During the 1960s, many young people became ba’alei teshuvah, returning to Orthodox Jewish observance. Minny E. Mock-Degen, a Dutch sociologist who grew up in the Netherlands and later immigrated to Israel, has studied Dutch women who became ba’a lot teshuvah. She wanted to know how the increased religious observance had affected their relationships with their mothers. How did the mothers experience, perceive, and interpret their daughters’ return to Orthodoxy? How do the mothers and daughters feel about it now? She also wanted to find out how the young women became involved in Orthodox Judaism and how they found places within that community. Issues such as kashrut and Sabbath observance can be points of conflict for non-observant family members. Some parents are more accepting and more willing to compromise than others. The author includes a glossary of Jewish terms, a bibliography, and details of her research protocols in the book. This work is for academic collections.
Nonfiction
The Dynamics of Becoming Orthodox: Dutch Jewish Women Returning to Judaism and How Their Mothers Felt about It
- Review
By
– September 24, 2013
Barbara M. Bibel is a librarian at the Oakland Public Library in Oakland, CA; and at Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, CA.
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