Synopses & Reviews
A moving and revealing exploration of ultra-Orthodox Judaism and one mans loss of faithShulem Deen grew up in a strict Hasidic community, where religious law dictates daily life, interaction with outsiders is discouraged, and a boys education focuses on the Torah and the Talmud. His marriage at eighteen is arranged and several children soon follow. In his twenties, while struggling to support his growing family by working odd jobs, Deen begins to question the authority of the rebbe. His first transgression—turning on the radio—is small, but his curiosity soon leads him to forbidden television and movies, the shelves of the public library, and later to a lively online world of nonbelievers. He is eventually accused of heresy and expelled from New Square, the all-Hasidic village less than an hour from New York City.
In All Who Go Do Not Return, Deen bravely traces his harrowing loss of faith and community, while offering an illuminating look at a highly secretive world.
Synopsis
A moving and revealing exploration of ultra-Orthodox Judaism and one man's loss of faithShulem Deen was raised to believe that questions are dangerous. As a member of the Skverers, one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the US, he knows little about the outside world—only that it is to be shunned. His marriage at eighteen is arranged and several children soon follow. Deens first transgression—turning on the radio—is small, but his curiosity leads him to the library, and later the Internet. Soon he begins a feverish inquiry into the tenets of his religious beliefs, until, several years later, his faith unravels entirely. Now a heretic, he fears being discovered and ostracized from the only world he knows. His relationship with his family at stake, he is forced into a life of deception, and begins a long struggle to hold on to those he loves most: his five children. In All Who Go Do Not Return, Deen bravely traces his harrowing loss of faith, while offering an illuminating look at a highly secretive world.
About the Author
Shulem Deen is a former Skverer Hasid, and the founding editor of Unpious. His work has appeared in the The Jewish Daily Forward, Tablet, and Salon. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.