![]() ![]() These authors may have grown up in Brooklyn, but going from one half of Williamsburg to the other can, in some cases, be like crossing continents.ĭeen’s book confirms some of these expectations, while complicating others. ![]() To enter the secular world they must acclimatize to new standards of dress, language, food, and cultural reference. Defectors have to defy their families, their communities, and the entire ideology in which they were raised. Unsurprisingly, leaving the Hasidic community is hard to do. Along with a juicy topic, they also have dramatic narratives. Such stories are of more than sociological interest, however. These authors can tell us with the authority of first-hand experience, while speaking from a secular point of view. We see them on the subway, dressed in their black hats and jackets, and have to wonder what their lives might be like. In New York and other large American cities, ultra-Orthodox Jews are a highly visible minority. Undoubtedly, the success of these books has a lot to do with their exotic subject matter. ![]()
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