Product Description

"A vivid portrayal of the Lubavitcher community."
— Library Journal

"Levine does a splendid job of presenting how the girls cope, and paints vivid pictures of Shabbat around their family tables."
— The Jerusalem Post Literary Quarterly

"Stephanie Wellen Levine has written an intriguing and joyous account of the lives of young adult Hasidic women."
— Jewish Book World

"Eminently readable."
— Jewish Journal Book Review

"Levine steps back and lets the girls speak for themselves; their voices, layered with determination, yearning, confusion and wonder, emerge clearly."
— Na'amat Woman Book Reviews

"This absorbing ethnography acts as one subculture's corrective to Reviving Ophelia, in that it offers a refreshing portrait of adolescent girls who are far from insecure."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the ardently religious young woman who longs for the life of a male scholar to the young rebel who visits a strip club, smokes pot, and agonizes over her loss of faith to the proud Lubavitcher with a desire for a high-powered career, Stephanie Wellen Levine provides a rare glimpse into the inner worlds and daily lives of these Hasidic girls.

Lubavitcher Hasidim are famous for their efforts to inspire secular Jews to become more observant and for their messianic fervor. Strict followers of Orthodox Judaism, they maintain sharp gender-role distinctions.

Levine spent a year living in the Lubavitch community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, participating in the rhythms of Hasidic girlhood. Drawing on many intimate hours among Hasidim and over 30 in-depth interviews, Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers offers rich portraits of individual Hasidic young women and how they deal with the conflicts between the regimented society in which they live and the pull of mainstream American life.

This superbly crafted book offers intimate stories from Hasidic teenagers' lives, providing an intriguing twist to a universal theme: the struggle to grow up and define who we are within the context of culture, family, and life-driving beliefs.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #331968 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-06
• Released on: 2004-08-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 255 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This absorbing ethnography acts as one subculture's corrective to Reviving Ophelia, in that it offers a refreshing portrait of adolescent girls who are far from insecure. In this refreshing portrayal of girls who are far from insecure, Levine presents a contrasting path to that of mainstream adolescent girls. While a graduate student in American studies at Harvard, Levine spent a year living as a "participant observer" in the Lubavitcher community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, entering with the following assumption: "The possibility that these girls' lives could be anything other than the Platonic essence of feminine subjugation seemed as unlikely as a suckling pig on a Shabbos table." What she found instead is that Lubavitch culture nurtures most girls' inner and outer voices. Though they are not immune from adolescent concerns about fashion, weight, looks and cliques, the Lubavitch emphasis on each person's godly mission to bring the Messiah deepens their spiritual outlook; the single-sex environment in which they mature helps develop vibrant, expressive personalities. Those who clash with Orthodox strictures, however, experience intense and painful struggles. From interviews with 32 girls ages 13 to 23, Levine found "downright juicy" material and culled seven portraits of girls (disguised in name and background) in their "idiosyncratic splendor." The essays are sometimes repetitive within the context of the entire book, as if Levine wrote each to stand on its own, but her bright, lively narrative compensates. Levine invites readers to share the "pure delight" of knowing these girls, and challenges us to draw on Hasidism as an unexpected source in helping our own girls develop into secure, confident adults.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"This absorbing ethnography acts as one subculture's corrective to Reviving Ophelia, in that it offers a refreshing portrait of adolescent girls who are far from insecure." - Publishers Weekly (starred review); "A vivid portrayal of the Lubavitcher community." - Library Journal; "Levine does a splendid job of presenting how the girls cope, and paints vivid pictures of Shabbat around their family tables." - The Jerusalem Post Literary Quarterly"

"At all times, Levine's genuine respect for the community shines through. The book is eminently readable and undoubtedly fascinating."

- Jewish Chronicle

"In an age that is at times overly concerned with girls' self-destruction, here is a welcome sign of girls' strength and healthy development. Levine teaches an important and seldom taught lesson: we may find resilience where we least expect it. Her unprecedented insight into this hidden culture is an important addition to the growing body of work on girls."

- Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out

"In an era seemingly plagued with sex, anorexia and depression among our nation's girls, a page from Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers is a refreshing peek into the possibilities for growth, strength and self."

- The Jewish New Weekly of Northern California

"Lively tales of girls who long for the lives of male scholars, and rebels who visit strip clubs, smoke pot, and dream of high-powered careers."

- Books to Watch out For

"Stephanie Levine's book is full of surprises."

- Midstream

From the Publisher
Winner of the 2004 Moment Book Award

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Customer Reviews

Beautifully written, riveting book
I loved "Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers." Levine portrays a wide range of Chassidic teenage girls with depth and respect. Rebels, mystics, popular girls, and geeks all come to life on these pages. I had so much fun getting the inside scoop on the Lubavitch community and the girls' various thoughts and adventures.

"Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers" entertains like the best novels, but the fact that it's nonfiction gives it even more power because we're reading the truth (Levine does explain that some aspects were fictionalized in order to maintain the girls' privacy). The pages abound with perceptive characterization, rich description, and a wonderful sense of place.

My favorite part of this book involves wonderful chapters that describe individual Chassidic girls. Also, I was amazed how much I learned about Orthodox Jewish observance and Chassidic thought from reading this book. Dietary laws, prayer, holidays, dress codes, sexual relations, Chassidic philosophy, and so much else comes up.

What really surprised me was how much insight this book gives into the lives of teenage girls, and people in general, outside the Chassidic world. In the introduction, and more thoroughly in the conclusion, Levine discusses how surprisingly well-adjusted many of these Lubavitch young women are, and she offers thoughtful, sensitive suggestions about what this community can teach the rest of us. But she never lets us forget that the community is terribly hard for the girls who can't or won't fit in, like those who stop believing, or who lack the desire to become Chassidic wives and mothers.

What impressed me most is this: "Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers" describes a small pocket of the world in a way that makes it seem universal. Even though I am a non-Chassidic man who barely remembers his teenage years, I related to the girls' struggles and process of growth. Anyone can learn from this community, and anyone can relate to the diverse and fascinating people described in this book.

An incredible read!
MYSTICS, MAVERICKS, AND MERRYMAKERS is an incredible read. Who would have thought that Hasidic girls would be so diverse, or that one writer could capture each one of these teenagers' spirits with such depth? I'm still thinking about the young women: the charismatic but hard to control kid with passionate faith, the brilliant nonconformist who flirts with suicide, the intense nerd who is so religious her peers have trouble understanding her, and so many others. This book is a masterpiece of creative empathy-it's incredible how well the author communes with each girl's hopes and struggles.
Levine's writing is exquisite. I still have lovely phrases of hers etched in my mind. I can't remember when I last read a book that taught me so much in such beautiful language. The conclusion's ideas about how readers could learn from the Hasidic community as they try to negotiate their own lives are fascinating-this book really has wide relevance beyond Hasidic borders. Levine's analysis at the end of what it all means will blow you away.
Levine is a wonderful storyteller; I got engrossed in these girls' lives. It was incredible to see how different they were from most Americans, with their strict laws and intriguing rituals, and yet how well I could relate to their struggles, thoughts, and triumphs.
When I say this book is fabulous, I mean it as a sincere and honest critic. I can't recommend Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers highly enough.

An excellent read
Having been Lubavitch, I read Levine's book as both former insider and outsider. Her portrayal of the Lubavitch world captured its essence, and her description of the variety of personalities within it was also apt. Unlike an earlier reviewer, I considered the deliberate care taken to obscure the identities of the girls to be important and in keeping with academic ethics.

The Lubavitch world holds within it a certain comfort and certainty, simply because all the answers are there. Unfortunately, as we read in the cases of several of the girls portrayed in this book, there is little to no place for the girl or woman who thinks critically, questions the tenets of Chabad-Lubavitch, or who is called to higher education. For example, I wonder if one of the women portrayed ever completed her medical training.

An excellent study that offers the reader insightful glimpses into the world of Lubavitch girls.