Strictly Kosher Reading: Popular Literature and the Condition of Contemporary Orthodoxy by Yoel Finkelman (review)

Kosher by Design: Teens and 20-Somethings: Cooking for the Next Generation (2010) is a cookbook written by an Orthodox woman, Susie Fishbein. The book has an attractive glossy cover set on a kitchen table amid scattered vegetables. The salesman at Eichlers's Judaica in Borough Park, Brooklyn, where I came across the book, told me that the book was a bestseller as a favorite Hanukah present among ultra-Orthodox Jews. This cookbook belongs to a hybrid literary genre of non-religious books, including fiction and non-fiction, self-help books, theology, newspapers and magazines, as well as children's literature. These have all entered the everyday life of ultra-Orthodox Jews and are the focus of Finkelman's book.

The ultra-Orthodox Jews who are the subjects of Strictly Kosher Reading are known in Hebrew as Haredim, those who "tremble before God." Of the two major groups of Haredim in the United States, Hasidim and non-Hasidim, Finkelman focuses on the non-Hasidic population. Haredim are considered the fastest-growing Jewish community in the United States, and their patterns of consumption affect industries like Jewish publishing. However, the Haredim at the center of Strictly Kosher Reading belong to religiously and socially diverse communities, including those who are more extreme in their interpretation of the Jewish law and opposition to modernity as well as those who are more open to modernity. Unfortunately, Finkelman generally describes the Haredim as a monolithic group and does not always share with the reader which communities are the target of the specific issues he raises.

Throughout the different chapters of the book, Finkelman shows that although many American Haredim consider themselves traditionalist and anti-modern, they have no problem adapting secular literary genres and mobilizing them in the service of their community. The literature, whether fiction or non-fiction, once approved by eliminating anti-Haredi themes becomes a vehicle for negotiating the borders between them and the outside world while maintaining the traditional way of life.

Strictly Kosher Reading is an important book for those who study and are interested in traditional communities, American Jews, literature and religion. Still, this reviewer is surprised that Finkelmam omitted the Haredi news media in print and online, which includes the daily newspaper Yated Neeman ("Loyal Stake"), the weekly magazines Mishpacha ("Family") and Ami ("My Nation"), and the monthly women's publication Binah ("Wisdom"). Importing business plans, format and content from the Western media, Haredim have built their own empire of professionally run and well-designed periodicals that attract Haredi consumers who used to read non-Haredi publications. In addition, websites devoted to Haredi news are flourishing, attracting more readers and providing individuals a safe outlet to express their opinions about religious leadership and other issues in a way which is not allowed in the published newspapers.

This reviewer is also puzzled by the scant attention and interest that Finkelman has for the growing popularity of cookbooks among Haredim, especially women, and the celebrity status that their women writers have achieved. Finkelman devotes only four paragraphs to Haredi cookbooks and their authors (20-21, 67-68). Equally disappointing is Finkelman's omission of the comic strips published in Haredi newspapers and magazines as well as comics published in books. In recent years both have taken over the popular literature for Haredi children. During my visit to Eichler's Judaica, I observed several Haredi children perusing comic books, and I also saw many comic books bought as presents for Hanukah. Imported from Israel, where comic books have been popular for many years, Haredi comics and additional new comics created in the United States are approved by strict committees of religious authorities. They are acceptable as long as the heroes are great rabbis or folk heroes and anti-Haredi qualities such as cruelty and violence are taken out. "Kashering" the comics is just another illustration of Finkelman's analysis of how Haredim draw upon non-Haredi literature. [End...