Goldie Goldbloom is well-placed to observe the ways Hasidic Jews can ostracise their own
life in ultra-religious sects usually focus on frustration. Written mostly by and for outsiders, their heroes tend to pine for escape. Even compassionate portraits, such as Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” and Eve Harris’s “The Marrying of Chani Kaufman”, suggest that such cloistered societies are repellent as well as beguiling. Perhaps because novelists prize the feelings of individuals, they are instinctively sceptical about the appeal of closed, rules-bound groups.
The title of “On Division” alludes to both a major avenue in a big Hasidic neighbourhood in Williamsburg, and the more personal divisions that run through Surie—and the author. The catalyst for Surie’s existential drama is her discovery that—as a tired mother of ten and grandmother of 32—she is somehow pregnant again, and with twins.
Queer herself, Ms Goldbloom is well-placed to observe the ways Hasidic Jews can ostracise their own. She came out in her 40s, after divorcing her husband of 21 years, which led some acquaintances to shun her and her eight children. She does not go into detail, but her novel lists some of the tactics used to punish outliers:
Ms Goldbloom is quick to point out that, in real life, plenty of ultra-Orthodox Jews still eat in her home, despite her massive library of secular books . But she also recounts the sage advice a rabbi gave her before she left Australia: “The religion itself, God Himself, is perfect and people aren’t.” Because she doesn’t feel ostracised by God, she says, she doesn’t mind what other people think.
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