Bibliography on Hasidic Judaism

This is not meant to be a thorough review of the literature on Hasidic Judaism and does not focus on doctrine, tradition or religion. Rather, it is comprised of books that provided the insight I was seeking to write my novel. Quite a deal has been written on this subject, including numerous pieces in magazines, newspapers,  journals and on the internet.

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Books

 Deen, Shulem. All Who Go Do Not Return. A Memoir. Graywolf Press, 2019.

 Eisenberg, Robert. Boychiks in the Hood. Travels in the Hasidic Underground. Harper, 1995

 Feldman, Deborah. Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. Simon & Shuster. 2012.

 Fishkoff, Sue. The Rebbe’s Army. Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch. Schocken, 2003.

 Kozak, Warren. The Rabbi of 84th Street. The extraordinary life of Haskel Besser. Harper Perennial, 2004

 Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. Simon & Shuster, 2016 (anniversary edition)

 Winston, Hella. Unchosen. The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels. Beach Press, 2005.

 Hasidism on Television

  • Schtisel. Engaging “soap opera” about a Hasidic family in Jerusalem in which the conflicts usually revolve around religion. Pretty much every Jewish person I know is watching or has watched this. And liked it.

  • Unorthodox. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while, about an orthodox woman who shuns her religious community and arranged marriage to begin a new life abroad. Israeli actress Shira Haas was nominated for an Emmy for her role.

  • One of Us. 2017. An excellent but heartbreaking documentary about the struggles several young people went through to leave the Hasidic community. Worth watching.

Oldie Goldies

  • The Chosen (1981). Based on the book by Chaim Potok. What more can I say? (except that you shouldn’t get it mixed up with a recent tv show of the same name).

  • Yentl (1983) Barbara Streisand plays a rabbi’s daughter who disguises herself as a boy in order to study Torah in the Old World.

  • A Stranger Among Us (1992). Melanie Griffith in the role of a tough policewoman who disguises herself as Haredi (religious) in order to solve a murder. Naturally, she falls in love with the handsome son of the family in which she’s embedded.

  • Ushpizin 2004. A comedy that takes you into the daily lives of ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel as a religious couple prays for a miracle on Shavuot.

  • A Price Above Rubies 1998. A Hasidic woman, played by Rene Zellweger, goes in search of a life beyond the bounds of her traditional community. .

 

For more ideas, visit:
https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=orthodox-jew%2Cjewish&sort=moviemeter,asc&mode=detail&page=1&ref_=kw_ref_key