Stranger in the Midst: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery

Nan Fink regards herself as a stranger in the midst of the American Jewish community. One of the founders of Tikkun magazine, and now a teacher of Jewish spirituality at Chochmat HaLev in San Francisco, Fink here chronicles her lifelong journey from Christianity to atheism to Orthodox, and finally secular, Judaism. Fink writes this memoir as an exercise in tikkun olam, a major tenet of Judaism that holds that one's responsibility in life is to heal and repair the broken world. More than the story of a religious conversion, Stranger in the Midst tells the tale of a woman who longs to become her true self, but who is haunted by questions concerning what it means to be a ""real"" Jew. Rejected by an Orthodox congregation, questioned by hostile rabbis and discounted by friends, Fink remains a stranger in the midst of Orthodox Judaism. By the book's end, however, Fink acknowledges that what originally drew her to it-strong father figures, ritual and liturgy, rules and law-no longer satisfies her. Her idealized views of culture and religion, deepened by her experiences with anti-Semitism, as well as her intensive study of the laws and doctrines of Orthodox Judaism, led her to a less traditional form of Judaism. A compelling memoir of one woman's search for religious identity. (Mar.)