AROUND SARAH'S TABLE: Ten Hasidic Women Share Their Stories of Life, Faith, and Tradition

This book tells the stories of 10 Hasidic women who gather "around Sarah's table" each Tuesday for lunch and Torah discussion. The women are quite different from one another: all live in Brooklyn, yet they come from Italy and Russia as well as the U.S., and not all were raised in "Torah homes." Some are housewives, while others balance demanding careers in law or publishing with home responsibilities. All are united in their devotion to faith and family, and in their determination to live their values. Each chapter blends the group's weekly parsha (Torah portion) with one of the women's life stories. They discuss the dark times, such as dealing with near-fatal nephritis or the challenges of raising special-needs children, alongside the blessed events: a long-awaited pregnancy, a shidduch (match) made for a daughter or son. Readers will come away with a deep appreciation for the resiliency of these women, as well as important details of the world of kosher-keeping, modest dress, mikvah attendance and the rejuvenating cycle of holidays and Sabbaths. The book is well-written (with a slight overuse of exclamation points and italics), its conversations natural and revealing. The first two chapters give the impression that they are the biographies of the authors themselves, though this is never stated outright. While not as analytical as Lynn Davidman's Tradition in a Rootless World or Lis Harris's Holy Days, both of which explored the lives of Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish women, this book offers a rare insider's perspective. (Nov.)