New York – ‘Unorthodox’: Simon & Shuster Stands By Deborah Feldman’s Memoir Despite Being Full Of Lies

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    Deborah at book signing Feb 15 2012 at The Corner Bookstore in NYC. Photo via FacebookNew York – The memoir is a devilish genre. The pull of embellishment must be great, for even the most ordinary life has its dull moments. Why subject your readers to the mundane, when one or two novelistic flourishes can add the necessary sheen?

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    And calling an enhanced memoir what it is – a novel – won’t do. Weaned on reality shows and social networking, today’s readers demand lived experiences. Invention doesn’t cut it anymore.

    Thus we arrive at James Frey, crying on Oprah’s couch because he had been unable to admit that “A Million Little Pieces” was not quite the truthful account he had claimed it was.

    And thus we arrive, also, at Deborah Feldman, driving Barbara Walters to the verge of tears on “The View” on Feb 14.

    But not because Feldman’s memoir, “Unorthodox,” had been revealed as a work of fiction. The women of “The View,” Walters especially, had the highest praise for her book, which they described as an honest account of the insular Hasidic community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that Feldman left after being forced into marriage at 17 and motherhood at 19.

    But while Frey and Feldman could not come from more different backgrounds, they seem to have arrived in the same place, two memoirists having to fend off damning accusations of deceit.

    Furor among Hasidic Jews has been building long before Feldman published her book – her writing initially appeared on her blog, Hasidic-Feminist. Now that her book is receiving acclaim (with reviews calling her book “harrowing” and “poignant”), they are acutely angry that Feldman has gained literary success by portraying them as a backwards, repressive community.

    And while some of what the Jewish blogosphere has said about Feldman is, itself, little more than vitriol, serious accusations have come out – on blogs like Failed Messiah and Exposing the Lies and Fabrications of Deborah Feldman, not to mention The Jewish Week and the venerable Forward, which called her book “more than ‘Unorthodox.’”

    This much appears to be almost certainly true: Deborah Feldman, now 25, was born to Eugen and Shoshana Berkovic of Penn St., Brooklyn. They were Satmar Jews – an insular sect that settled in Williamsburg after the Holocaust and lives in what some call a wholesale rejection of modernity.

    Feldman’s father has a low IQ and has held only menial jobs. Feldman went to the UTA Yeshiva, a highly religious school where Yiddish was spoken and secular literature was forbidden.

    At 17, she was married to a man named Eli. At 19, she had a son. She and Eli moved to Kiryas Joel, in upstate New York, which they felt was a less suffocating environment than Brooklyn.

    But by 23, she had enough. She left her husband, taking her son with her. She took writing classes at Sarah Lawrence College. She got a book deal with Simon & Schuster. Now, she is just another ordinary New Yorker.

    Well, not ordinary. Most aspiring writers would murder to publish with the kind of publicity Feldman has received.

    The problem is that much of her memoir may not be true, according to ardent critics. These include family members, neighbors and even New York State authorities.

    In the book, Feldman charges her mother – who was apparently burdened by the pressures of Satmar life – with a “mysterious disappearance” when Feldman was a toddler.

    In fact, it takes about 30 seconds to find Shoshana Berkovic on both Twitter and Facebook. She is a science teacher at New Utrecht High School and does not appear to have ever left Brooklyn. She did divorce her husband, as court records indicate. But that was in 2010, more than a decade after Feldman accuses her mother with leaving her behind. (Shoshana Berkovic / Facebook)

    Feldman leaves out another relevant fact about her family – that she has a sister, now 17 and living with her mother. For reasons I cannot quite fathom, she entirely deletes her sister’s existence from what is supposed to be a truthful account of her life.

    And while Feldman waxes poetic about how she had to sneak secular literature (“Reading an English book is…a welcome mat put out for the devil”), neighbor Pearl Engleman distinctly remembers Berkovic taking both of her daughters to the public library on Fridays. “Flat-out lies” is what Engleman calls Feldman’s description of her family life.

    Feldman writes in great detail about her strict religious education in Williamsburg. But she fails to mention that she only attended the supposedly restrictive UTA for four years – and that only after being kicked out of a much more lax yeshiva in Manhattan, Bas Yaakov of the lower East Side. A cousin says that Feldman was expelled for making comments about sex.

    But this is the worst of it: Feldman alleges that when she and her husband were living in Kiryas Joel, Eli learned from his brother Cheskel that a 13 year old boy had been murdered by his father for masturbating. The father, according to Feldman’s account, cut off the boy’s penis and let him bleed to death. The Jewish ambulance service, known as Hatzalah, supposedly helped cover up the crime.

    Fascinating, but at the very least dubious. As Hella Winston of The Jewish Week first reported and the Daily News confirmed, the young man in question was seven years older than Feldman reported, and evidence from the coroner, the New York State police, ambulance workers who reported the crime and family members of the dead man all overwhelmingly suggest that the young man (an allegedly troubled individual) died from slitting his own throat.

    An uncle of the dead man calls Feldman a “psychopath.”

    And yet she persist in her claims. A post on her Tumblr reads, “I can only be responsible for the things I write. I cannot be responsible for what reporters write. Misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and just plain getting the facts wrong is common in journalism. But anything I sign my name to, I will stand by.”

    Nor will Simon & Schuster make her available for an interview. Her publicist, Kate Gales, sent me the following statement: “Deborah Feldman’s ‘Unorthodox’ is an inspiring memoir that recounts, from the author’s perspective, her experiences as a child growing up in the Satmar community, and her eventual departure from that life. We are confident that ‘Unorthodox’ accurately presents her deeply personal recollections of that journey.”

    But that has hardly quelled critics. “Doesn’t Simon & Schuster check its facts?” wonders Engleman.

    Feldman seemingly deals with that question in “Unorthodox” when she describes a novel she enjoyed as a teenager: “Even if the book claims it’s a novel, I read it like a breathtaking piece of raw journalism, because the stories detailed within are so current and real, they could be happening to me, and I know that the author must have at least based the book on her intimate life experiences.”

    Not an answer that will comfort her many critics.


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    72 Comments
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    Babishka
    Member
    Babishka
    12 years ago

    Fake but accurate, like the Dan Rather memos.

    shredready
    shredready
    12 years ago

    so sad,

    she could have told the truth and not made of stories and still have a juicy book

    LEEAVE
    LEEAVE
    12 years ago

    yes they smell the lawsuit!
    i hope they get suit together with this lowlife feldman for millions,,

    u cant just fabricate stuff to write a book!

    lbpss
    lbpss
    12 years ago

    It would be nice if they come to Williamsburg and check it out so that they can see that it is not true.

    12 years ago

    ”….Her publicist, Kate Gales, sent me the following statement: “Deborah Feldman’s ‘Unorthodox’ is an inspiring memoir….”

    Her publicist would do well to watch the 1964 movie, “The Chalk Garden” on YouTube. To quote the movie, Feldman’s story is “dramatized truth, the lies are carefully sorted in”. To me, Feldman is very much the girl in the movie. A child from a dysfunctional home crying out for help. Although, she was looked after she very much needed to be taken in hand and apparently was not. Hence, today we appear to have a very troubled individual suffering from histrionic personality disorder. This is what her publicist needs to know. And, we as community, although kind and well meaning need to try and do better with our kids who are from dysfunctional homes.

    Member
    12 years ago

    Smut Peddler

    missyid
    missyid
    12 years ago

    The bottom line is, this is maybe the fifth story that VIN has posted on this topic and THAT is what sells the book …. controversy and hype. If you don’t want people to buy the book and you don’t want them to be exposed to disparaging lies about a Jewish community, then stop talking about it.

    12 years ago

    Sue her for defaming the Holy Satmar community. Shame on her

    Ben_Kol
    Ben_Kol
    12 years ago

    The article does not touch upon numerous other lies that have been revealed in deborah-feldman-exposed-blogspot and other sources.

    These include ficitional restrictions on Satmar girls, such as 7:00 p.m. curfews, not being allowed to eat out, and lots of other such nonsense..

    She claims that she did not know what goes on in the bedroom, when in fact she was widely read and was thrown out of Beis Yaakov of Lower East Side for, among other reasons, spreading her detailed knowledge.
    This Beis Yaakov has a policy of not throwing kids out. They do everything they can (private tutoring, therapy etc.) to help girls with problems. If they threw her out, she must have been really bad.

    There are many other lies in her book. But perhaps the worst was she was forced into her marriage with her husband. According to family sources, she loved him and was desperated to marry him. He was extremely kind and patient with her, despite her narcissim and craziness.

    I have read some of the blogs written by people who have left Chasidism. Even they are upset with the book, because they feel that its lies and exaggerations hurt their cause to affect positive change.

    eighthcomment
    eighthcomment
    12 years ago

    Can any of the personalities she lied about sue simon and schuster for slander etc?

    itzik18
    itzik18
    12 years ago

    KJ is less stifling than Willi? Maybe Monroe outside the shtetl, but KJ is frummer than Willi as it is only those who hold by the Heiliger Shittah in KJ and in Willi u have Klausenberg. Also in KJ no women drive and in willi u have Vien which allows women to drive and wear open sheitlach. If someone is looking for more relaxed frumkeit upstate, they go to Monsey, where even Satmar women are allowed to drive. Btw I love all of the Satmar communities – they are the biggest baalei chesed I know and you dont need to be haredi, they love all, and dont try to convert you to their way like Chabad (and also are not racist like Chabad as Satmar welcomes Gerim and Chabad only throws a bone with Sheva Mitzvos because they think Moshiach is already here).

    lawschooldrunk
    lawschooldrunk
    12 years ago

    I’m not saying this book is truthful or one big lie. But I am amazed that it seems that everyone automatically believes it is a lie.

    There is an escalating trend in the orthodox jewish communites to white-wash everything to political correctness. For example, refer to the book, The Making of a Gadol – a truthful book that the rabbanim prohibited from being read because they they couldn’t accept reality and that we can learn from all different types of stories. Not everything is rosy – and it doesn’t have to be.

    12 years ago

    This book is no different than a “docu-drama” which takes an established theme (e.g. dysfunction among some sectors of the Chareidi community) and creates/exaggerates some events that would appear credible in the context of that background theme. Having read the book, I find many of the general themes credible but don’t believe many of the anecdotes she cites ever occurred.

    12 years ago

    Theres only thing that $imon & $chuster can do to uphold their image of publishing works of fiction as works of fiction, and works of non-fiction as works of non-fiction and keeping the two separate.

    That is to out Ms Feldman for her lies and have her pay back moneys received.

    If they care about their image, that is!

    Otherwise they’re playing pa$$ive to her many exaggeration$ and untruth$.

    Would they be equally passive had their reputation be sullied in this manner?

    Will they ever tackle the topic of the beheading of women in public squares, in the Middle East and beyond, for suspicion of unfaithfulness or even having been raped? This, for simple suspicion, no proof needed, of having dishonored their families that way.
    http://www.meforum.org/2646/worldwide-trends-in-h

    Perhaps Simon & Schuster is short of funds or eager informants or writers, or perhaps they have other grave “politically correct” hesitations.

    Which one is it?

    $imon & $chuster , we’re waiting.

    12 years ago

    She was married at 17. Normally it is 18 and she was thrown out of Beis Yaacov because of her sexually mouth. She was very mature sexually but immature mentally, and that is why she married at 17. She want to be married

    Butterfly
    Butterfly
    12 years ago

    If everybody wants to start checking Ms. Feldman’s facts, why not start with the medical records? Towards the end of the book she was in an accident because her husband neglected to have the tires changed, according to the book. She was taken to the hospital!! Start there!! Check the garage where the car was taken!! Check the facts!! I do not think the entire book is a lie!! If you are nit picking, and siding with your friend, of course, you will side with your friend!! I do not know either party!! I come from a chassidishe background, and I read the book with an open mind. Yes, I was surprised with some of the things I read, but nothing that I have bot heard about in the BP community. Some of this is common knowledge not talked about!! We tend to sweep things under the rug!! Hide it in the closet!! Nobody should know!! People talk and people know!! Once two people know a secret, it is NOT a secret!! The longer this book is discussed, the more books she is going to SELL!! Tou are helping her sell her book by talking about it on the WEB!! Enough!! Purim is coming!!

    12 years ago

    It’s a shame that Devorah is not using her G-d given talent in a positive manner. She could have written a magnificent novel using her creative imagination & amazing writing skills. Instead she chose to slander an entire community, her extended family and possibly worst of all her wonderful ex-husband, with no regard what-so-ever as to the effect on her precious child. She had better be more careful next time as her next scapegoat might sue her for slander. libel & character assasination. Then again she could always rely on uncles Izzy & Walter to bail her out financialy and on “Aunt Chaya” for moral support.

    Shtarker
    Active Member
    Shtarker
    12 years ago

    We’ll never know the full truth. Some of what the book recounts is undoubtedly true, while other parts are unlikely at best. For those living inside Chareidi communities, life will go on as usual, for better or for worse. But for those living outside the Chareidi communities, and for the world at large, this is one more account of bad behavior by religious Jews.

    qazxc
    qazxc
    12 years ago

    I am somewhat troubled that our image in the world is such that even accusations of the lowest nature are readily believed. Obviously there are anti-Semites out there who will believe anything negative about us but there was a time that I can still remember that the reaction of a considerable segment of society, both unzerer and nisht fin unzerer, to these wild accusations would have been one of total disbelief.

    R”L, there have been so many convictions and plea bargains of ehrlich-looking yiddin that almost anything said about us will find many attentive and believing ears.

    That should be, in my pretending-to-be humble opinion a source of greater concern for all of us.

    BeKind
    BeKind
    12 years ago

    The lies and chillul Hashem have to be countered in a strategic, methodical way. We need to articulate the truth in a highly organized manner. Intelligent members in our community have to forge a public relations campaign. Lawyers such as Nathan Lewin and Benjamin Brafman could be instrumental in this effort.

    qazxc
    qazxc
    12 years ago

    The amazing part of this to me is her seeming total lack of concern for her own dignity.

    RebKlemson
    RebKlemson
    12 years ago

    VIN is giving this book the most attention. enough articles, the majority knows the stories are not true or half untrue and those who dont will continue to deny and deny. Jimmy carter must be shepping nachas

    PrettyinPink
    PrettyinPink
    12 years ago

    #45 , you have a great point maybe talk to Ruchie Freier about this as she has already started out with an article about this madness. This woman has got to be stopped-this is totally unfair to her poor relatives and ex family and all of us which will have to suffer the repercussions of her hate filled writings.
    The higher she ascends with her wealth and fame the bigger the impact of her fall… She’ll get there eventually, G-d won’t forsake those of us that are so ardently sticking up for His Kavod!

    reder
    reder
    12 years ago

    Did anybody else notice that even this reporter does not have his facts straight? He writes that the couple moved to Kiryas Joel (which, for her, would be going from the frying pan into the fire) but in fact they moved to Airmont, as she herself wrote. While living there, she taught in KJ.
    The reason that this woman has created such a backlash is because a prestigious company – Simon and Schuster published a book that under other circumstances would have been relegated to the trash can.
    If the facts would have been verified as true, and the story just salacious, I would be upset. But… I am outraged, because this is the contemporary version of the notorious “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
    There are so many out there who are gloating with the assumption that all of Chasidic life is exactly as she portrays it.
    Nobody will claim that we in the Chasidishe world are perfect, but ultimately Deborah will find out that neither is her phantom secular ideal!

    sarabaschana
    sarabaschana
    12 years ago

    All the anti-Semites are licking their chops. She is not only a choteh, but wants to be a machtie… as she herself said she wants to encourage other women to follow her example.

    12 years ago

    Your are giving this woman more attention than she deserves. Trying to make her into a monster is going to backfire badly on the Satmars.

    speakup
    speakup
    12 years ago

    I’m not surprised to see a campaign of hatred and threats unleashed upon this author. After all, she has exposed much of what is unsavory and frankly distasteful in her former community. What I find particularly ironic is the effect all the vitriol and negative comments are having on the average person who wanders onto these websites looking for a simple review of the memoir. These cruel and intimidating remarks only serve to justify, in most peoples’ minds, Deborah’s escape from her community. The self appointed judges and jurors who surrounded her 24 hours a day as she evolved from child to teen to woman continue to pass judgment on every word she speaks and writes. Ms. Feldman says that she felt judged by EVERYONE. All except her Bubbie, whom Deborah says never judged her, only loved and ACCEPTED her for who she was. Yes, she’s hurt. Yes, she’s angry. Yes, she’s figured out a way to get back at all those whom she has perceived to have deeply wounded her. So here’s my question: Why couldn’t we all have acted more like Deborah’s Bubbie? THAT woman is the true Kiddush Hashem in the story. Why aren’t there more like her?

    reder
    reder
    12 years ago

    One question to Deborah:
    If you felt so trapped in Williamsburg while in school, why didn’t you escape to your secular mother and sister? You would have been able to read and eat whatever you wanted without any restrictions. She was just a train-ride away.
    If you would have done that, then surely by now you probably would have had all your degrees 🙂
    Most of all, you would have spared your “oppressive” Satmar family, your husband, and an innocent little boy a lot of grief (and money.)
    Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

    12 years ago

    Her latest blog tries to justify & whitewsh her lies. I still want to know how she justifies making public such intimate details about her husband libdo and their bedroom life.

    12 years ago

    Ive seen more Orthodox Jewish kids move to the right religiously than to the left, choosing to be MORE religious than their parents.
    YU, and Sterns, both highly respected Modern Orthodox undergrad schools, with medical and law schools of their own, have a great percentage of their graduates, many doctors and lawyers among them, who choose to be more religious than their parents and upbringing and raise their children more religiously.
    This desire is not coming from naive or unworldly individuals.
    And then theres the very tiny minority of Jews, like Ms Feldman, and graduates of Footsteps, the foulmouthed OTD mill, who have no use for religion, and like Ms Feldman, would do anything for a buck, even trashing her beloved Bubbie who sacrificed tremendously for her in any way needed, and trashed all her beloved Bubbie held dear, to make the book more successful.

    Thats what they teach in Footsteps, the OTD school, where these foulmouths become more so and proud of it, very different than YU and Sterns.