Book Review Project Proposal

For my Book Review project, I am interested in the memoir Uncovered by Leah Lax. I knew initially that I was interested in the lives of women in more Orthodox Jewish communities, so I began my search in that direction. Using the Trexler Library and Google Scholar websites, I found several books that fit my interests. However, they were not necessarily grabbing my attention very much. I kept searching further and began to question my original subject. I had been focusing on the issue of gender in Judaism, while ignoring the subject of sexuality, the other main topic of this course. So, I decided to switch up my search, continuing to look for books about Orthodox communities, but focusing on experiences of queer members of those communities. While I found a couple, the one that most strongly caught my eye fit into both of my fields of inquiry – the experience of a queer woman in the Orthodox Jewish world. Leah Lax’s memoir, titled Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home, appears to be the first story told of its kind, that of a gay woman finding, living within, and subsequently leaving the Hasidic community. Leah Lax’s experience not only fits the subject matter of this course, but also seems to be capable of answering my own questions about life within Orthodox communities. The personal nature of this book will likely provide a biased account of Hasidism, but there is much to gain from such story-telling. The emotions that go along with such a unique journey interest me, as I can only imagine those emotions for myself. I hope that from Leah Lax’s telling of what she has gone through, she can enlighten me on her own experience and possibly the experiences that others may have in comparable situations. Though I have grown up within various Jewish communities, I have spent little time interacting with Hasidic communities. They are therefore mostly unknown to me, and I have always been wary of them. This wariness comes partially from my own experiences in Orthodox services, as I find mechitzah’s to be uncomfortable and inconducive to prayers. But mostly, this cautionary feeling comes from what I have heard of Orthodox communities, which may very well have been exaggerations. I hope that from Leah Lax’s memoir, I can gain a deeper understanding of what it is like to be a woman within a Hasidic Orthodox community.