“Absorbing . . . one subculture’s corrective to Reviving Ophelia, in that it offers a refreshing portrait of adolescent girls who are far from insecure.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
From the ardently religious young woman who longs for the life of a male scholar to the young rebel who visits a strip club, smokes pot, and agonizes over her loss of faith to the proud Lubavitcher with a desire for a high-powered career, Stephanie Wellen Levine provides a rare glimpse into the inner worlds and daily lives of these Hasidic girls.
Lubavitcher Hasidim are famous for their efforts to inspire secular Jews to become more observant and for their messianic fervor. Strict followers of Orthodox Judaism, they maintain sharp gender-role distinctions.
Levine spent a year living in the Lubavitch community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, participating in the rhythms of Hasidic girlhood. Drawing on many intimate hours among Hasidim and over thirty in-depth interviews, Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers offers rich portraits of individual Hasidic young women and how they deal with the conflicts between the regimented society in which they live and the pull of mainstream American life.
This superbly crafted book offers intimate stories from Hasidic teenagers’ lives, providing an intriguing twist to a universal theme: the struggle to grow up and define who we are within the context of culture, family, and life-driving beliefs.
“In an era seemingly plagued with sex, anorexia and depression among our nation’s girls, a page from Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers is a refreshing peek into the possibilities for growth, strength and self.” —The Jewish New Weekly of Northern California
Stephanie Wellen Levine teaches at Tufts University. Carol Gilligan is University Professor at NYU, where she initiated the Radical Listening Project and the co-founder of PACH. She isthe author of In a Different Voice and numerous other books including The Birth of Pleasure and Joining the Resistance.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Foreword by Carol Gilligan Introduction: What I Sought, What I Found 1 The Community: A Cultural and Psychological Tour 2 The Cast 3 Esther (Estie) Gutman: Wild Times and Holy Designs 4 Rochel Lehrer: Evolving, Not Rebelling 5 Nechama Dina (Dini) Rockoff: Chutzpah and Holiness 6 Chaya Jacobson: Strip Clubs and Soul-Searching 7 Gittel Kassin: Medicine and Marriage 8 Malka (Malkie) Belfer: Miniskirts and the Messiah 9 Leah Ratner: Mystic and Maverick 10 Into the Future: Adulthood and Insights from the Hasidim Notes Selected Bibliography Index About the Author
What People are Saying About This
Riv-Ellen Prell
"Dazzling--beautifully written, fascinating to read, and unpredictable. I began this book wondering if there was anything new to learn about the much- studied Lubavitch community of Crown Heights. I closed the book convinced that Levine has not only captured a complexity of young women's lives I would never have imagined, but that what she learned in Crown Heights illumines any understanding of teenage girls in the United States." (Riv-Ellen Prell, author of Fighting to Become Americans: Jews, Gender and the Anxiety of Assimilation)
Rachel Simmons
"In an age that is at times overly concerned with girls' self-destruction, here is a welcome sign of girls' strength and healthy development. Levine teaches an important and seldom taught lesson: we may find resilience where we least expect it. Her unprecedented insight into this hidden culture is an important addition to the growing body of work on girls." Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out)
Daniel Gordis
"Stephanie Levine offers us a rare glimpse into a world usually hidden from us. Hers is a compassionate but not uncritical take on the world of today's Hasidic girls, and through her investigation of this often misunderstood society, we come to see these people not simply as different, but as complex, nuanced and facing many of the same issues of self-definition that all of us, in whatever world we inhabit, wrestle with throughout our lives. Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymaker sis the product of a keen eye and an engaging pen, and is sure to provide both understanding and insight to all its readers." (Dr. Daniel Gordis, author of If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
"This sensitive portrait is full of surprises for those who believe patriarchal religion can nurture only passivity or rebellion. Levine's diverse and outspoken girls help us see the complexity of female development in a little-known but surprisingly familiar world." (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812)
