UltraOrthodox

I rarely had the chance to read a book belonging to the emerging Jewish literary genre of OTD-Memoirs with such a gentle and angerless take as Akiva Weingarten´s. Born and raised in the midst of the insular Satmar community in NYC, he eventually moved to Israel languising for knowledge in Bnei Brak while being trapped in the emptiness of a mimetic family life.

With 1000 USD in the pocket, out of it 40 Euro he had to pay the fine for buying the wrong metro ticket, Weingarten arrived in Berlin decided to radically leave behind his past and start anew. Maybe as a doctor. But one can dream when there is no clear proof of academic evaluation, one cannot move forward towards achieving an university profile. Sadly by co-existing in a separate, sometimes antinomic educational system, the members of ultraorthodox groups automatically limit the chances of professional achievement. Of course, there is a subtle way of controlling the knowledge and the information coming in and out the group, a more subsidious kosher filters Weingarten used to promote for a short amount of time, but nevertheless it is a sad reality.

To my knowledge, this is the first such memoir completely written in the German language - Deborah Feldman was first ´famous´ in the English-speaking realm before making a media and publishing career in Germany anyway. Although the explanation of different practices and terminology takes an important part of the book, the focus is on the journey and the search for meaning. Life meaning, once one lives religion and its mental and physical comfort. 

After spending a couple of years in Berlin and graduating from Avraham Geiger Kolleg in Potsdam, Weingarten founded a Besht Yeshiva in Dresden. Named after the initiator of the Hasidism, Baal Shem Tov, the yeshiva is aimed to help people who left Orthodoxy settle in their new life. At the beginning, long before the Shoah, Hasidism was created as a reaction against the ´institutionalisation´ of Jewish institution, represented by the Litvische mainstream at the time. Nowadays, it evolved itself as a very conservative mainstream of Judaism. History repeats itself in a different timeline and with a different approach.

I enjoyed reading UltraOrthodox and I wish the book will be translated into English soon too. It is an intellectually passionate journey that deserves a larger audience, for sure.