Mitzvah Girls

Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Gender Studies
Cover of the book Mitzvah Girls by Ayala Fader, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ayala Fader ISBN: 9781400830992
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: July 20, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Ayala Fader
ISBN: 9781400830992
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: July 20, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

Mitzvah Girls is the first book about bringing up Hasidic Jewish girls in North America, providing an in-depth look into a closed community. Ayala Fader examines language, gender, and the body from infancy to adulthood, showing how Hasidic girls in Brooklyn become women responsible for rearing the next generation of nonliberal Jewish believers. To uncover how girls learn the practices of Hasidic Judaism, Fader looks beyond the synagogue to everyday talk in the context of homes, classrooms, and city streets.

Hasidic women complicate stereotypes of nonliberal religious women by collapsing distinctions between the religious and the secular. In this innovative book, Fader demonstrates that contemporary Hasidic femininity requires women and girls to engage with the secular world around them, protecting Hasidic men and boys who study the Torah. Even as Hasidic religious observance has become more stringent, Hasidic girls have unexpectedly become more fluent in secular modernity. They are fluent Yiddish speakers but switch to English as they grow older; they are increasingly modest but also fashionable; they read fiction and play games like those of mainstream American children but theirs have Orthodox Jewish messages; and they attend private Hasidic schools that freely adapt from North American public and parochial models. Investigating how Hasidic women and girls conceptualize the religious, the secular, and the modern, Mitzvah Girls offers exciting new insights into cultural production and change in nonliberal religious communities.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Mitzvah Girls is the first book about bringing up Hasidic Jewish girls in North America, providing an in-depth look into a closed community. Ayala Fader examines language, gender, and the body from infancy to adulthood, showing how Hasidic girls in Brooklyn become women responsible for rearing the next generation of nonliberal Jewish believers. To uncover how girls learn the practices of Hasidic Judaism, Fader looks beyond the synagogue to everyday talk in the context of homes, classrooms, and city streets.

Hasidic women complicate stereotypes of nonliberal religious women by collapsing distinctions between the religious and the secular. In this innovative book, Fader demonstrates that contemporary Hasidic femininity requires women and girls to engage with the secular world around them, protecting Hasidic men and boys who study the Torah. Even as Hasidic religious observance has become more stringent, Hasidic girls have unexpectedly become more fluent in secular modernity. They are fluent Yiddish speakers but switch to English as they grow older; they are increasingly modest but also fashionable; they read fiction and play games like those of mainstream American children but theirs have Orthodox Jewish messages; and they attend private Hasidic schools that freely adapt from North American public and parochial models. Investigating how Hasidic women and girls conceptualize the religious, the secular, and the modern, Mitzvah Girls offers exciting new insights into cultural production and change in nonliberal religious communities.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Currency Politics by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Non-Archimedean Tame Topology and Stably Dominated Types (AM-192) by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Digital Dice by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book The Complete Works of Aristotle by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Hamlet in His Modern Guises by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Beyond the Brain by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book The Godfather Doctrine by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Whose Culture? by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Taxing the Rich by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Enlightenment against Empire by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Why Gender Matters in Economics by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life, Vol. 2 by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Trustworthy Men by Ayala Fader
Cover of the book Multi-parameter Singular Integrals. (AM-189), Volume I by Ayala Fader
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy