The Rabbi's Daughter
by Reva Mann
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Description
In this honest, daring, and compulsively readable memoir, Reva Mann paints a portrait of herself as a young woman on the edge--of either revelation or self-destruction. Ricocheting between extremes of rebellion and piety, she is on a difficult but life-changing journey to inner truth. The journey began with an unhappy childhood in a family where religion set the tone and deviations from it were not allowed. But Reva, a granddaughter of the head of the Rabbinic Council of Israel and daughter show more of a highly respected London rabbi, was a wild child and she rebelled, spiralling into a whirlwind of sex and drugs by the time she reached adolescence. As a young woman, however, Reva had a startling mystical epiphany that led her to a women's yeshivah in Israel, and eventually to marriage to the devoutly religious Torah scholar who she thought would take her to ever greater heights of spirituality. But can the path to spiritual fulfillment ever be compatible with the ecstasies of the flesh or with the everyday joys of intimacy and pleasure to which she is also strongly drawn? With unflinching candor, Reva shares her struggle to carve out a life that encompasses all the impulses at war within herself. An eye-opening glimpse into the world of the ultra-Orthodox and their elaborately coded rituals for eating, sleeping, bathing, and lovemaking, as well as a deeply personal rumination on identity, faith, and self-acceptance, this is at its heart a universal story. For those of any faith who have grappled with their own spiritual longings, and for anyone fascinated by traditional religion and its role in modern society, Reva Mann's chronicle of a journey toward redemption is an unforgettable read. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Odd.
This memoir is written by the daughter and granddaughter of well known Rabbis. Her family has been part of the Anglo-Jewish community for generations.
Yet, what she wrote was a self-absorbed, self-indulgent, narcissistic book about herself and her addictive behavoir.
She goes from rebellious teen in a posh London girl's College dropping acid and hanging out with hippies, to having her parents sit shiva for her for living with a non-Jew. Why her parents "bail" her out time after time is beyond me.Yet they do - constantly.
She decides to move to Israel and never fully explains her decision to become a Hassidic student. It is all or nothing with Reva.
She meets and marries a young recently-religious Hassidic man who is obsessed with the show more religion. Things don't go well.
Filled with "too much information" regarding her sex life, I did not feel I needed to know as much as I did (and it felt creepy).
This is a woman who admits to having sex with a druggy boyfriend as her young children are banging on the wall to quiet down. Amazing.
She has three children, and yet their lives are hardly mentioned.
Her relationship with her distant and depressed parents seems just a lot of wallow and "poor me" attitude.
Disappointing, and at the same time fascinating. show less
This memoir is written by the daughter and granddaughter of well known Rabbis. Her family has been part of the Anglo-Jewish community for generations.
Yet, what she wrote was a self-absorbed, self-indulgent, narcissistic book about herself and her addictive behavoir.
She goes from rebellious teen in a posh London girl's College dropping acid and hanging out with hippies, to having her parents sit shiva for her for living with a non-Jew. Why her parents "bail" her out time after time is beyond me.Yet they do - constantly.
She decides to move to Israel and never fully explains her decision to become a Hassidic student. It is all or nothing with Reva.
She meets and marries a young recently-religious Hassidic man who is obsessed with the show more religion. Things don't go well.
Filled with "too much information" regarding her sex life, I did not feel I needed to know as much as I did (and it felt creepy).
This is a woman who admits to having sex with a druggy boyfriend as her young children are banging on the wall to quiet down. Amazing.
She has three children, and yet their lives are hardly mentioned.
Her relationship with her distant and depressed parents seems just a lot of wallow and "poor me" attitude.
Disappointing, and at the same time fascinating. show less
The Rabbi's Daughter by Reva Mann (2007) - an unpleasant read. Too much sex told too vividly: the main character is young and desperate and continuously makes decisions based on a desire to escape from her loneliness, and I found I had little patience for her desperation, though I finished the book to see what happens, because I am a compulsive finisher. The Jewish Orthodox lifestyle rang true as described there. It was interesting to find out what their rules are for sex. Less stringent than I'd heard.
Reva Mann's life reads like fiction. Whether you approve of her or not, she is a vibrant and fascinating character.
Main, Biography, Memoir, London, Israel, coming of age
very interesting. got from Supersearch
The Rabbi's Daughter: A True Story of Sex, Drugs and Orthodoxy by Reva Mann (2008)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- La fille du rabbin
- Original title
- The rabbi's daughter
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Members
- 147
- Popularity
- 222,007
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.31)
- Languages
- Czech, English, French, Polish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 1
