Unchosen: The Hidden Lives Of Hasidic Rebels - Rilegato

Winston, Hella

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0807036269 ISBN 13: 9780807036266

Casa editrice: Beacon Pr, 2005

Riassunto

When Hella Winston began talking with Hasidic Jews for her doctoral dissertation in sociology, she was excited to be meeting with members of the highly insular Brooklyn Satmar sect. Several Jewish journalists and scholars have produced admiring books describing the Lubavitch way of life and the group’s outreach efforts, but very little has been written about the other Hasidic sects, despite their combined greater numbers. Unlike Lubavitch, members of these other groups do not engage in outreach and are raised to avoid all unnecessary contact with outside society. Winston’s access was unprecedented.

She never could have guessed what would happen next—that she would be introduced, slowly and covertly, to Hasidim deeply unhappy with their highly restrictive way of life and sometimes desperately struggling to leave their communities. First there was Yossi, a young man yearning to leave but, like most male Hasidim, a Yiddish speaker with only fourth grade English and math skills. Then she met Dini, a wife and mother called before the all-male modesty patrol because someone had spotted her outside a bar in a T-shirt and miniskirt. There were others still who had actually left.

Unchosen tells the story of these and other “rebel” Hasidim, serious questioners who long for greater personal and intellectual freedom than their communities allow. In so doing, Unchosen forces us to reexamine the history of these communities and asks us to consider what we choose not to see when we romanticize them.

Hella Winston is pursuing her Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center for the City University of New York. She lives in New York City.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Complex and heart-wrenchingly compelling. --Caroline Leavitt, Boston Globe

"Winston . . . builds fascinating case studies, inviting readers into her interviewees' conflicted, and often painful, lives . . . show[ing] us a Hasidic underworld where large families and a lack of secular education have resulted in extreme poverty and some serious at-risk behavior among youth. Her story of courage and intellectual rebellion will inspire anyone who has ever felt like a religious outcast." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Good for Hasidim, non-Hasidim and every reader who responds to one of the oldest plots on Earth-the need of some people to leave the community that raised them, and figure out the world for themselves." --Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Dives fearlessly into a fascinating topic . . . Winston channels the exhilaration of her subjects' newfound freedom, without losing all compassion for the disappointed—even angry—community they are leaving behind."--Holly Lebowitz Rossi, Dallas Morning News
From the Trade Paperback edition.

L'autore:

Hella Winston is pursuing her Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She lives in New York City.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Beacon Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0807036269
• ISBN 13: 9780807036266
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 185