The first thing that struck me, and it may be irrelevant, is that Beacon Press publishes the book; Beacon Press is a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Hella Winston does a wonderful job. She does a wonderful at job at giving us a look at the world through the eyes of her characters. I know many people who fall into the category of Hasidic Rebels and the book gives an accurate account of their lives, from their point of view. She accurately portrays her characters feelings and battles and she chose an interesting set of characters. I enjoyed the book immensely and would recommend it to anyone chasidish who wants to understand the rebels.
Any serious reader will find him/herself asking if some of the characters' issues do not stem from their society or community but stem from other issues such as disorders that exist in the outside world as well. I think that to an extent Ms. Winston is guilty of portraying some of these issues as stemming from the community, but she is definitely not as guilty as most of us make her out to be.
As an anthropological subject, shouldn't the book have the opposing points of view as well? I was surprised to see no interviews with the people within the community who are fighting the trend. I was even more surprised that she didn't write about the ones who have rebelled, gone all the way, and then came back. I think that to the outsider reading the book such a character would have been very insightful. I think it would've given the book another dimension that it desperately needs. After portraying such a good picture of leaving the fold, a reader wants to know how one can go and come back. I have a friend who grew up in chasidish Boro Park, left the fold in his late teenage years and ended up 'living the life' in Eastern Europe. Why did he come back? How is he accepted? What did he learn?
Another thing I was thinking about was along the lines of what the rebel wrote. Is Hella now friends with Malkie and her characters or was it all good for the book and is now gone?
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Terror in Israel : Does it affect you?
Shabbos : What Does It Mean?
More Than Meets The Eye : Thoughts on Boro Park Runaways
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More Than Meets The Eye : Thoughts on Boro Park Returnees
Perspective : Understanding Frum Teenagers
Hugs and Yardsticks : Chinuch Diiferences
Garbage Men : Their Similarities to Frum Working Boys
Innocent : Should She be on Hashkafah.com?
Williamsburg : Artisten and Machlokes
The Open Letter : A Challenge to Our Chinuch System
A Partnership : Hashem, Your Mother and Your Father
Changing The System : Is It Right or Wrong?
Harav Amnon Yitzchok : Does Williamsburg Need Him?
Lying To Yourself : Why Are Teens Dropping Out?
Against The Wall : The Issues it Raised
Real or Fake : The Chasidishe Working Boy
Against The Wall : Not Your Libby Lazewnick Type Novel
Pearls : A Review of The Romance Reader
Basic Financial Management : 10 Points on Financial Responsibility
The Romance Reader : An Unpleasant Family and an Unpleasant Book
Equal Time: Giving Our Daughters A Chance
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Against The Wall : Excerpts and First Thoughts
Distant Cousins and Juggling Act : Impressions
Against The Wall : Review
Against The Wall : Guest Review
Pearls : A Review of The Romance Reader
The Romance Reader : Guest Review
Breaking Point : Review
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Against The Wall : Review by Miriam
Basic Financial Management : Financial Management for The Heimish by SS613
The Romance Reader : Review by Miriam
Equal time: Giving our daughters a chance by Rabbi Shmuel Gluck
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The Torah has one thing that all the temptations in the world cannot compete with and that is the truth. Maybe we need to keep that in mind when we face the great challenges in chinuch that we are currently facing. Maybe it is time we realize that in this global and connected world, separation from the world and “the internet” can aid in the fight but is not nearly enough. We have different yetzer haras in our generation than in generations past, but one thing didn't change: Hashem created an antidote to the yetzer hara, and that is the Torah.
Let us start being mechanech our kids with chinuch that is powerful enough to help them overcome the yetzer haras of today.
]]>(This post is dated a few days before the actual posting.)
]]>The book is supposed to be “A good tool for parents, teachers, friends, and teenagers who may be dealing with some of the issues brought to the forefront in this groundbreaking novel.” But I would have to disagree with that. If the story was real and Dina, Avrumie’s mother, would have read the book early on, it wouldn’t have changed her chinuch practices in the least. As the story progresses from Avrumie and Avraham Chaim Faber to just Abe; from a mussar shmuess with Avrumie’s father, to a heart-to-heart with Avrumie’s father, the patterns are clear: the parents are mechanech the children with the typical No Questions Allowed approach. If Dina had read the book, she’d have thought to herself: wow, some people have it so hard! My son is just going through a phase, he’d never do what this character in the book is doing.
I must congratulate Mrs. Pomerantz on the quality of the writing. I found less than five major spelling errors and she does a great job of making her protagonist endearing. One of the reasons this review is so half-baked is that I saw my own story in the book a little too often. The largest difference being that real-life stories don’t end so sweetly. In real-life there aren’t many parents who realize their mistakes, admit to it, correct it, and move on. We don’t live happily ever after, and we don’t pretend to.
The issue the book really should raise is the general chinuch mentality. If 5 out of every 100 children are not served well by the No Questions policy of chinuch, is that not a large enough number to consider changes? While it may be wrong to discuss certain things in class because 90 percent of the class is happy with Emunah Peshuta (?), shouldn’t children be encouraged to ask questions if they do have any? Shouldn’t Rebbeim, or melamdim by us Chasidim, have the answers to these questions?
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