Pathwaysjews Who Return

Ever since the publication of Wade Clark Roof's Generation of Seekers, American culture has kept an eye on baby boomers and others who are returning to religion or otherwise seeking a sense of heritage, rootedness and meaning in life. This book looks at those who, though raised Jewish, left the practice of Judaism for some time and later returned to the faith as Orthodox Jews. The stories of these ba'alei teshuvah (""those who return"") are chronicled here by Greenberg, a journalist who made his own return to Judaism through Orthodoxy. His own sympathies sometimes prevent him from asking hard questions of his subjects. Women, for instance, are asked about feminism and Orthodoxy, but men are never asked how they feel about the roles assigned to them by their religion. Nonetheless, the stories of the 31 people interviewed provide a fascinating portrait of the paths that led people into Orthodoxy, and the myriad ways they struggle in the process of learning to be observant Jews. (Feb.)