Around Sarah's Table: Ten Hasidic Women Share Their Stories of Life, Faith, and Tradition (Hardcover)

~ Rivka Zakutinsky (Author), Yaffa Leba Gottlieb (Author) "Susan was recently divorced and acutely new to the "religious" Jewish lifestyle..." (more)
Key Phrases: challah dough, destined partner, sages tell, Borough Park, Crown Heights, Lubavitcher Rebbe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Around a kitchen table in Brooklyn in 1991, a few Hasidic women started meeting every week for lunch and Torah study. Around Sarah's Table, by Rivka Zakutinsky and Yaffa Leba Gottlieb, reveals the personal stories of this diverse group of women--including Shaina, the mother of two adopted children with Down Syndrome; Klara, a high-powered lawyer; and Levana, a rebbitzen, who's the moral compass for them all. Each of the book's 10 chapters begins with a passage from Genesis and then focuses on the story of one woman. Their stories converge in their striving to "elevate the physical and actualize the spiritual." As Sarah, a school principal and the group's hostess, explains, "Our most important work is the day-to-day, minute-to-minute adjustment of our attitude to feel love towards people." Readers unfamiliar with Hasidic traditions will discover a way of life that's ordered by the Torah in every detail. Readers more familiar with Hasidism will enjoy the satisfaction of seeing these often-stereotyped people faithfully and vibrantly described. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

This book tells the stories of 10 Hasidic women who gather "around Sarah's table" each Tuesday for lunch and Torah discussion. The women are quite different from one another: all live in Brooklyn, yet they come from Italy and Russia as well as the U.S., and not all were raised in "Torah homes." Some are housewives, while others balance demanding careers in law or publishing with home responsibilities. All are united in their devotion to faith and family, and in their determination to live their values. Each chapter blends the group's weekly parsha (Torah portion) with one of the women's life stories. They discuss the dark times, such as dealing with near-fatal nephritis or the challenges of raising special-needs children, alongside the blessed events: a long-awaited pregnancy, a shidduch (match) made for a daughter or son. Readers will come away with a deep appreciation for the resiliency of these women, as well as important details of the world of kosher-keeping, modest dress, mikvah attendance and the rejuvenating cycle of holidays and Sabbaths. The book is well-written (with a slight overuse of exclamation points and italics), its conversations natural and revealing. The first two chapters give the impression that they are the biographies of the authors themselves, though this is never stated outright. While not as analytical as Lynn Davidman's Tradition in a Rootless World or Lis Harris's Holy Days, both of which explored the lives of Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish women, this book offers a rare insider's perspective.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (October 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684872749
• ISBN-13: 978-0684872742
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #527,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #46 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Movements > Orthodox

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Joy Luck Club" meets "The Chosen", December 17, 2001

By	Rabbi Yonassan Gershom (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

What Amy Tan did for the world of Chinese women in "The Joy Luck Club," this book does for Hasidic women's culture. Riva Zakutinsky and Yaffa Leiba Gottlieb (both Hasidic themselves), have given the public a highly-readable, intimate window into a world that would otherwise be inaccessible to most outsiders. The result is an excellent book that will make you laugh, cry, and truly realize how the common humanity we all share can shine through outward differences. I plan to recommend this book to my neighbors, my local libraries, and readers of my Hasidism FAQ. Like "Joy Luck Club," it would make a great movie, too. If I were a film producer, I'd jump at the chance!

The ten women who gather around Sarah's Table every Tuesday for lunch and Torah study are very religious Jews, but definitely not plaster saints. (Is that a mixed metaphor?) They struggle daily with the same types of life challenges facing women (and men) the world over: caring for developmentally challenged children, coping with a serious illness in the family, becoming a step-parent, balancing home and personal life with a career.

Oh yes, some of these women DO have careers outside the home. For example, there's Shaina, author of a series of Jewish children's books. And Reva, Shaina's publisher, whose husband encouraged her to start her business. Not to mention Klara, the attorney, whose strict Hasidic observance led her to open her own law firm rather than "sell out" to pressures to conform.

Of special interest to the outside world will be the chapter on Tamar, who is seeking the right "match" for her older daughter. As you will learn from her story, Hasidic matchmaking is not the same thing as an "arranged marriage." Naturally, Hasidic parents expect their children to marry Hasidim, and a matchmaker may help introduce a prospective couple to each other. But the man and woman decide for themselves whether to marry or not. This dates all the way back to the biblical story of Rebecca, who was asked if she wanted to marry Isaac. (See Genesis 24:57-58) Everyone, according to Hasidic teachings, has a destined match literallly made in heaven. Sometimes, however, we make the wrong choices here on earth. And sometimes, finding one's true soulmate can mean going to the ends of the earth -- as Klara's Polish mother learned in a tiny town in Russia.

One problem with the book is that the glossary assumes too much Judaic knowledge on the part of non-Jewish readers. While the more obscure Yiddish and Hebrew words are defined in the glossary, common ones like "Shabbos" (Sabbath) and "yeshiva" (academy of Jewish study) are not. And there is no pronunciation guide. Maybe these terms can be taken for granted in Brooklyn where the authors live, but they require explanation in areas where there are few Jews. (I myself live in a Midwestern town where people think my first name is "Robbi" and have no idea what a RABBI is -- until I say "Jewish minister.") I was also annoyed to see the late Lubovitcher Rebbe (Menachem Schneerson) defined as the "most recent leader of the worldwide Hasidic movement." He might be leader of the worldwide LUBOVITCH Hasidic movement (to which these women belong) but he's not my Hasidic leader -- I'm a Breslover Hasid. (Different group. There are over 150 other Hasidic groups besides Lubovitch. The biggest, by population, is probably Satmar.) Hopefully these glossary shortcomings will be corrected in future editions.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, January 22, 2002

By	Elisheva "torahbirth" (NY, United States) - See all my reviews

About me: I am an orthodox jewish woman, not from a chassidic community or lifestyle.

The title of this book led me to believe that this was non-fiction, and I was looking forward to reading about life in different chassidic communities from the women's point of view.

Instead, this is either a work of fiction or real people have been fictionalised. A group of women collects around Sarah's table for words of Torah and wisdom, a break from their struggles of the week.

The characters and their situations are believable, but the dialogue is poorly written, as if for a play. This group apparently breaks into applause when one of their members says something they approve of - does that happen around YOUR table? I found Sarah's continuous stream of optimism and platitudes annoying and unrealistic.She always had an answer; I wanted to tell her to stop comforting and explaining and just let people BE. I found her explanations of Torah over-simplified. I also didn't agree with all the conclusions the characters drew from the Torah - which is okay, there are many different ways to learn the same verse, but the explanation was presented as The Truth, as opposed to A Truth.

Read this for enjoyment, but not for enlightenment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars hard to put down, February 9, 2005

By	westwind "westwind" (rocky mt west) - See all my reviews

This book was engrossing and enjoyable - I was very interested in all of the characters and would have loved to have more on how their dilemnas worked out. It was very interesting to see them apply religious values to work out the common problems and challenges of adoption, step children, an invalid husband, an unmarried daughter - and the incredibly high standards of kindness and selflessness they live up to. so different from the 'me' world of our consumer society.