Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation

In ultra-Ortho­dox, Hasidic com­mu­ni­ties, main­tain­ing norms to pro­tect a fam­i­ly’s rep­u­ta­tion or sta­tus is often of high impor­tance, leav­ing lit­tle room for ques­tion­ing or indi­vid­ual dif­fer­ences. Join authors Abby Stein (Becom­ing Eve), and Goldie Gold­bloom (On Divi­sion) for a con­ver­sa­tion with Tablet Mag­a­zine​’s Stephanie But­nick that will explor­e what hap­pens to com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who don’t quite fit in. In a mem­oir and a nov­el, respectively, the authors describe the strug­gle to keep secrets, and the impact of being true to one­self even when that means defy­ing fam­i­ly and friends.

Goldie Gold­bloom​’s first nov­el, The Paper­bark Shoe, won the AWP Prize and is an NEA Big Reads selec­tion. She was award­ed a Nation­al Endow­ment for the Arts Fel­low­ship, and has been the recip­i­ent of mul­ti­ple grants and awards, includ­ing fel­low­ships from War­ren Wil­son, North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty, the Brown Foun­da­tion, the City of Chica­go and the Eliz­a­beth George Foun­da­tion. She is chas­sidic and the moth­er of eight children.

Abby Cha­va Stein is the tenth-gen­er­a­tion descen­dant of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic move­ment. In 2015, Stein came out as a woman, and she now works as a trans activist. In 2019, she served on the steer­ing com­mit­tee for the Wom­en’s March in Wash­ing­ton, DC, and she was named by the Jew­ish Week as one of the ​“36 Under 36” Jews who are affect­ing change in the world. She lives in New York City.

Stephanie But­nick is deputy edi­tor of Tablet Magazine and a host of the Unortho­dox pod­cast. She is the author, along with her co-hosts, of The Newish Jew­ish Ency­clo­pe­dia: From Abra­ham to Zabar’s and Every­thing in Between. She has writ­ten for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Recep­tion to fol­low, cel­e­brat­ing Abby Stein, Goldie Gold­bloom, and the win­ter issue of Lilith Mag­a­zine—inde­pen­dent, Jew­ish & frankly feminist.

Co-presented with Jewish Book Council, Tablet Magazine, and Lilith Magazine.

Admis­sion to the event is free, and includes an oppor­tu­ni­ty to vis­it the Jewish Museum’s gal­leries on the day of the pro­gram. Advance RSVP is required; how­ev­er, ear­ly arrival is sug­gest­ed as space is lim­it­ed, and entry is not guaranteed.