Hella is a nice lady, however it's obvious that she is a woman who dislikes Orthodox Judaism because it is different from her own religion - atheism. Her goal seems to be to give whatever encouragement she can to apostate Jews.
The main thing which bothers me about her is that she is dishonest, perhaps even to herself. Rather than openly stating, like Richard Dawkins, that she is an enemy of organized religion, instead she tries to present herself as an impartial journalist who is just reporting what she has seen.
OK, JP, let's say (for argument's sake) that Hella is a religion-hating, militant atheist.
Even if true, that is not an argument.
Do you disagree with any of the points made in the book?
If so, why? If not, isn't impugning the author just utterly gratuitous loshon hara?
It is a problem that Hella doesn't state her beliefs (cf Stephanie Levine of Mystic, Mavericks and Merrymakers. However, not stating them does not automatically prove she's an atheist.
I think she did also admire the Chassidim but she didn't feel the sympathy for them that she felt for the people leaving. Personally I have much less positive feelings towards UO Chassidim (Lubavitch excluded -- I've got other issues with it but they're not really UO).
I think for the sake of political correctness, Hella tries to sound a bit balanced, but she's really not. In her eyes, a nice honest Hassidic man with a good job who takes care of his six kids is a religious nut, while the 22 year old unemployed ex-Satmar bum who lives with his grandmother while smoking pot and guzzling beer is a heroic dissident.
>while the 22 year old unemployed ex-Satmar bum who lives with his grandmother while smoking pot and guzzling beer is a heroic dissident.
He's only heroic if he takes steps to pull himself out of the quagmire.
JP, nice review!
Jphil…What is your beef with Winston? You don’t take rejection well, it appears, seeing how you went from complimenting her on other blogs to making spiteful comments about her…not about the book, about her!
JP:
"Hella is a nice lady, however it's obvious that she is a woman who dislikes Orthodox Judaism because it is different from her own religion - atheism."
Funny how this bizarre little fact isn't obvious at all to anyone else. Makes you think, no? (That was a rhetorical question; I know you don't think.)
"Her goal seems to be to give whatever encouragement she can to apostate Jews."
Giving encouragement to those who need encouragement -- regardless of personal beliefs -- is called basic human kindness. A concept, I know, that is utterly foreign to you. Try it some time.
"she is an enemy of organized religion"
The fact that elsewhere you compare ex-Orthodox Jews to neo-Nazi's and have no problem advocating death for gay men makes your judgment on this issue rather dubious, I'm afraid. One would reasonably conclude that you adhere to a kind of pseudo-religious thought that one rightfully should be an enemy of. In other words, perhaps it is just you who is detestable.
BD: Hear, hear.
I happen to know Hella personally. We've exchange dozens of emails.
Jphil…Wait a second.
Do you know her personally AND you have exchanged dozens of emails? (Why would you even share that info if you know her personally?)
JP:
"I happen to know Hella personally"
You do? She has my sympathies, then.
i happen to really know hella personally and while she and jp may have exchaged emails, they never met. as such, i am disinclined to conclude that jp really "knows" her "personally."
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