did reconcile, at least enough that she has her mother's support, I think leaving out this critically important part of her life is a disservice to her readers.
In general, I don’t understand the interest, bordering on obsession, in ultra-Orthodox Judaism. The number of articles and books about these sects are way out of proportion to their status as a tiny minority of American Jews. Even worse, it seems that quite a number of non-Jews and secular Jews think these cults are the true version of Judaism, viewing the rest of us as lazy or inauthentic.
August 19, 2015
Sztokman review
The War on Women in Israel: How Religious Radicalism Is Smothering the Voice of a Nation by Elana Maryles Sztokman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I gave this book 5 stars not because I loved it but because Goodreads defines 5-stars as "really amazing," which this one certainly is. However as important as I think it is for people [especially women and Jews] to read this book, I must admit that reading it was hard. So many times I just wanted to scream with anger and frustration. Mostly I just wanted to cry at what appears to be a lost cause in Israel, a country I so wanted/hoped to be a light unto the nations. Kol kavod to Sztokman and her fellow feminist warriors at how they fight the good fight, with hope in their hearts. But I don't see anything changing in Israel. As Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" and sadly this applies even/especially to the most religious.
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