Jephte's Daughter

by Naomi Ragen

A modern classic of Jewish-American literature, a remarkable journey into the shrouded world of Chassidic women. Naomi Ragen's first novel has been called "one of the too most important Jewish books." Abraham Ha-Levi is a wealthy American businessman and the last male survivor of an important Orthodox Jewish family. He decides it's time he finally honored his religious and cultural inheritance and so forces his 18-year old daughter--the beautiful and intelligent Batsheva--into an arranged marriage. Her new husband is a devout Torah scholar who lives in Jerusalem. Batsheva finds herself plunged into a new life and a strange land, among people who follow their religious laws to the letter. Then she realizes that her husband's piety is merely a mask for his cruelty. A magnificent book that builds up momentum compellingly.

Genres: Fiction, Jewish, Historical Fiction, Judaism, Israel, Middle East, Book Club

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and playwright who has lived in Jerusalem since 1971. She has published seven internationally best-selling novels, and is the author of a hit play. Naomi also publishes a regular column that deals with Jewish subjects, especially Israel.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/naomir...

Reviews

[Sally Wessely · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember the last novel I read that I really could not put down. A friend I met on a recent vacation had just finished the book and did not want to pack it and bring it home. Her description of the story as being one about a young American woman who must marry a Hassidic Jew in Jerusalem to fulfill a vow her father made to carry on the dynasty that his family had prior to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis piqued my interest. The book did not disappoint. I found it very intriguing. Once I began reading, the novel was put down only when I absolutely had to sleep, eat, or do a little housework.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Batsheva Ha-Levi lives a life of luxury in America: eighteen and beautiful, sheltered and innocent and brought up to be naive in her ultra-orthodox Jewish family. Her father, Abraham Ha-Levi, is the sole surviving descendent of a leader within Jewish Hassidic circles after the rest of his family met their death in Poland during World War II. Abraham Ha-Levi is a self-made businessman and very wealthy, but it is the legacy he was born to that weighs on him: he is the heir to a dynasty founded in 1780, and he made a promise to his mother before he escaped off the train that took her to her death, a promise that he can only fulfil by marrying off his daughter to the best scholar in the Hassidim.

Abraham Ha-Levi believes he has found that scholar, on his trip to Israel: Isaac Harshen. Considered to be brilliant, Isaac has lived a life as sheltered and ignorant as Batsheva, but unlike Abraham's daughter, Isaac is full of ambition and is seduced by the luxurious life that marrying into the Ha-Levi family will grant him; that and the fact that it puts him in the position of power and automatic respect, of being an important leader among the Hassidim, a man others will come to and ask advice of.

According to Jewish law, a woman can't be forced to marry against her will, but Batsheva is a kind-hearted girl and she loves her father, and she is ill-equipped to handle the emotional blackmail he subtly uses on her to get her to agree to marry a man she has doubts about. She leaves Los Angeles for a new life as a married Hassidic woman in Israel's ancient city of Jerusalem, full of dreams of continuing her studies at the university, of taking photographs and having children and running her own home. Of being a good wife, and of enjoying her handsome husband's attentions and love-making.

But no one teaches these Hassidic boys how to make love, or how to have a relationship with a woman, and Isaac is unable to read his new wife's body language, and has his own ideas about how his wife should behave, and dress, and what she is allowed to read and do. Soon the hopefulness they both felt about their marriage erodes into silence and misunderstandings and then contempt, before devolving into outright abuse and violence.

Batsheva endures a great deal at Isaac's hands, especially when it becomes clear her parents won't help her in any way if she leaves him - which has been made impossible by her father pressing his own vow to his mother onto his daughter. But when her only child, her son Akiva, reaches the age of three when he is taken from her and put into the same harsh Hassidic school that moulded Isaac when he was young, Batsheva baulks. Yet what can she do? Soon, in sheer desperation, she is driven to contemplate the worst thing she could possibly do, in an attempt to save herself and protect her son from her husband's ideas of what being Jewish means.

Jephte's Daughter, Naomi Ragen's first published novel, is a coming-of-age novel for the heroine, Batsheva, as she navigates her way through the very private life of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. She faces many trials over the course of just a few years, and comes to better understand her own religion and her own principals, as well as how to stay true to both while staying true to herself.

The title refers to a passage in the Torah (Old Testament), which is quoted at the beginning of the book for context, and referred to often in the last half of the book:

And Jephte vowed a vow unto God, and he said: "If You will give the Ammonites completely into my hands then whatever comes forth from the door when I return in peace I shall sacrifice to God."
...And when Jephte neared home, behold his daughter, his only child, for he had no other son nor daughter, came out to greet him with dancing and with drums. And when he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said: "Alas, my daughter, you've undone me and now you are undone. For I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and cannot take it back." Judges, 11: 31-35

It is clear that Abraham Ha-Levi is Jephte, and Batsheva is Jephte's daughter, sacrificed for the sake of a vow her father made to another party and wholly unrelated from her. And once she agrees to marry the man her father has found for her - which to him is the fulfilment of his promise - she is left simply to endure whatever comes with that. There are many parts of this story that are hit you hard, because Regan is an astute observer of human nature and doesn't hold back. Batsheva is a sympathetic character, but she's also a bit frustrating because she's so weak-willed, and rather stupid - not because she's a stupid, weak person, but because she was raised that way, and has has a very basic, narrow education at Ultra-Orthodox schools where the teachers are all rabbis. She hasn't been taught to think, critically or otherwise; she's been raised to be a good girl and a good, obedient wife, loyal to family and her religion, unexposed to the normal American lifestyle and culture which is deemed unsuitable. She has a private tutor in English, a university student called Elizabeth who is also her only real friend, and through her Batsheva comes to read DH Lawrence and other "unsuitable" authors - but these don't help her stand up to her husband.

Isaac is not a sympathetic figure, though he is a pitiable one. He is a classic example of the damage that can be done on a child by the adults in its life, especially, in his case, his teachers who taught little more than submission via the cane. Isaac has grown into a narrow-minded man, and like all men who are weak willed themselves, he makes himself feel stronger by bullying and abusing his wife. And part of it is certain aspects of the Hassidic community, or way of thinking. Regan presents a very rich portrait of this ultra-orthodox Jewish community, in all its variances, and it is fascinating to see into this way of life and its laws - some of which do benefit women (women, for example, have the right to divorce their husbands if their husbands don't or can't satisfy them sexually - very different from the Catholic perspective!! Though it also seemed clear that the understanding that women had sexual needs made them inferior to the men, whose minds are more elevated). It was interesting to read that the Torah scholars, men like Isaac, are considered the apple of the community's eye, and that their wives are expected to support them - get jobs, do all the work - so that their husbands would be free to pursue their studies (and yet, the women aren't allowed to have the kind of education that would enable them to have decent jobs, just crappy jobs). And the women see this as a great ambition, to marry a Torah scholar and subjugate their lives to his so he can study.

Ragen presents a very balanced view of the Hassidim, though as you can tell the opportunity for abuse of various kinds is made more than clear. Batsheva, when faced with challenges, becomes more clear on her understanding of her religion and her own faith, rather than less. What she learns is the difference between mortal men's narrow-minded and self-serving interpretations of divine law, and God's word. When she starts reading the holy books for herself, she comes to understand how wilfully Isaac is interpreting it, twisting things to suit his own selfish purposes.

It takes Batsehva a long time and many mistakes to grow up and understand herself, what kind of woman she is (or wants to be) and what she stands for. This is what she was never given the chance or freedom to do before, in her sheltered upbringing: try things, mess up, pay the price, learn from it, mature, become a better person for it. When she gets that chance, it's rather painful the mistakes she makes, but it's also deeply satisfying (especially to this female reader).

She pushed back her chair abruptly. Her legs felt like rubber. "Will you excuse me for a moment." Without waiting for his murmured concern, she wound her way with as much dignity as she could through the softly humming room and felt the eyes of the men turn and linger as she passed. In the ladies' room, all green and white like a lovely spring garden, she heaved miserably. She touched her face with cold water and washed out her mouth many times. She spent a long time drying her lips and replacing the lipstick. She stared at herself in the mirror. The red lips. The white, shameful cleavage. The red dress that clung to her tiny waist, her slim hips.
Who are you? she wondered. No one I know, or like very much. A woman once again trying to pleas a ma, the way I tried to please my father, to please my husband. I don't know who I am yet, she thought. But surely, I am not the same as the people sitting here in this room enjoying this meal. Perhaps one day I shall be. But not now, not today. She went back to the table. She was tired of playing games. [p.294]

It is in England that she finally has a chance to grow up and discover who she is, and who she is not, and what it means to be a Jew, which in turn solidifies her own faith.

All my life, she thought, I have been sheltered by wealth and family and community from understanding who I am, what it means to be a Jew. Now, stripped of everything, vulnerable and alone, she experienced the raw pain of blind prejudice and unthinking cruelty that had been her people's lot for centuries. And these good, cultured people [in England] perpetuated it, instilling it in their children, giving it posterity through their complicity and - she glanced at the earl - their accepting silence. [p.304]

When Batsheva meets David, who is close to being ordained as a priest in the Catholic church, she meets a kindred soul, the kind of man she always wanted and dreamed of. But their differing religions present a kind of insurmountable wall. David has the well-meaning but condescending idea of converting Batsheva, without really considering her own faith to be worth keeping when he can offer her Jesus, but it is David who learns a lot from her and finds, in Judaism, the kind of belief that was always lacking in his own Catholicism.

Why had he dismissed the whole contribution of the Jews as insignificant and wrong? He had been taught, had he not, that Jesus said, "I come not to change the Law, but to strengthen and verify it." But it had never occurred to him, never seemed important to him, that jesus himself came of Jewish parents, and the Law he spoke of was this same law of the Jews. He realized with a deep shame that although he had loved Batsheva, he had belittled her beliefs, considering them in the same light in which an indulgent parent considers the unsophisticated thoughts of a favorite child: with love and pity and hope for the future. He had, in fact, not looked at them at all so much as the opposite. He had overlooked them, as if they were a kind of defect, which in his love he was bound to accept, like a deformed hand or foot.

This in general, he thought suddenly, was the way Christians looked at the Jews. Some hated them, hated their beliefs, while others were prepared to love them in spite of their beliefs. That seemed to him totally absurd, like hating or ignoring the crust of the earth that forms the whole foundation for one's firm existence on solid ground. It is simply this, he told himself: Without the Jews, there would have been no Christians. The idea that the Christians had taken over the role of the children of Israel, had usurped the position of the Chosen People because the Jews had sinned, not only seemed to him wrong, but positively galling and ungrateful. [pp.375-6]

I greatly enjoyed all the religious ruminating, the exploration of a faith and what it means to its people, what goes on in the hearts of some Jews and why, after centuries and centuries of persecution, they remain strong in that faith. It is not a lecturing or moralising story, it is a loving exploration into the hearts and minds of its characters, a patient, surprisingly tender exposé into the traditions of a community. According to the author's forward from 2001, the novel received a lot of criticism from that community and other Jews, who felt it to be an "unwelcome intrusion" into their private lives. I have to agree with Regan, that to "put any society off-limits to literary exploration, is to deny not only the society's worth as a source of powerful truths to others, but also to surrender to a self-serving censorship which denies society members the ability to view themselves honestly, and with a clearer perspective towards improvement." I love that quote, which is why I had to include it. Regan also notes that since the novel's publication in 1989, there has been a "growth of shelters for battered Orthodox Jewish women, guidelines for Orthodox Rabbis in handling domestic abuse, and outspoken Orthodox women's organizations". She ends with this pearl of wisdom: "The writer not only has the right, but the obligation to shine the light of inquiry on that world they know best, whatever the personal price."

As Ragen's first novel, written, she says, "in a rush" over the course of a year, it is as times a bit slow, a bit cumbersome with an over-abundance of adjectives and minor details, but the writing still reads fairly smoothly and with a strength and conviction. The characters felt very real to me, their lives very realistic, which upped the ante, so to speak, on the emotional scale. It is a novel that gives great insight into this very private community, as well as into the religion itself, but most importantly it is a novel of the human heart, and resilience, perseverance, passion, love and loyalty. It is about the weight of promises and the tragedy of genocide, the consequences of a narrow, restrictive education and a sheltered upbringing, and the right each of us has to be happy and to follow our dreams. It sheds light on a secretive, hidden world, a world where women have no voice and few real rights. The writing may be flawed, but the storytelling is strong.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential, I really couldn't wait to read it. And I must admit, I don't dislike this book. I only believe that it could have been more, much more. The story starts out with Batsheva, a girl who loves God and follows his Law however she sometimes has problems with how those around her interpret the Law. I really liked the character of Batsheva. She always seemed to fall back on the Grace of God even when she was going through tough times. I really strive to be like that, but I'm so cynical. I attended a very pious Christian school, I was always jealous of my friends who just accepted God without any reservations. So anyway Batsheva is someone who I look up to.
Her marriage is arranged for her by her father, a way to carry on the Ha-Levi linage. Batsheva loves her father so much that she quickly agrees with this situation. However her Christian tutor (she's pretty secular) Elizabeth scoffs at the idea of arranged marriage. Batsheva does end up marrying Isaac, a Talmudic scholar. Perhaps Batsheva could find happiness? Well I everyone else has pointed out, she doesn't. Isaac doesn't teach her anything, he only humiliates and belittles her.
Isaac is the first problem I had with the book. He's not a person he's a cartoon villain. Seriously, Ragen never tells the reader what makes him that fanatical. She had a perfect chance to, part of the book is narrated by Isaac! Batsheva endures Isaac long enough to bear his son Akiva. Akiva is the pride and joy of Batsheva's life and she hates to she Isaac treat him with indifference.
I won't spoil this anymore, but I will make a few criticisms of the book in order to explain my two star rating.

This book really makes England look ridiculous, I mean it seems like everyone is a Lord or Lady and lives on an ancestral county estate.

Parts of the book seem to float, Batsheva doesn't really have much to do except mope.

Someone already mentioned this, but this novel sometimes contains writing that sounds like a cheesy romance novel. I really don't think that the writing of this story should sound like a cheesy romance novel. It should have been above this.

This critique I have a hard time writing. I read the Zion Chronicles when I was younger. I always felt like it was unnatural when the story line involved a pious Jew converting to Christianity without any doubt or fear about leaving their natal religion behind, your religion isn't something you can shed like a pair of socks. In this book, something like that happens. Yes the character is happy that they converted, yet this book, like its Zion Chronicles counterpart, never addresses any doubts about wether converting or you know the fear of leaving all you've ever been spiritually taught behind.

Ok end of my criticism, lets end on a happy note. I love the friendship between Batsheva and Elizabeth. They both build each other up even though they are so different. Batsheva loves Elizabeth even though she doesn't approve of her lifestyle and Elizabeth helps Batsheva even though she thinks that she's a bit too religious.

[rivka · Rating 1 out of 5]

It amazes and saddens me that such a libelous and inaccurate novelization is lauded. Ragen brings out every trope and negative claim about Chassidic Judaism and then some, completely ignoring such inconveniences as accuracy and authenticity.

[Daniel Chaikin · Rating 1 out of 5]

crap.

[J.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at: http://wrestleforblessing.blogspot.co...

Naomi Ragen’s novel, Jephte’s daughter, is about a young Hassidic (Jewish ultra-orthodox) girl who is raised in the United States, and is arranged to marry a young Hassidic scholar in Jerusalem. She must leave everything she knows and loves to marry a man she has only just met. It sounds like a traditional set-up for—I don’t know—a romance novel or some such. (It’s an arranged marriage!!! But will it become true love?!? No.)

But this is not a romance novel (though there are some slightly extraneous romantic elements towards the end) and I suspect this isn’t the best way to introduce this novel, at any rate.

The title of this novel is derived from a story in the book of Judges. Jephte makes a horrifying promise to God, that he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house if he is granted victory in battle. He is granted victory. His daughter is the first sight for his eyes as he approaches home. And he is duty bound to sacrifice her. She accepts her fate and mourns only that she will die a virgin.

The parallels between the story of Jephte’s daughter and the protagonist of this novel—Batsheva Ha-Levi—are pretty explicitly drawn so I don’t think I’ll be ruining anything for potential readers by expounding upon that parallel.

Batsheva has been raised in wealth and relative isolation, for there are not many Hassidic Jews in the area of California where she lives and where her father is a very successful businessman. Batsheva is her parents’ only child and as such, she is cherished and spoiled. She has an outside tutor (a young gentile college student by the name of Elizabeth) who has introduced her to the sorts of literature that the average Hassidic girl would never see from a mile off (Women in Love and Lady Chatterly’s Lover have the most frequent mention.)

Batsheva is beautiful. She is happy. She is “ill-acquainted with the ways of the world”. She is full of life and she loves God. She does not lament much the confines of her religious life—firstly because she knows nothing else, and secondly because her confines are few by comparison to others of her sect. She has a yearning and passionate and artistic mind. She struggles, she questions, but she always comes back to her center of faith in God.

“She loved those instances in the Bible where people took flying leaps of faith headlong into the fearsome unknown and God was always there, like a good father.” (Pg 23)

“…the more she learned to admire the skilled hand, the wise eye of the artists and photographers she loved, the more she began to perceive the world as a giant canvas and God as the greatest artist of all. So that later, when she finally learned about Darwin, the idea was as absurd and incomprehensible to her as the suggestion that the Mona Lisa had come about because a few cans of paint had accidentally tipped over and dripped their colors onto a chance canvas” (Pg 28)

She is also very much only 18 years old at the beginning of the novel, and becoming increasingly curious about things such as sex, intimacy and romantic love.

“But God had looked at all of this, His ideas, His wonderful sense of color and design put into action and had said merely that it was good. Not great. Not fantastic. Just good. But when he had looked at man and woman together, He had said it was “very good.” So you could just imagine.” (Pg 35)

But Batsheva’s father, Abraham Ha-Levi, feels guilty. He is the direct descendant of a famous line of Hassidic Rabbis, but instead of devoting himself to the Talmud and a life of poverty, he thinks he has been too perfunctory about his Hassidism and has made an awful lot of money.

Herein lies the sacrifice. In order to devote to God what he feels he must, Batsheva’s father seeks out a husband—the aforementioned Hassidic scholar in Jerusalem—who will reestablish with Batsheva the famous Ha-Levi line. He figures Batsheva will marry this man, they will have great scholars for children, and Batsheva’s father will compensate for his youthful rebellion and his lack of study. He sacrifices her to a very different life than she has known—and to a man she does not know—to ease his guilt.

I should mention that Naomi Ragen’s inspiration for this novel was the instance of a real life Hassidic woman who committed a homicide-suicide (she took her small child with her). Ragen wished to investigate the experiences and emotional state of someone who would do such a horrible thing.

So, be warned. Her marriage is not a good one. And this brings me to one of the most well-executed aspects of this story: Isaac Harshen. He is the husband and, without giving away too much, he is the cause of Batsheva’s emotional and psychological distress. He is essentially the villain of the piece.

But here is where I must truly commend Ragen. Even though I knew that Isaac would be the source of trouble at the out-set of the novel, I still hoped he would mend, hoped he would grow, saw chances for redemption and even understood (did not agree with, but could comprehend) many of his reactions. He starts out as a young, intelligent, handsome man who also knows very little of the world.

But he knows much of his world. In his community in Jerusalem he is well-thought-of and pious and shrewd. He knows, ultimately, how to wield his world against Batsheva.

Ragen does not make Isaac sympathetic in the strictest sense—he grows blatantly cruel—but she makes solid sense of the progression of his thoughts and behaviors. He’s not just unkind because the story needed him to be. You can see exactly how he got that way and why he chooses as he does. You can see it happening with chilling realism right before your eyes. When she describes the “hardening of his heart,” so to speak, towards Batsheva you can (or at least I can) recognize that same mode of thought in some past instance in your life. That time that you had remorse and contempt as options and you saw some faint justification for the contempt and you chose it. Or the decision to capitalize on a miscommunication or on semantics to your own benefit. I’ve known myself to sometimes do the things the Isaac does, and that is scary…and an important truth to recognize—that we have that in ourselves.

From the point of Batsheva’s marriage, the story takes many a twist and turn (and indeed does some things I did not anticipate) and it consists of both good prose and a compelling story. I had to remind myself to look up at the subway stops to make sure I didn’t miss mine while I was reading this, I was so engrossed.

The book has rotating perspectives, giving liberty to drop into postitively anyone’s mind at any time. Thank goodness. I don’t generally like being restricted to one mind for hundreds of pages. It’s a personal preference. I have my own mind to deal with, don’t I? Plus it makes the characters more real, rather than just passing shadows viewed through a young girl’s eyes.

Therefore I would also like to mention a few of the other significant characters, some of whose roles in the story are best left undiscussed if you intend to read this.

Elizabeth:
The aforementioned gentile tutor. She is not much older than Batsheva, but wiser in the ways of the world—at least, in theory. Sadly she makes all the mistakes a girl in her position (young, smart, beautiful, passionate) ought not to make. There is a sub-plot of her involvement with a professor, but it is not superfluous. It is present to show-case the fact that, for all her freedom by comparison to Batsheva and other Hassids, she is still suffering and the choices she makes do not necessarily bring her happiness. She becomes disgusted with herself, and disillusioned with her lover.

Ultimately Elizabeth is a sweetheart, but never as riveting a character as Batsheva because she doesn’t seem to believe in anything. She’s just ‘awful nice.’ She is treated well by the narrative, but in a novel that acknowledges the centrality of God, that just doesn’t cut it. She’s an aimless sweetheart.

Professor MacLeish:
Pretty much a suave, pretentious jerk. His characterization is not as deep as Isaac Harshen’s, but it doesn’t need to be. He’s pretty peripheral. His primary purpose in the story is to provide a parallel to Isaac. To show that, just as Isaac adheres to the rituals and rules of his faith yet truly has no faith, Professor MacLeish adheres to the rhetoric and philosophies of his field of study, but has grown completely disillusioned with it. He carries on with the tune having lost the beat and any semblance of purpose.

David:
My absolute favorite section of the story consists of David’s struggle with God. David is preparing for priesthood in the Catholic church (a priest? What? I thought we were doing this story in a Hassidic neighborhood in Jerusalem! How did we get to a British Priest-in-training? Don’t worry about it.) He is struggling for his faith, struggling against God and ends up going on a trip to Israel to study the Bible and figure things out.

His struggle culminates in, perhaps, the most compelling passage in the whole book. Note: Jacob is my favorite character in the Bible. The one with whom I most relate. The passage shows David hiking out to the Desert and having it out with God—wrestling for His blessing. Even though I don’t agree with every single one of this character’s conclusions at the culmination of this scene, it is still very powerful and his story and struggles resonated with me in a way I cannot quite describe.

And The Rest:

There are some interesting arguments presented throughout the latter portion of the book, particularly interesting for someone familiar with both Judaism and Christianity. For instance, many Christians struggle with God’s wrath and the harshness in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) while finding Jesus’ message of love and faith a little easier to grasp (if not easy to live).

Yet in this novel the opposite perspective is introduced, which I found interesting and ironic in light of the aforementioned:

“Even “Love they neighbor as thyself,” that which he had always believed the most Christian of ideas, that, too, was written plainly in the Hebrew texts given to Moses. In many ways, its words seemed to bring him closer to the goodness and holiness he had always searched for than the harsh words of the new..., “Think not I have come to bring peace. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Pg 375)

Curiously, though Christian myself, I have always had an easier time breathing in the Old Testament than the new, for various reasons. I believe both are the word of God, but the latter is sometimes much harder for me to grasp. I just think it interesting to note, that some things that are ‘the easy part’ for some, are ‘the hard part’ for others. I’m also glad that the text pointed out some important things that Christians often forget:

“He had been taught, had he not, that Jesus said, “I come not to change the Law, but to strengthen and verify it.” But it had never occurred to him, never seemed important to him, that Jesus himself came of Jewish parents, and the law he spoke of was the same law of the Jews.” (Pg. 375)

Vital Information.

Anyhow, the conclusion of the story actually appeals to my affinity for blood-ties, although an opposite experience than that of a certain character can be found in real life in the form of Lauren Winner who wrote about her conversion from Orthodox Judaism (to which she originally converted from Reform Synagogue-going childhood.) to Christianity. Her book “Girl Meets God” is also highly recommended.

Conclusion:

I like that this is written about religion from the perspective of one who actually understands it, yet not for the religious shelves. Ragen intends a critique of many aspects of the Hassidic lifestyle, but she does not explicate hatefully. Nor does she give up on it all. Batsheva loves God. She believes in Him. She’s not written as a caricature of a religious person, which is rare when encountering a character found on, y’know, a shelf marked something as something other than religious fiction that is. That love and belief drips off the pages in a way that speaks to those who understand the language of faith. Since I don’t really read stuff from the “Religious/Christian fiction” shelf I’ve been pretty hard up to find books that portray people of faith as anything but caricatures or nut-jobs. I intend to read many more Naomi Ragen books.

[Rachel M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book, so I can't figure out why my main feeling about it now is irritation. I think it's because of the way it ties up. The whole story is so real and so honest, like a detailed photograph, and it feels like Ragen tacked on an ending where the characters suddenly appeared in cartoon form - recognizable, but dumbed down, caricatured. While they seemed to breathe a life of their own all along, the ending is like catching a bit of Ragen's shadow in the picture, and I suddenly had a sense of someone controlling the story and making the characters do things that didn't seem quite believable. The ending is what you hope for, and yet it comes off contrived and so it doesn't quite satisfy.

[Rachael · Rating 1 out of 5]

After wasting my time reading this book, I'm not going to waste much time on the review.

It wasn't well written, the characters were awful, the "twists" were obvious and inane. It was just bad.

This read like a Lifetime movie with a Jewish bent.

Yuck.

[Heidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it is full of finesse in psychology. I am never disappointed with the author who magnificently succeeds in combining the denunciation of religious extremism and the beauty of religion. The interest of the book lies, in my opinion, in the paradox between an ultra-religious man who is distorted and in opposition to the value of religion (Isaac) and a young woman who is freer and less subject to strict rules in relation to her husband. , but who nevertheless always maintains a right and sincere relationship in his relationship with God. I found this book very interesting and enriching.
In addition, it is the complexity of the characters that I really liked. Batsheva can come across as a superficial, naive and spoiled young woman, But as we read, we learn to understand her and admire her courage in her inner struggles. It's the same for his father because even if it is easy to despise him for his selfish decision, we can only notice that he is a man ruined by guilt.
The only thing that disappointed me a little was David's sudden conversion. I find it a bit sudden and even if he found his voice I would have liked that the happy ending was not obtained thanks to the change of religion because it reinforces the inevitability and superiority of the religious barrier over human feelings . I also find it a bit of a shame to always emphasize Batsheva's physique in a slightly exaggerated way.
However, this book remains a masterpiece in my opinion.

[M.S. Shoshanna Selo · Rating 5 out of 5]

***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Jephte's Daughter was an extremely uplifting and moving novel about the battle between tradition and enlightenment; duty and following one's heart. Ragen sensitively delves into the dark enclaves of Judaism which are often not spoken about. Hasidic Judaism is not a world, which is fully explored or spoken about and is kept far removed from the modern world. The protagonist and heroine of Jephte's Daughter, is Batsheva Ha-Levi, a sheltered and naive young girl, daughter of an extremely wealthy Hasidic businessman. Batsheva's parents do everything they can to protect her from the outside secular world. When she is only eighteen, her father arranges for her to marry an exceptional and promising scholar, Isaac Harshen to carry on the Ha-Levi dynasty. Batsheva, out of obedience and duty, decides to move to Jerusalem to marry Isaac. Filled with nerves and excitement, Batsheva hopes that she will fall in love with Isaac and fulfill her dreams of studying and travelling.

However Isaac is cruel and possessive and strips Batsheva of her joys in life and her freedom. He tries to mold her into an obedient and submissive housewife. Isaac shows Batsheva and her young son, Akiva no affection and spends a large chunk of his life studying to become a respected and powerful scholar. He uses his power to twist and fabricate the writings of the Torah and Talmud and gives others wrong and even harmful advise. One day Batsheva decides to escape with Akiva and start a new life.

I emphasized a lot with Batsheva; although she was weak at first (through no fault of her own and largely due to wanting to please her beloved father and due to the fear elicited from her by her strict religion), she gradually became stronger. I admired how Batsheva never lost her faith in God or comprised her beliefs (keeping strict kosher and refusing sleep around with any of the men she went on dates with) for others. The novel also depicted the challenges of being an Orthodox Jew in a modern, non-Jewish world. I also liked how Ragen emphasizes how one's own relationship with God is more important than blindly following. Batsheva doesn't want to follow all the laws in the Torah, especially the ones which mean compromising her freedom, but she is a deeply good and moral person, whilst Isaac who is obsessed with following God's laws and being a strictly moral person is actually a bad person whose obsession causes him to manipulate and bully others. It's the case with fundamentalists in all religions, Christians, Jews and Muslims, who believe that their belief is the absolute truth and their obsession with taking the holy books literally goes against the essence of what religion is really about; love, kindness and respect towards others.

The characters were all interesting and had a lot of depth. I liked Elizabeth, Batsheva's feisty and vibrant non-Jewish best friend. It goes to show that people of different backgrounds and religions can be kindred spirits. I hated Isaac so much; he had not even a grain of compassion, remorse or humility and he should have been put in prison. Abraham Ha-Levi, Batsheva's father was an interesting character. Although I could understand his pain from losing his whole entire family in the Holocaust and his promise to his mother to carry on the family name, I thought it was cruel the way that he emotionally blackmailed Batsheva and sacrificed her happiness for his own. However I was glad that he came to his senses in the end and atoned for what he did.

I thought that Jephte's Daughter was absolutely brilliant, poignant and inspiring and goes to show that there's always hope and light at the end of the tunnel. I was glad that Batsheva found happiness, freedom and love with David, ironically a trainee priest who questions his faith when he meets and falls madly in love with Batsheva and becomes more and more inspired by Judaism. I was pleased that Batsheva got her happy ending. Naomi Ragen is an excellent writer and for a first novel, this was really great. Very beautifully written.

Grade: A+

[Aditya Raj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bathaseba Ha-Levi, a young Jewish girl, is fond of romantic literatures like D. H. Lawrence etc. but is also the daughter of the sole survivor of Ha-Levi dynasty who is looked up to and revered by the Hassidic Jews. It compels her to face the dichotomy between the strict adherence to the principles of orthodox Jewish group i.e. Hasidism and her fondness for such literature and life which unfurls her desires to be loved and to fulfil her dreams which seems to have no boundaries. Her fate as the only daughter of the last survivor of Ha-Levis pushes her to get married to the best Jewish scholar in Jerusalem so that the dynasty can be carried forward. Her husband knows nothing beyond the religious works of Judaism and his stubbornness to make Bathaseba stay pure and unquestioned makes him abuse her in order to yield her capitulation for her desires. She swallows all the pains and bearings for the sake of her father's dream to maintain the legacy of Ha-Levis and after an attempt to get rid of his abuse and to follow her dreams, she is compelled by her father to promise him not to run away from her husband and to mould herself in such a way as to be a better wife who preserves her dignity, satisfies her husband, and follow the diktats of her husband. But her sufferings are unforgivable so she eventually runs away from Jerusalem to live the life on her own terms and in order to ensure a bright future for her newborn son and protect him from the evils of his father which she has faced for so long. Her further quest explores and brings to her different joys and a new experience as she has been emancipated from the boundaries created by her dad and her husband. She falls in love, she gets occupied with her photography work and fights the ongoing conflict between her faith and all those unfettered desires.


The novel, Jepthe's Daughter, is imbued with the contrast between the restrictions imposed by the Orthodox Jewish Hasidism and its unreasonable exploitation by those who have seen no world but their confinement to the religious texts. A powerful narrative accounting the life of a girl who has to maintain a balance between her orthodox ways of living and her desires that arises deep into her heart. It's a story of sacrifices made by Bathaseba Ha-Levi in order to please her dad and her husband and to keep up the name of her dynasty. A life full of ordeals until she flees away to live her worn life free of such unlivable constraints while maintaining her faith. The writer, Naomi Ragen, has excelled in drawing an irresistible portrait of the shackles imposed in the name of orthodoxy and the impact it has on the innocent and full-of-dreams lives. 

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms Ragen has done it again.. Another of her stories about religious women and the obstacles they climb to adjust or change their lives. Batsheva was a free spirit who thought she could take over the world. She had big dreams that also included marrying and starting a family. But she was not prepared for the arranged marriage her father made her; her overbearing husband who felt he possessed her and all her belongings; and when she could not take it anymore - well, read the book....she does the unimaginable, takes it to the next level and disengages herself and son from her family.....only then does she find peace, love, kindness, and a new life for herself....but finds this can only be completed by returning to the old life and settling a few things....excellent and well written as usual. I would have given it 5 stars except there were many parts, while beautiful and descriptive about the country of Israel....seemed long and moved the book along at a slower pace than I would have liked.

[Diane Ehrlich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read many of Naomi Ragen's very interesting articles regarding Jewish life, which prompted me to read some of her books. She tells compelling stories about life in the ultra-orthodox community, but brings a modern, feminist perspective. I've learned so much from her books about Jewish history and about the many ways Jewish traditions can be interpreted. She shows how the very same aspects of a religion that can be used to denigrate a woman can also be used to uplift her, depending on how and who is interpreting Jewish law.

Many of her books have a similar theme: woman feels repressed by ultra-Orthodox upbringing and "escapes" to the real world. Real world isn't all it's cracked up to be and she discovers that her culture, traditions and religion can be empowering and incorporated into a modern, happy life.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the beauty of this book can only be appreciated by a truly religious person, because a huge part of the plot is the attachment to God. Naomi Ragen clearly has a great love for Judaism and for Yahweh, and she writes that eloquently into her characters. I could relate to the heroine's struggle between doing what she wanted and what she believed God wanted her to do. I was touched by another character's struggle with his Catholic faith, and the truths he found in Judaism. I found myself thinking a lot about my own faith and its connections to both traditional religions, and how - just as Ragen presents in this book - there are people in every religion who are hypocrites, others who are so truly good, and many who try to be so. Reading Jephte's Daughter made me want to try even harder.

[Alida · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally avoid 400 page re-tellings of a 400 word Bible story; therefore, when a friend handed me this book to read I was reluctant. But it's not what I assumed. Instead it is the story of a modern young girl raised in a Hassidic Jewish family. I love reading novels which teach me about other cultures and this one certainly did.

I did question how one character could shed his Christian faith like a snake shedding his skin; how quickly he questioned things that previously were clearly his maxims. As a Christian that made me sad.

There is no swearing and although there is romance, no sexual content. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars but because of this, gave it 4.

[Robin Cornelison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, her writing is very fluent although there was a lot of religious intonations, which can be a deterrent, I found most of it surprisingly interesting. I learned a few things about Orthodox Jews that I hadn't known before. Batsheva was a frustrating character, most of the book I wanted to slap her silly, she was so innocent and annoying! I was cheering for her when she finally told Isaac to go to hell! Yes, why if she is orthodox does she go around without her hair being covered and pants on????

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main character in this book really pissed me off. I hate lead female characters who are weak and who take the entire book to stand up for themselves. I understand (I think) what the author was trying to accomplish here, but mostly I just wanted to scream. Maybe some empowered women feel OK reading about women who struggle with forming basic, declarative sentences. I am not one of them.

[Mdavies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in 1 1/2 days. I found it riveting, almost pre-occupying. Part of that comes from my years in Israel and knowledge of Jerusalem and the rest of the country. But the story is so compelling and whether you are familiar with Hassadim or not, the plight of Batsheva has been replicated in other scenarios. I will read Ragen's other books!

[J. Lassar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not deep or brilliantly written, but the story of a young Orthodox Jewish girl and her arranged marriage to an ultra-religious husband is fast-paced and fascinating in parts. Ragen's descriptions of Jerusalem are quite detailed and colorful, especially if you haven't been to Israel.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, engaging read about a young hassidic woman from a prominent family who moves to Jerusalem after an arranged marriage. My only criticism is that I felt the romance aspect of the novel was overdone.

[Adushka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much! Pure joy! And she isn't trying to make Hasidic community look bad, we all know that thinks like this happening there too! She's showing how people grow, and forgive, and fight back.

[Chava · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read this book for an article I am writing. I read it the first time almost 20 years ago, before I was married, before I interacted with the Hareidim in Israel, before I honed my skills in Readers' Advisory.

First I'll start with what I didn't like about the book. If this girl was raised strictly Orthodox, her parents would not have encouraged her to read secular books, especially D.H. Lawrence, and they would not have hired a non-Jew to teach their child. Second, logistically, if she is boarding in Brooklyn for high school, she probably only had the summer to read and develop a relationship with Liz, but it is possible that they did become very close. If Isaac was able to hire detectives to find out David met Batsheva at the airport, why couldn't he hire them to investigate her disappearance? If Isaac went to the rabbi for his sexual dysfunction, why didn't he and Batsheva go to him with their other problems? (This may be because of Isaac's arrogance.) How could Batsheva have a show in a gallery and not be found out? It is highly unlikely that this marriage could have occurred. Isaac and Batsheva did not even speak the same language, and a trip to the decadent United States would have been considered "wasting time that could be spent learning Torah," as well as dealing with the impurity of a non-religious society. How could the father who took her to museums and shows and encouraged her love of the visual and the written word think she would be happy in an environment where there are no secular books, no going to museums, etc. How likely is it that an Orthodox Jewess will fall in love with a candidate for the priesthood who turns out to have a Jewish mother? It is totally impossible that a rabbi from Meah Shearim would be teaching anything to candidates for the priesthood.

I think the topic is important for Jews and non-Jews. Anyone who tells a woman not to make her husband angry or that it is her fault she is being hit deserves a good beating. It is also important to think for yourself. How many husbands tell their wives things must be done a certain way because Jewish law dictates it and it also dictates that she acquiese to him?

So while many elements of the book are highly implausible, and many of the characters, especially the British ones are cliched, it is still worth reading. There are so many things to discuss that it is a great book club selection.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since my Grandmother gave me this book to read from her own collection and insisted upon me reading it, I was a bit surprised to find that it felt like a romance novel to read. I guess I never imagined my Grandmother being into that kind of content. Second, what are the odds of me reading TWO effectively romance novels about domestic abuse in a row, especially when I didn't realize romance novels took on such heavy topics as domestic abuse!?!
Story was of a wealthy young American Jewish woman whose family arranges a marriage for her. I would say she tried to make the best of the situation and was hopeful while going into the marriage, only to find out that her husband was not a good man. In some ways he was just as ignorant as her, but in most ways he was horrifically cruel. The rest of the story I thought did a good representation of what it is like to be in that situation, especially as a woman. What I especially appreciated about this story was how spirituality and religion were infused throughout it. Both were a huge part of the main character's life before she married, and she married a man who was effectively dedicating his life to religion. Even when on her own, she was still deeply devoted to it and used it to keep herself comforted in what was meaningful for her as well as, I assume, the comfort of the familiar. I thought it was a good story, told in a good structure.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting in terms of learning more about Hasidic Judaism. The beginning chapters were so boring for me in terms of the repetitive descriptions of the main character's innocence and beauty and perfection, and the exposition was just far too drawn out. I enjoyed the section about the marriage in Jerusalem in terms of the information about the customs of Hasidic Judaism, and the conflicts that occurred made this section interesting. A lot of the vocabulary in Yiddish was spelled in a way that I was unable to find the definitions for the words, and they weren't always explained clearly, so that was distracting as I read. I found the storyline was unbelievable at the end, especially with David hope not knowing certain things about his own past and about the Church. Both Batsheva and David seemed very juvenile for being grown adults, and it was as if their parents had kept so much from both of them as to be truly unlikely and unbelievable. I like a happy ending as much as the next guy or girl, but it's the ending that seemed trite and frankly really predictable. I was able to predict everything that was going to happen about 50 or more pages before it did happen. That can be fun at times, but in the end the book left a lot to be desired in terms of the writing quality and the plot twists.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I truly want to be brief with this one. I wanted to read books by this author and this book in particular for a good while. They've been on my to reads list and I was excited to read it but I felt it just fell short. The back cover synopsis sets you up to expect this great read but I had a really hard time getting through it. I often put it down and had to force myself skipping and skimming to get it done. I felt like the subject, the premise had the potential to be really good but maybe something happened between the idea and the actual work. I felt as if the same subject, facts etc had been delivered differently it could have been really good. But since it wasn't it fell very short for me, I want to say in the delivery department. Like a song, you can have perfect lyrics, wonderful instrumental accompaniment, even a vocal song bird but if the delivery is not right...it's just "eh", it makes the difference. I found a few quotes which I liked. A few of the characters were, ok. I learned a little.
As I always say, someone else may read it and fall in love but for me...it reminded me of something Harlequin, Danielle Steel and just not enough meat to chew on. Too light and too long, 200 some pages could have done the trick.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naomi Ragen's first novel and first journey into the world of the Hasidim. We follow Batsheva, a young American Jewish girl, as she marries Isaac, a brilliant yeshiva student in the legendary Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The fiancé's visit to his kallah is the harbinger of a marital tragedy that will lead to the imprisonment of the young woman, who is idealistic, curious and in love with Israel. Her thirst for spirituality is scorned, and her fate slides towards the inexorable.
The first part of the novel is intense and internal, while the second part is more romantic. This very passionate novel is based on real events and raises the issues in this closed environment with sensitivity and kindness, but also with realism. Naomi Ragen raises fascinating questions about our own perception of religion, in this case the Torah. Pressure from the environment (Isaac and his mother...), from family destiny (Abraham Ha-Lévi), but also a healthy understanding of the Torah and spiritual aspirations (Batsheva, Gershon and Gita, and finally David).
It may be a little slow, as this is a first novel... but the observations are very pertinent, the feelings very realistic and a breath of optimism!

[Courtney Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep reading Naomi Ragen's books because I enjoy suspense, and she writes it well. However, suspense is just about the only thing she writes well, so I frequently feel frustrated even as I turn page after page. Jephte's Daughter is filled with absurd plot points (a Catholic seminarian finds out he has Jewish ancestry and decides - practically overnight - that he's going to leave the Church and convert to Orthodox Judaism? really?), unbelievable characters (the British boyfriend's horrible aristocratic parents, the lecherous professor, even Elizabeth), and terrible dialogue. Like The Covenant (which I didn't manage to finish) and Sotah, Jephte's Daughter gives me the impression that the author has very little idea of what someone outside of the Orthodox Jewish world might think, feel, or value.

I did finish Jephte's Daughter, and the divorce hearing at the end was really a page-turner. The novel is worth picking up and at least perusing if you have some time to fill, but that's about it.

[Funda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
Another brilliant story by Ragen about womanhood, religion and discovering oneself via literature. Ragen knows this world and she weaves her stories from this fertile terrain, like Middle East- Israel itself. I know many people do not like her critical take on " religion" and feel offended by her books but in my opinion her critique is addressed to the individuals who manipulate the religion and the Word for their own benefits. When you read with an open mind, her love for her faith and land is very obvious. Moreover, I like the way how complex her characters are; she portrays her characters in such a insightful way that you can see -not necessarily agree- the workings of the minds of the "bad" characters. The book is an meditation on the story of Jepthe from the Old Testament and Ragen is also inspired by a real event and the ghost of Anna Karenina accompanies us throughout the whole story. It was a satisfying read that made me think, identify and feel.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its heart, a romance novel (without the sex - just like Twilight!) but set mainly in an orthodox setting in Jerusalem. It was interesting to read about a different culture, but I couldn't help but wonder which details were accurate and which were there for the pure drama. Either way, a good summer read.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my book club book and expected to really like it as one of our members raved about it. However, I was not particularly impressed. Parts of it - women and orthodox judaism - were interesting and seemed well researched but overall it just seemed to me like a Danielle Steele novel about orthodox Jews.