Stephanie Wellen Levine - Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers

Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers

STEPHANIE WELLEN LEVINE

An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls

Foreword by Carol Gilligan

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org

2003 by Stephanie Wellen Levine

All rights reserved

First published in paperback in 2004.

Please note that all names and many details
have been changed to protect confidentiality.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levine, Stephanie Wellen.
Mystics, mavericks, and merrymakers :
an intimate journey among hasidic girls / Stephanie Wellen Levine.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 081475192-X (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 0814751970 (paper : alk. paper)
1. Teenage girlsNew York (State)New YorkReligious life.
2. Jewish teenagersNew York (State)New YorkReligious life.
3. HabadNew York (State)New YorkReligious life.
4. Crown Heights(New York, N.Y.)Religious life.
5. Teenage girlsNew York (State)New YorkSocial life and customs.
6. Jewish teenagersNew York (State)New YorkSocial life and customs.
7. HabadNew York (State)New YorkSocial life and customs.
8. Crown Heights(New York, N.Y.)Social life and customs. I. Title.
HQ798.L49 2003
305.235209747dc22 2003014983

New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.

Manufactured in the United States of America

c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my parents

and in memory of my grandparents

I am deeply grateful to many people who have nurtured and guided me throughout this project. My parents, Carol and Arthur Levine, offered emotional support during this books countless challenges. I could never sufficiently thank them for everything they have done. When thorny issues arose, I counted on Sheila Tarabours expertise. My cousin Louise Guy is the best listener around. And my brother, Larrymy first palhas championed this project from the beginning.

This book never would have materialized without the support of my graduate school advisers. Carol Gilligans interviewing technique strongly influenced my own methods; I owe much of my projects success to her example. Her suggestions and encouragement have profoundly enriched my work. Laurel Thatcher Ulrichs rigorous, insightful input has led me to crucial improvements, and I deeply appreciate her encouragement as well.

Jennifer Hammer has been a superb editor: enthusiastic, thorough, patient, and always friendly. Her support and insights have been invaluable. Special thanks to Heather McMaster, Melissa Scheld, and Despina Gimbel for their hard work.

Several other people read parts of this manuscript or offered critical advice, including Elena Paolini (who helped me in countless ways as I worked on this project), Sherrie Inness, Lis Harris, Emily Levine (the books subtitle reflects her wise advice), Sharon Lamb, Meryl Zegarek, Susan Zeckendorf, Bill Madden, Rabbi Shmuel Posner, and Sam Brown. Sherrie deserves particular mention; she read nearly every chapter of this manuscript with a careful, discerning eye. Though they hadnt yet read the book, my incredible students at Tufts showed genuine enthusiasm for this project.

Friends provided fabulous conversation, laughs, and moral support: Elena Paolini, Laurie Pearson, Andrew Pearson, Michael Richter, Bill Madden, Rachel Noel, Dan Noel, Linda Prince, and my wonderful Leverett House lunch buddies, Diamond Cephus, Kate Holbrook, Sam Brown, Leeanna Varga, John Matthew, Geoffrey Shamu, and Chip Robinson. And I must not forget Christine McFadden, who always knew my adventures with Hasidic girls would become a book.

Privacy concerns do not allow me to name the most crucial contributors of allthe many Lubavitch girls and community people who made this project possible. To everyone who offered me the hospitality and warmth that made my Crown Heights stay so rewarding, thank you. In particular, I must thank my Crown Heights landlords; they made Brooklyn feel like home.

Finally, I thank several remarkable family members who died while I was writing this book. My Aunt Selma and Uncle Nat Guy encouraged me to succeed since early childhood. My grandmother Miriam Levine was an inspiring role model. She was a fighter, stubborn and determined, who nearly always managed to achieve her goals. Abraham Wellen, my grandfather, was confident that I would achieve all my dreams, and I will always remember his constant encouragement, generosity, and love. And my grandmother Helen Wellen was my unwavering fan from the day I entered this weird world. She gave me enough love, confidence, fabulous memories, and optimism about my future to last a lifetime.

As a graduate student in American studies at Harvard, Stephanie Levine spent a year living as a participant observer in the Lubavitcher Hasidic community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Drawn to a world infused with spirituality, she was impelled by the question, Do adolescent girls raised in a strict religious orthodoxy have what could be called a free voice? Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers provides a resounding answer to this question, dispelling stereotypes of meek and blindly submissive girls and bringing a hidden and seemingly cloistered world to life. We hear the distinct voices of pious girls, errant girls, and good-time girls who wear high-topped sneakers under their long skirts, finding individuality within lives driven by stark expectations and bound by an iron framework. But as the focus on girls highlights the tension within Hasidism between mysticism and the dictates of a patriarchal order, the inquiry opens into a series of powerful insights into the human psyche and the interplay between psychology and culture.

I remember a conversation with Stephanie at the time when she was completing her research. She had drawn fresh and engaging portraits of the girls she interviewed, rendering their inner lives and daily worlds in vivid detail. With a writers eye and ear, she captured the spiritedness that impressed her, depicting a liveliness and freedom of expression commonly associated with younger girls. I asked her how she accounted for the evidence of strong personal voice, given what would seem on the face of it a most unlikely setting, and I found her answer riveting. She spoke of the convergence of the method she used in her researchthe Listening Guide that directed her attention to inner voicesand the Lubavitch philosophy that emphasizes the importance of cultivating an inner voice, the voice of the individual soul or psyche. Her discovery of a voice apart from the voice of the orthodoxy alerted her to an aspect of orthodoxy that is frequently overlooked. The