To Play With Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey [Paperback]

Tova Mordechai (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 9657108357 | ISBN-13: 978-9657108352 | Publication Date: February 7, 2002

How does Tonica Marlow, an evangelical female minister, find her way to becoming Tova Mordechai, an Orthodox, practicing Jew? Born the daughter of an Egyptian Jewish mother and a British Protestant evangelical father, Mordechai presents the powerful real-life account of her tumultuous journey to Judaism as she grapples with Christianity and her Jewish roots.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This story of one woman's journey from evangelical Christianity to Orthodox Judaism is intriguing and loving. She's now Tova Mordechai, but she began as Tonica Marlow, the British daughter of a Pentecostal preacher father and an Egyptian Jewish mother (who herself had become a Christian). Raised in a strict Christian household and sent as a teenager to a theological college, Tonica wanted desperately to serve Jesus, but, even as she faithfully went to church and studied Scripture, she was dogged by questions about Judaism. As a young adult, she began to periodically attend synagogue and correspond with an Orthodox rabbi. She eventually ran away from the theological college and immersed herself in the worldwide Hasidic community, living with a Jewish family in London and studying at a Hasidic institute in Minnesota before settling down in Israel. Two features distinguish this memoir. First is Mordechai's evenhanded treatment of her Christian roots; for the most part, she paints a sympathetic picture of her childhood, neither vilifying nor caricaturing her parents' faith. Second, she does not romanticize the process of embracing a new religion, but honestly recounts the bumps on her road to Orthodoxy (such as challenging the narrow-mindedness of a rabbi who likened Jesus to Superman and other childish fantasy heroes). Readers' only complaint may be that the book could easily be 75 pages shorter. Still, Jews will enjoy following Mordechai on her journey, and seekers of other faiths will recognize in Mordechai's particularities the universal pieces of a spiritual quest.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

The spiritual struggle documented is an unbelievable testimonial to the triumph of a Jewish soul over unspeakable odds. -- Basha Majerczyk, Algemeiner Journal

With its bizarre twists and turns, this odyssey amplifies our own strange journey through darkness and light, chaos and order. -- Simon Jacobson, author of Toward A Meaningful Life

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 447 pages
• Publisher: Urim Publications (February 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9657108357
• ISBN-13: 978-9657108352
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more than five stars!, May 1, 2003

By 

Sarah Schwartz (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Play With Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey (Paperback)

Tova Mordechai's story of her journey from a Pentecostal cult to Judaism reads like a Jewish _A Little Princess_: she lives in poverty surrounded by plenty, is forcibly separated from her family; she succeeeds at everything she tries and yet receives no recognition for her successes, but she is cheerful and good-hearted throughout. If this book were fiction, it would be remarkable for its excellent writing, suspenseful plot, and believable characters. The fact that the book actually happened is all the more amazing. _To Play with Fire_ compellingly tells a truly fascinating and inspirational story, giving the reader an insight behind closed doors of two little-understood religions.

Any autobiographical work about an author's religious "odyssey" sets off alarm bells in the mind of a demanding reader, yet this book avoids the clichees. Despite telling a very personal story about the evolution of the author's fundamental religious beliefs, it maintains a distance from them: much to her credit, the author does not attempt to persuade readers of the truth of her new belief system, and she does write a relatively honest assessment of her new life. Further, it is clear that Ms. Mordechai is writing for her audience, not herself: she tells her story because others have found it fascinating, not because she thinks herself a model of humanity, again quite unique of autobiographical works.

Nevertheless, I do wish that she had written more about her current life. She mentions her reluctance to accept anything blindly, and indeed she argues extensively with the Lubavitch rabbis at her seminary, but she nonetheless stayed within Lubavitch during her struggles, rather than exploring other streams of Judaism, such as the Greek-Jewish and Egyptian-Jewish traditions of her ancestors.

While the most important part of her exploration occurred in the transition from Christian to Jewish, I wish she had discussed her thoughts about the nature of religion itself: whether power in any religious group should ever be centralized in one figure whose opinion determines the policy of the religious group, or whether decentralized power (as in the classical Jewish model of multiple rival opinions) is safer.

It is understandable that she cannot risk personal relationships by giving a complete discussion of her own life in her small community, but I was disappointed to watch her lush prose become sparse at the very end, and to see her incisive commentary become more muted.

One warning to the reader: it is impossible to read only one chapter and it compelled me to stay up until 3 am to finish it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is an honest book, January 17, 2003

By 

J. Kingan (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Play With Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey (Paperback)

I read this back when it was called "Playing With Fire". I am not sure which branch of fundimentalist Christianity her family was with....perhaps the British group "Plymouth Brethren", they were really cultlike. Her background was extreme, but her issues with Christianity are thoughtful and not merely colored by her strange community.

I recognized alot of things from my sojourn with fundimentalism, and I found her honesty refreshing. She is also very straightforward about the Jewish community she has joined. She doesn't paint an easy rosey picture of her transition. I still think of her and her husband, a convert from Episcopalianism. I think if you are interested in conversion stories and people affirming their Judaism you will love this book.

I remember vividly her description of the heartrending time of her sister's death, and her parent's programmed reaction.

Good Luck Tova! I am so glad to see this reissue of your book!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence, May 2, 2002

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: To Play With Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey (Paperback)

TO PLAY WITH FIRE records Tova Mordechai's odyssey as moves from being an evangelical female minister to becoming an Orthodox, practicing Jew. The daughter of an Egyptian Jewish mother and a British Protestant evangelical father, Mordechai devotes her life to service within her church. Ever conscious of the differences between herself and the outer world, Mordechai continuously attempts to stifle her need to connect and to fit in.

For many years she maintained a double life between home and school, and later work and the religious campus where she lived. When her service was rewarded with a promotion and added responsibilities on campus, Mordechai cuts most of her ties to the outside world. Yet she never could completely stifle her desire to deepen her spiritual connection to the One God, and to explore the religion of her mother.

Nine years in the ministry lead to depression and disillusionment with her peers, and an inability to touch the enthusiasm she once experienced. Always aware that something was still missing from her spiritual life, Mordechai buries herself in work and service. But eventually she must do more. Forbidden by her church to explore her Jewish roots, Mordechai eventually leaves behind Protestantism to pursue the freedom of her Jewish roots.

Author Tova Mordechai pens her extraordinary spiritual journey from Pentecostalism to Judaism in TO PLAY WITH FIRE. While her story is intensely personal, it is also universal in her search for a relationship with the God of her ancestors. Her gift with prose brings the story a sense of immediacy that makes for fascinating reading as she exposes both her joy and her disillusionment with her protestant beliefs. A must read for all spiritual seekers, TO PLAY WITH FIRE earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.