Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls.

Benor, Sarah Bunin

Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls. By Stephanie Wellen Levine. New York: New York University Press, 2003. XIV + 255 pp.

For those familiar with the Lubavitch branch of Hasidism, "770" is shorthand for 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the world headquarters of the Chabad movement, where the Rebbe used to hold court. Stephanie Wellen Levine introduces readers to a new address in Crown Heights, "888 Montgomery Street"--a meeting place for Lubavitch questioners and dissenters. Men and women at "888" lounge in each others' arms and exhibit ironic juxtapositions: open volumes of Talmud next to Kierkegaard and Camus, men in black yarmulkes and tzitzis chatting with women in pants and combat boots, and spoken Yiddishisms intertwined with marijuana smoke.

888 is only one of the settings in Levine's impressive ethnography of Lubavitch girls. Readers also become familiar with the Lubavitch high school, the kosher pizza shop, several homes, wedding halls, and the subway that takes girls from Crown Heights to their shopping expeditions in Manhattan. And the dissenters make up only a small part of Levine's diverse cast of characters. The mystics, mavericks, and merrymakers exhibit great variation in beliefs, activities, and aspirations.

Ethnographic research on Hasidic Jews has had various theoretical focuses, such as the sociology of religion in America, (1) the moral and linguistic socialization of children, (2) and the relationship between gender and literacy. (3) Levine approaches the Hasidic community of Crown Heights from the study of American girls, as the foreword by Carol Gilligan points out. Levine cites research on girls losing confidence and zest as they approach adolescence, sometimes leading to eating disorders, covert rage, and bullying. (4) She argues that a close analysis of the lives of Hasidic girls offers a lesson to secular society. She recommends that American high schools incorporate aspects of the gender separation, self-examination, and respect for the "fragility of the human spirit" (228). that are religiously and culturally mandated among Hasidic youth.

In making these points, Levine presents a rich ethnography of Hasidic adolescence, focusing on seven very different girls. She succeeds in challenging the stereotypical image of Hasidic girls as "anachronistic relics," in favor of "the struggling, triumphing, giggling, brooding, hating, loving human beings who, of course, they are" (66). She convinces the reader that Lubavitch girls are not as far from the American mainstream as some may think: they do occasionally watch TV and listen to popular music, and they certainly go shopping and worry about their appearance.

As an outsider, Levine was able to gain regular access to 888, 770, and other addresses that any one insider would not frequent. She attended classes and social events, joined girls on excursions to Manhattan, and spent shabbes and holidays with many families. She conducted in-depth, open-ended interviews, including a creative question that yielded interesting responses: imagine what life would be like if you were a boy. It is clear that Levine succeeded in forming close bonds with several Hasidic girls and their families. And it is clear that she gained a deep understanding of Orthodox culture.

To students of American Jewish history, this book presents a snapshot of Lubavitch in one historic moment. The fieldwork was conducted a few years after Menachem Mendel Schneerson's death, and "the Rebbe" is still omnipresent in the community's discourse. Levine touches on the conflicts between messianists and anti-messianists--those who believe the Rebbe is the Moshiach and those who do not. She comments on relations between Lubavitchers and their Caribbean neighbors a decade after the Crown Heights riots. She describes the dual Lubavitch desire to be insular and to have contact with the outside world--both via outreach to non-Orthodox Jews and through popular media. She delineates high school social categories using the girls' own terms: "normal" (worldly, trendy, adventuresome), "Chassidishe" (intensely religious), and "nebby" (nerdy, quiet, unfashionable) girls. And she highlights the importance of yichus, or pedigree, in the matchmaking process, pointing to the status differences between "old-line" Hasidic residents of Crown Heights and ba'alei teshuva (newly Orthodox Jews). The former are more likely to land choice marriage set-ups, as well as coveted emissary posts, seminary spots, and even roles in a school play (162).

In portraying the variation among Hasidic girls, Levine sometimes veers into voyeurism. As she admits, she finds Hasidic girls "endlessly fascinating" (67), and she "was hungry for some juicy material" (77). Some of the details she presents about individuals' lives may be embarrassing, even though she protects anonymity by using pseudonyms and changing some potentially identifying qualities (which she finally tells us on page 69). How important is it that one girl was pushed down the stairs by her mother in anger and that another may be depressed? Also, as Levine points out, this book might give the reader the mistaken impression that dissenters form a significant percentage of the Lubavitch community.

Levine divulges details about her own background, views, and intentions--an expected and indispensable technique in contemporary ethnography. We learn a good deal about the mystic, maverick, and merrymaker in her and why she gravitated toward the extremes of the spectrum--the questioners and the "Chassidishe girls." She articulates her theological stance: "You're reading the impressions of an extremely sympathetic skeptic" (9). Because we know that she came to this research with little background in traditional Judaism, we can forgive minor mistakes and inaccuracies (such as using chassidishe at the end of a sentence, (5) or discussing qualities common to Orthodox Jews or Haredim as if they were found only among Hasidim). While her autobiographical details are certainly enlightening, I did tire a bit of reading about her spiritual seeking and her cravings (sometimes fulfilled) for pork ribs.

While reading Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers, I sometimes felt that I was reading a collection of short stories. This is due not to any fault but to Levine's eloquent and accessible literary writing style and her thick description of her characters and their world. This book contributes significantly to academic discourses about American girls and about Hasidim, presenting a thoughtful and nuanced analysis of the diversity among seven young women--and it also offers a fun read.

Sarah Bunin Benor

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

(1.) Lynn Davidman, Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Orthodox Judaism (Berkeley, 1991).

(2.) Ayala Fader, "Gender, Morality, and Language: Socialization Practices in a Hasidic Community" (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 2000).

(3.) Tamar El-Or, Educated and Ignorant: Ultraorthodox Jewish Women and Their World (Boulder, CO, 1994).

(4.) Lyn Mikel Brown and Carol Gilligan, Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (New York, t99z); Mary Pipher, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (New York, 1995); Rachel Simmons, Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls (New York, 2002); Rosalind Wiseman, Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence (New York, 2002).

(5.) Page 57. A common mistake for newcomers; natives would say "chassidish." See Sarah Bunin Benor, "Second Style Acquisition: The Linguistic Socialization of Newly Orthodox Jews" (Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 2004).