The book Adele by Yochi Brands
As usual for Yochi Brands, the book is excellently written. She breathes life into old and faded stories, turns them into a uniform and living book, and makes you see the legend come to life. In addition, the book beautifully summarizes Hasidism on its principles, and describes it in the context of the historical events that took place around its establishment.
But there was also a lot I didn’t like. First of all, Yochi often takes “literary liberty” upon herself. She does not necessarily describe the events as they were but adds her own, which is her advantage, but also her great disadvantage. Because you can add to a story that everyone knows and it is clear what the additions are. When you add to a story that not many people know, and make the real characters behave as you wish, you can easily do them an injustice, and describe them in a negative way. And so Rabbi Gershon Kitover is presented as obsessive, and the Maggid of Mezritesh and Beit Midrash are presented as disconnected from the Beshat. It may be true, we have no way of knowing.
Second, I didn’t like the descriptions of magic in the book. This is not a fantasy book, the things described in it are real, therefore it is impossible to describe Baal Shem Tov as a special sorcerer, and it is impossible to describe angels and demons according to the best imagination of the author. These are real creatures, according to mainstream Judaism, and a fulfilled but inaccurate description of them is false. I am aware that this is the whole point of the book, and that otherwise it would have been much less good, but still, it bothered me.
And finally – feminism. Oh feminism. And also the other values that Yochi pushes for us, especially in the manifesto at the end of the book. I think that in a nonfiction book about the Hasidic movement, one should not start from the point of view of the only woman in the field, and certainly not to harshly attack today’s Hasids. The “anxiety” of the Hasids did not happen by accident, and although I really do not understand much about the subject, I know that there was thinking behind it.
In conclusion, a beautiful and fascinating book, with many fundamental problems I have with it, but they are probably built into the format. Highly recommended to anyone who is less bothered than me.