Strictly Kosher Reading Exposed

Haredi popular literature and news filtered and censored through the Artscroll version of Jewish history and Jewish life exposed.

Yoel Finkelman's new book, Strictly Kosher Reading: Popular Literature and the Condition of Contemporary Orthodoxy (Academic Studies Press), is a pleasure to read.

Politely and with a sharp eye, Finkelman dissects haredi fiction, popular histories and biographies (which are really hagiographies), along with kiruv literature, the Slifkin book ban and, deliciously, Agudath Israel of America's The Jewish Observer.

Finkelman outs kiruv author Rabbi Lawrence Keleman for Keleman's misrepresentations of Jewish texts and his outright lies – including the false claim that he is "professor of education."  Keleman does not have a graduate degree and does not teach in a college.

He busts haredi myth after haredi myth without the anger that would pervade the writing of others (like me, for example).

Finkelman does all this as an academic, citing hundreds of sources and following the academic standards frauds like Keleman could never meet (and would not meet even if they could).

Strictly Kosher Reading is a very important book, but it's also pleasure to read. Buy it (or get your library to buy it) and enjoy.

Comments

[WoolSilkCotton]

$37.24?

[What kind of goyishe name is Harold z"l?]

I would like to dissect haredi fiction by downloading this book for free. Anyone have a link pour moi before Yom Kippur?

[Yoel Finkelman]

Thanks, Shmarya for the plug!

You can download the preface and TOC at www.strictlykosherreading.blogspot.com , the softcover is cheaper on Amazon, and if you want a more discounted copy, send me an email to yoel.finkelman@gmail.com

Yoel

[zibble]

Even at a discounted price this is a bit much for me (but I guess that's to be expected from a publishing house called "Academic Studies Press"). It'll take a while before the libraries have this, but eventually I can read it through inter-library loan.

I would suggest to the author that he also make the preview available on Amazon.

[Shmarya]

It'll take a while before the libraries have this, but eventually I can read it through inter-library loan.

You can ask your library to buy it.

Often libraries will do that if asked.

[ah-pee-chorus]

Finkelman outs kiruv author Rabbi Lawrence Keleman for Keleman's misrepresentations of Jewish texts and his outright lies – including the false claim that he is "professor of education." Keleman does not have a graduate degree and does not teach in a college.

i'm not surprised. the kiruv slime seem to be content not only to offer dishonest arguments, but are often found to lie about their credentials as well.

[MamzerHaKodesh]

I think it's worth the price. Not everyone can afford it, especially in these times. But if you think about the fact that it's an academic work, and consider the price range of those works, I think it's worth the price. Lots of Jewish books are more expensive - say, for example, an Artscroll siddur.

[Gevezener Chusid]

just ordered from Amazon... i have always thought that haredi 'pop' literature was ridiculous ... not to mention the 'self help' crap. Even the holy ArtScroll translations have alot of errors, and worse, they have encouraged people to not learn Hebrew well. Why bother to chew when someone will spoon-feed you pureed baby-food?

[Betzalel]

A few years ago, I saw a youtube documentary on North Korea, in which they interviewed North Koreans who praised the "Dear Leader" and talked about him like he was super-human. I felt sorry for them for being so naive - their "Dear Leader" is a nobody who inherited his position from his daddy and let his fellow North Koreans starve during a famine. The emperor truly has no clothes: http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_kenneth/kim-jong-il.jpeg

Then it dawned upon me that that we frum Jews talk about our leaders in the same way that North Koreans talked about the "Dear Leader". What if we are making the same mistake?

[Betzalel]

l'havdil

[hal]

''Haredi Judaism is still in its early stages of development, but has already been the focus of numerous scholars, most of whom look at the learned writings of this community. In this new book, Yoel Finkelman has opened up for us the world of popular culture and thought in the haredi world. His concern is how haredim view themselves and how they write about their community and history. At the same time that haredi society attempts to create walls between itself and the wider culture, its writngs for the masses are very much influenced by general trends, even in areas as important as marriage and parenting. Combining keen sociological insight with historical knowledge, Finkelman is a wonderful guide to the recent trends in haredi society.'' --Marc Shapiro

[Mendy Hecht]

Hi folks,

Here's a philosophical thought for you all:

Everyone censors.

Think about it:

Mainstream left-leaning papers will not publish anything too conservative.

Mainstream right-leaning papers will not publish anything too liberal.

A neo-Nazi website will not publish an expose of Hitler, their hero, as a pedophile or smelly man of poor personal hygiene or whatever.

An extreme-right JDL-type Jewish site will not publish an ode to Hitler.

There are things that Shmarya will not publish.

Ultimately, that's censorship.

We wouldn't call it censorship because that's not how the phrase is used in the vernacular. It's really just rejection of materials that contradict, negate, challenge or threaten your beliefs.

We all do it.

So what's so terrible if Haredi literature will not include, avoid or omit certain things?

Something to think about.

This will be my last post before Yom Kippur, so I would now like to make amends to anyone I may have slighted, offended, etc. in my posts (and thank Shmarya for not banning me from this site).

Have a great year, everyone! Gmar chasimah tovah.

[Adam Neira]

This would be an interesting book. Do some sects restrict people from reading :

The Lord of the Rings; 1984; Brave New World; L'Etranger; Crime and Punishment; War and Peace; Paradise Lost; Lord of the Flies; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; Macbeth; The Iliad etc. etc. (Fill in your favourite classics.)

Bizrat hashem my children will be learned in the Tanach and will enjoy other literature. One can have a secure fence around one's beliefs yet still venture out to other surroundings. In fact getting stuck too far down the mountain is boring.

[Critical minyan]

Mendy, shmarya doesn't censor.

[Abracadabra]

Can someone please explain to Mendy Hecht the flaw in what he calls his "philosophical thought".

[Abracadabra]

And Mendy - you should be banned from this site; not from viewing it, but rather from commenting on it. You are a Chareidi apologist, but worse, you're always twisting the truth around ever so slightly, thinking your small lies and misrpresentations can explain away the disgusting behavior of Chareidim.

What you're doing is "trolling". What you do can be compared to a right wing fundamentalist consistently commenting and pushing his views on a liberal left wing blog. You just try to inflame the natives, and get some perverse pleasure out of stirring things up on this blog. I should ignore you completely, but some poor idiots out there may think that you make logical sense, when all you do is lie just enough to bend the picture into what you want it to look like. Still, you lie and lie again.

Like with this ArtScroll thing and censorship. ArtScroll prints its books claiming them to be history books, and biographies, with complete historical facts. They are no such thing. But Chareidim are too uneducated to know the difference. So you say that "everyone censors". But true scholarship does not censor. A book claiming to be the history of a certain person or era does not leave out facts that paint that era, or that person in a bad light. Once certain facts are erased for the purpose of influencing the readers' beliefs, it is no longer biographical or historical. It's just not honest to call it "complete" or "history" or "biography". It's editorial and opinion and theology. It is not history, nor is it complete.

So then you come here and start saying that "everyone censors". No, everyone does not censor. So you are lying, but not overtly, you're just twisting the truth enough to try to make a statement which cannot be applied to what ArtScroll does.

And that is the way in which you are a troll. And that is why I think you should be banned from this site.

Nothing personal. You might be a fine person, and I don't know the first thing about you. I only know that on this site - you lie, distort, misrepresent, and troll, and am basing my opinion that you should be banned from this site strictly on that.

And yes, even on Erev Yom Kippur. If you lie and troll on Erev Yom Kippur, I will ask for you to be banned on Erev Yom Kippur.

Gmar Chasimah Tovah to all.

[Krotzenstein]

OF COURSE everyone censors. It is a matter of necessity because of limitations on space, money and time, both the publishers' and the readers'. When one has to cut for space, one has to exercise judgment over what to cut and what to keep. This is basic, basic journalism. "All the news that fits, we print."

[Shmarya]

OF COURSE everyone censors. It is a matter of necessity because of limitations on space, money and time, both the publishers' and the readers'. When one has to cut for space, one has to exercise judgment over what to cut and what to keep. This is basic, basic journalism. "All the news that fits, we print."

Posted by: Krotzenstein | October 07, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Please.

There is ethical censorship – editing for space or time – and unethical censorship – censoring content that challenges your beliefs or that exposes flaws you want covered up.

Haredim practice the second all the time.

Perhaps if you were honest, you'd admit that.

[Yoel Mechanic]

Here's a philosophical thought for you all:

Everyone censors.
============================================
Ah, Mendy Mendy Mendy; you should do a lot more reading and studying. Here would be a good start: "History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell.

Now, to your point: Everyone edits articles, or prints what meets their editorial standards, which should be
publicly stated in a groups charter.
Hopefully those are fair standards. A
private organization is at liberty to
print (or not print) whatever they see fit.

And any other private press is
at liberty to criticize the editorial standards of any other press.

So what??

It is GOVERNMENT censorship that has legal
restrictions on it, according to the 1st
amendment (in case anyone cares to read
the constitution of the country we live in)