Recommended Reading
Learn more about the experiences of Footsteps members and the worlds they come from with the below resources:
BOOKS:
Kissing Girls on Shabbat, by Dr. Sara Glass
A moving memoir about one young woman’s desperate attempt to protect her children and family while also embracing her queer identity in a controlling Hasidic community.
All Who Go Do Not Return, by Shulem Deen
A moving and revealing exploration of Hasidic life, and one man’s struggles with faith, family, and community.
Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in a Digital Age, by Ayala Fader
A revealing look at Jewish men and women who secretly explore the outside world, in person and online, while remaining in their ultra-Orthodox religious communities.
Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels, by Hella Winston
An exploration of Hasidic Jews struggling to live within their restrictive communities—and, in some cases, to carve out a new life beyond them.
Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, by Schneur Zalman Newfield
In Degrees of Separation, Newfield interviews seventy-four Lubavitch and Satmar ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews who left their communities.
Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, by Abby Stein
The powerful coming-of-age story of an ultra-Orthodox child who was born to become a rabbinic leader and instead became a woman.
Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood, by Jericho Vincent
A raw and electrifying memoir about a young person’s journey from self-destruction to redemption, after cutting ties with their ultra-Orthodox Jewish family.
Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home, by Leah Lax
Lax’s story begins as a young teen who left her liberal, secular home for life as a Hasidic Jew and ends as a forty-something woman who has to abandon the only world she’s known for thirty years in order to achieve personal freedom.
films and documentaries:
In the wake of trauma and abuse, three Hasidic Jews face ostracism, anxiety and danger as they attempt to leave their ultra-Orthodox community.
ARTICLES:
In Hasidic Enclaves, Failing Private Schools Flush With Public Money, The New York Times
When Living Your Truth Can Mean Losing Your Children, The New York Times
Ultra-Orthodox kids deserve better, The New York Daily News
podcasts:
Should Jews Criticize Jews in Public?, Identity Crisis – The Hartman Institute
Navigating Divorce Within Religious Communities, The New Yorker Radio Hour
Footsteps Webinars and Panel Discussions:
Bias and Barriers: Fighting for Custody While Leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy
Footsteps hosted a virtual conversation about the challenges parents face when they leave insular ultra-Orthodox communities — both in the courtroom and in their communities of origin.
Report from the Field: Footsteppers Facing New Realities
As we emerge from the confines of the last eighteen months, a changing landscape with new realities for the formerly ultra-Orthodox has taken shape. What does the journey look like today?
Member programs:
Clinical Support
Education
Career Services
Family Justice Initiative
Community Engagement
Communications + Field Building
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