Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers; An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls

xiv, 255, [3] pages. Foreword by Carol Gilligan. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. Inscribed with a sentiment by the author on the half-title page. Inscription reads August 2, 2008 Peace + Happiness Always Stephanie Wellen Levine. Other ink notation in the upper right corner. Cover has some wear and soiling. Follows the journeys of Hasidic teenagers as they grow up and grapple with culture, family, and religion. 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 30 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 superb 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 beliefs. Stephanie Wellen Levine told Encyclopediadotcom: "My first book, Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls, describes one of the most fascinating years of my life. Passionate religious belief has always drawn me, and most Lubavitchers enjoy a faith that is vibrant, strong, and life defining. Writing about other people's spiritual lives is both difficult and thrilling for me. It requires intensive, heartfelt, often grueling conversations with the people I'm profiling. I am constantly seeking meaning in my own life, and describing others' beliefs bolsters my quest. Detached analysis alone has never excited me; I like to engage personally with the ideas I encounter-and, usually, to weave something I discover into my own worldview. "Though most Lubavitchers accept their culture's philosophy and lifestyle, a fair minority begin to doubt, and some rebel in intriguing ways. I met a former Hasidic girl who worked in a strip club, a brilliant, passionate young woman whose parents kicked her out of their home when she stopped following Jewish law, a girl who combined a craving for the messiah with a lineup of forbidden male phone pals, and many other intriguing limit-pushers. I had a wonderful time describing these questioners. I love writing about social boundaries and the dangers of reaching beyond them. Some of the most compelling people cannot or will not fit within their social worlds. The problem of difference-of living at the margins of a culture or of social expectation-is deeply compelling to me, probably because I myself am a bit of a nonconformist. With my nonfiction book, I felt compelled to get the facts straight. I was writing about actual people in a real community, so I needed to be accurate. Any deviation from the truth would misrepresent the people who had trusted me with their lives. With a novel there is no 'truth'; anything can happen. This is profoundly freeing.…