It wasn’t until my third book that I found the courage to write a Jewish character, and it wasn’t until revisions with my agent that I realized I could actually tell the reader that she was Jewish rather than just know it in my head. I wasn’t particularly embarrassed about being Jewish. Nor was this a financial decision about what I thought publishers would buy. Having read a wide variety of traditionally published books as a kid in which there was nary a Jew in sight (unless we count certain Shakespearean villains and the notable exception of Daniel Deronda), having a Jewish protagonist was simply a possibility that never occurred to me. Jews were for books published by small Jewish publishers printed exclusively for our community. They didn’t belong in regular traditionally published fiction.
Except they did, and they do, and they always will.
Recently I’ve been pleased to find more and more Jewish characters making their ways onto bookshelves. Most notably in the romance category, Jewish authors are finally succeeding in getting their Jewish characters into the hands of readers. There’s just one problem – while I am overjoyed to see these diverse portrayals of Judaism, I’m still searching for the books that reflect my own experience. You see, Judaism is not a monolith and there’s one group that tends to embarrass all the others who sometimes prefer to pretend we don’t exist. Yep, you guessed it, the orthodox.
Even within orthodoxy there are many different groups – modern orthodox, ultra orthodox, chassidim etc. – and I’ve been in some pretty uncomfortable situations when people, even Jewish people, forget that this is where my roots grew. They make certain jokes or comments that I won’t repeat here. Suffice it to say, I am made to feel like less than a person and that if I am offended it is my own fault rather than theirs. I wonder how much that would change if an actually nuanced Orthodox Jewish character made its way onto their reading list. Each community is different, each with its own challenges, but also each with its own beauty and I was saddened not to see that on the page even within anthologies supposedly featuring Jews of all types.
Until recently.
Books featuring Orthodox Jews are not many, but they are mighty, and I am delighted to finally see them getting some space on the shelf along with their other Jewish counterparts. These books feature Orthodox Jews in all their complicated glory. Sure they have their issues – but their Jewish practice is not necessarily the crux of their problems or the main source of conflict for the plot. Even for those straining against their backgrounds, the beauty is shown along with the struggle because they were written by sensitive hands who had felt that joy for themselves.
I’m so glad to share these books with you. I am hoping to find many more in the days to come. And if you are a publisher or editor who would like to be part of that movement – I am agented and I’ve got a book for you.
Aviva VS. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe- I laughed, I cried, I marveled at how I own the same shirt the author is wearing in the back cover photo. This book is set in both an ultra orthodox Jewish girls school and a women’s Mikveh. Let’s just say the last time I tried to submit such a thing to a magazine I got told they loved the “exotic” setting. Like I was an animal in a zoo and my culture was there there for the entertainment of all the “normals”.
Dear Reader, I found a better home for that story and so did Miss Lowe. Aviva and her world are depicted with so much love you can feel it radiating across the page. This book excels at showing one of the major benefits of an orthodox life, the thing that many people miss the most when not around their orthodox peers for whatever reason – the community. Sure, everyone knowing your business can be oppressive, but there’s no love like hundreds of people feeling responsible for you and thinking of you as a sister or brother. Aviva’s ultra orthodox community is warm, loving, and it will always has her back.
Find It: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish Review
The Last Words We Said by Leah Scheier– this is the book that let me see myself, including all my messy bits, on the page for the first time and I am forever grateful to Scheier for giving me that moment. The story follows three girls in a modern orthodox community as they mourn the death of one of their boyfriends. It’s poignant and suspenseful and it will tear your heart out. Yet the main plot was actually not what meant most to me, it was one of the side characters who held me in the palm of her rebellious teenage hand.
This book had something for everyone and allows a nuanced and critical look at orthodox communities and the teens living within them to varying degrees of success. It’s a story of grief but also one of forgiveness.
Find It: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish Review
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris. I read this book a while ago when as a teen I was surprised, but also a little wary, to find it in the library. While books featuring orthodox characters were sparse, the ones that did make it though at the time were largely about “off the derech” individuals – those that left the fold. Usually including how horrible their prior experiences were. Those stories are important, as each person has their own truth to tell, but I didn’t like that the other side of the story – the beauty of orthodox life – was not also on the shelf.
In this book the joy and the pain were packaged together. Chani prepares for her wedding and grapples with certain aspects of her community but her dreams are fulfilled in much the same ways I dreamed about as a teen- within orthodoxy. The character that unravels is actually her mentor, the Rebbetzin. Through very moving flashbacks we discover that the Rebbetzin and her husband were not born Orthodox but chose that path later. The spirituality of their youth was vibrant and inclusive, involving prayers accompanied by instruments in egalitarian services that are a far cry from the strict London community where they now reside. How did this happen, we wonder. The answer is essentially death by a thousand compromises. Each choice was right at the time, but together they add up to something that does not reflect her or her desired connection to Judaism. And so it she, and not Chani, who is leaving the community. The book was balanced and thought provoking, showing the hope and joy right along with the gender inequality and overbearing neighbors.
Find it: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon
The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isacc Blum. This YA book, following a yeshiva boy in a community experiencing rising antisemitism and his crush on the non Jewish mayors daughter is the most polarizing of the bunch I’ll discuss in this post. Most non Jews who read it, loved it. Most Jews that are not from yeshivish communities who read it, loved it. But the Jews I spoke with from communities resembling the ones depicted in the book were mixed on their opinions.
Some loved the portrayal of Hoodie’s struggle in his given role (what if a boy doesn’t have a head for Talmud?), his sisters fierce refusal to to obey gender rules, and the poignant depiction of how some rules just can’t be broken. Others felt there were too many factual inaccuracies in terms of religious practice and worried that non Jews would take what was presented as universal fact. As the saying goes, two Jews three opinions. I fall somewhere between the two camps. I loved the humor and voice (and the chashuve Rabbi) but I would remind readers that orthodoxy is not uniform in terms of both practice and community attitudes, and even the best proofreaders and content readers let some things fall through the cracks.
Find it: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon
The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe – I love when favorites come back for an encore. Lowe’s sophomore effort felt lighter to me than her debut since the latter focused on grief. Here, the plot revolves around the interesting power dynamics that get set up in Orthodox Jewish girls schools. There’s most definitely a pecking order, but on the other hand, as models of religious virtue, the girls can’t be mean in the typical ways. So our bullying takes really weird yet still destructive forms, and Lowe kind of nails that here.
She also covers some of the more beautiful aspects of our high holidays and captures the joy of being a kid without too much tech in their life – the reviewer that commented the book is unrealistic because no kids roller skate anymore can jump in a lake. She can also kindly realize that we do not all run our households the same way or raise our kids with the same devices as she does. That being said, what I loved the most was the dedication in which Lowe tells sixth graders everywhere “gam ze ya’avor”. This too shall pass. From even before the first chapter, I knew I was with my people here.
Find It: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish Review
Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok- orthodox romance can still be steamy! Even though nobody touches each other! It can also be hilarious because author Heidi Shertok had me rolling in the aisles. She also delved into some interesting issues like what it is like to be a person incapable of conceiving a child in a society that puts an extreme emphasis on family and children. Her heroine Penina is a modest fashion influencer, and shows a side of Jewish women that is not often allowed to come out in secular media.
Penina is sharp, she’s fashionable, and she’s incredibly kind. There is no stereotypical shrew from whom Jewish men must run into the arms of the nearest non Jewish woman. There is just love and family and even a peek at the matchmaking process that so many of us love and hate all at once.
Find it: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish review
Finn and Ezra’s Bar Mitzvah Time Loop by Joshua S. Levy. Finn is having his bar mitzvah in the same hotel as orthodox Ezra and they are both stuck in a time loop, repeating the day over and over again. Until they team up to try and break out. To say their efforts are hilarious is an understatement. This one will have you laughing so hard you’ll cry. But it’s also really sweet as the boys learn certain lessons that bring them closer to their families and each other.
Orthodoxy is not just shown with love, it is presented as completely normal. Because for Ezra it is. This is his life, complete with an amazing family and peer group in Yeshivah plus one very funny rabbi. I’d give this book to any kid in my life, orthodox or not, in a heartbeat.
Find It: Goodreads | Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish Review
I hope some of my Orthodox readers find themselves in these pages, but I also hope that everyone else finds some humanity for us in them. Most of all, I’d like more. I’d like for the Orthodox to be included in Jewish projects and I’d like for us all to find a way to get along. That’s my new years wish. Help me make it true.