Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots

by Deborah Feldman

Many deliberately opposed the creation of the State of Israel, believing that the genocide of the Jews had come as a punishment for assimilation and Zionism.

Every time a man catches a glimpse of any part of your body that the Torah says should be covered, he is sinning. But worse, you have caused him to sin. It is you who will bear the responsibility of his sin on Judgment Day.”

I can’t comprehend how a person who comes from so much pain and loss can perpetuate his own oppression.

On every Israeli Independence Day, the Satmar Hasids make the trip from their various communities to demonstrate their opposition to the State of Israel. Contrary to what is commonly believed about Jewish support for Israel, the Satmar Rebbe insisted that we had to take it upon ourselves to fight for the destruction of Israel, even if it meant martyring ourselves for the cause.

To use the Holocaust for sympathy is an affront to all the souls who perished, Zeidy relates; certainly these innocent Jews did not martyr themselves so that the Zionists could take control.

am hungry for power, but not to lord over others; only to own myself.

She says in times of the Temple women weren’t allowed inside the actual building because of the danger that they might begin to menstruate and thus defile the entire Temple. You never know when a woman will menstruate, really.

You have to inspect yourself twice a day, once in the morning when you wake up, and once before the shkiyah, the sunset. If you miss one, you have to call a rabbi and ask if it’s okay or if you have to start over from the beginning. If you inspect yourself one day and there’s no blood but there’s a stain, you have to take it to the rabbi so he can say whether it’s kosher or not. If your underwear is dirty, you have to take that to him too. Or you can send your husband.