From Publishers Weekly
A ponytailed secular Jew who grew up learning Yiddish, the lingua franca of the orthodox, modernity-resisting Jewish sect known as Hasidim, Eisenberg has produced an engaging, if not always deep, mosaic of Hasidic life around the world. In Williamsburg and Boro Park, Brooklyn, home of the Satmars and the Belzers, he sees deeply rooted communities, finding himself welcomed and quizzed when he shows up at synagogues. In Los Angeles, the Lubavitchers have helped transform a Jewish community of '60s rejects that "carries the brand of Los Angeles on its back with the stark simplicity of a concentration camp tattoo." He visits tiny communities in Ukraine and Poland and describes how the small town of Postville, Iowa, has been changed by the advent of a Hasidic meat-packing plant. In lively Antwerp, the author observes signs of the vigorous prewar European Jewish community and, in one of his many quirky encounters, finds himself discussing Meir Kahane while listening to Frank Zappa. Indeed, given the Hasids' devotion, resiliency and high birth rate, the author expects them to play a vital role in the American Jewish future. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Eisenberg, a secularist educated at Columbia and Harvard, is a descendant of a Hasidic family. He thereby gains easy access to the various Hasidic circles by use of a key passport: his ability to speak Yiddish, the lingua franca of many Hasids. The author estimates that there are 650,000 Hasids in the world, but he predicts that because of their high birth rate and devotion to their cause their influence will grow by leaps and bounds. His book, lighthearted but insightful, resembles a travelog in some respects and recounts his encounters with various Hasidic personalities and sects. Along the way, Eisenberg shows that Hasidism is not an undivided monolith of thought and opinion. Indeed, it is composed of many sects that proudly emphasize their differences with other Hasidic groups. The work also shows that Hasids are not as cut off from the secular world as imagined. This book makes a nice complement to Samuel Beilman's more scholarly Defenders of the Faith (LJ 2/1/92). Recommended for larger libraries.?Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., Ill.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
An astonishing but quite probable prediction is that by 2075 just about all the remaining American Jews will be orthodox or Hasidim. Although that projection depends heavily on intermarriage and low birthrate among the general U.S. Jewish population, it indicates the tenacity of the Hasidic sect. Eisenberg's study of the Hasidim took him from Brooklyn to Israel and included such remote outposts as Postville, Iowa, and Uman, Ukraine. Even more remarkable than his encountering Hasidic communities in such distant places is how openly their insular members responded to his inquiries. The result of his travels is a rich chronicle of survival through and revival since the Holocaust as well as of constant resistance to assimilation. Eisenberg clears up many misconceptions about Hasidic belief, such as the mistaken notion that all Hasidim are anti-Zionist, and although clearly respectful of Hasidic religious viewpoints, he writes so lightheartedly that, while it is hard to believe a fine book on Talmudic scholars could be so much fun, fun it is. Aaron Cohen


Book Description

Boychiks in the Hood is your passport to the Hasidic "underworld" -- a destination far different from popular expectations. Join Robert Eisenberg as he hangs out with an ex-Deadhead in Antwerp, makes a pilgrimage to the grave of the revered Rebbie Nachman in the Ukraine, munches mini-bagels with Rollerblading kosher butchers in Minnesota, discovers the last remaining religious Jews in Poland, talks sex with a karate-champion-turned-rabbi in Israel, and more.Simultaneously respectful and hilarious, Boychiks in the Hood is a surprising and unforgettable journey through the world's flourishing Hasidic communities that reveals this vibrant tradition as never before.


From the Publisher
An informative jaunt through the religious experience, ceremony, and tradition of the esoteric Hasidic communities of the world.


About the Author
Robert Eisenberg was educated at Columbia and Harvard. He has spent several years traveling among the world's Hasidic communities.

FROM OUR EDITORS

A secular Jew from Omaha takes an unforgettable jaunt, respectful and hilarious at once, through the world's strictly religious and traditional Hasidic communities, gathering impressions from Brooklyn to the Ukraine. "Stimulating, informative and original."-- Elie Wiesel.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Boychiks in the Hood is your passport to the Hasidic "underworld" - a destination far different from popular expectations. When Robert Eisenberg, a secular Jew from Omaha, Nebraska, decided to investigate his family's distant Satmar connections, he unknowingly embarked on a journey that would carry him around the world and into the hearts and lives of the Hasidim. Armed with a loving curiosity and the Yiddish his grandmother taught him as a child, Eisenberg found himself intimately drawn into the sometimes nutty, often inspiring, lives of these most traditional of Jews. Join Eisenberg as he hangs out with an ex-Deadhead in Antwerp, makes a pilgrimage to the grave of the revered Rebbe Nachman in the Ukraine, munches mini-bagels with Roller-blading kosher butchers in Minnesota, talks about sex with a karate champion turned rabbi in Israel, and more.

FROM THE CRITICS

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