Boychiks in the Hood: Travels in the Hasidic Underground

This is such a dear book to read. Of course, you have to into reading, and you have to be into Jewish culture, of which I am into both. Imagine you're young, and imagine being able to travel all around, everywhere, and coming upon people who speak your language, and you have a wonderful anthology of stories to enjoy. It's the cover that attracted me to this book. Put together nicely.

I admit that I bought the book because the title suggested an almost rap-music reality behind the scenes of a New York Hasidic community. Yes, the title is plenty pop-culture, and it probably was part of a marketing plan. BOYCHIKS IN THE HOOD is a far better book than I had expected or hoped for, and the razzle-dazzle title does not at all suggest the complexity of a back-breaking world tour the mostly secular Eisenberg made, in a labor of love, to find and explore Orthodox, Satmar, Lubavitch, Hasidic communities thriving all over the world. As a non-Jew I perhaps know more about Judaism than some, but I have picked up both specifics and general ideas that have vitalized and deepened my respect for the Jewish world. In New York of course I have see "glatt" kosher restaurants, but here I learned that this step "up" from regular kosher means that the lungs of killed animals can show no flaws at all, while animals killed plain kosher can have slight sores---as long as the sores do not allow the passage of air. This kind of detail---and perhaps I pick one that may seem slightly sensational, and for that I apologize, for it is not presented that way by Eisenberg---suggests the level of detail, thought, discrimination, judgement, rule, and inevitable debate that runs through every inch of the Hasidic thought. Eleven nice chapters on the communities in Brooklyn, Minnesota, Ukraine, Israel, Poland, New Jersey, the Catskills, Belgium, and even a dynamite town in Iowa, etc. Full of surprises and wit (the wit sometimes diminished by Eisenberg's rather heavy handed sense of metaphor verging into pop-journalistic zing). But Eisenberg writes well, engagingly and informatively. I've picked up fifty Yiddish words which, discreetly, I'll be dropping at cocktail parties as I finger my rosary. A powerfully readable book about a people's resilience, savvy, spitituality, and about the curious seduction of their unique kind of life.

I grew up as a casual,reform Jew in Brooklyn 58 years ago. The last 22 years, I have lived in Colorado.In t he Midwood section of Brooklyn, I would see, what seemed like a march of the Hasidic Jews and their families to the Temple on Friday night.In watching the men adorned in their black suits, it seemed like they were having the deepest type of conversations with their children, that always impressed me.While I saw many Hasidic Jews, ate at some of their restaurants and been among but never conversing with them, they were a great mystery to me.If there is anything to take away from "Robert Eisenberg's" marvelous, easy to read book about his travels among the Hasidic communities around the world, is how incredibly easy it was for Mr. Eisenberg, pony tail and all, to get into these communities, which I used to believe were very insular and secretive. I couldn't be more wrong.Time and time again, the another Hasidic community would open their homes and their hearts to Mr. Eisenberg, as it seemed that with 24 hours, he was being served dinner at a Rabbi's home.The other part was the diversity within the Hasidic community, where many did not grow up living the Hasidic Jewish lifestyle, but came from all sorts of lives before. Some were fans of the Greatful Dead (Deadheads), etc.Great book that breaks down barriers that all of seem to make between people, whose dress and customs, only make them "appear", different from others, but in reality, we are reminded that we are all part of the human community and should throw away are sterotypes.Jon

An expose of a little understood -- and often misunderstood -- religious subculture.

Whether you're one of the "goyim", like me, or even if you're an "average modern Jew", I'm sure a great many of us (especially anyone from, or who frequents, NYC, Upstate NY, Toronto or Montreal) wonder what beliefs & lifestyles truly lie behind the mysterious long-curled sidelocks, beards, black hats & long coats when we encounter Hasidic Jews. Well, "Boychiks in the Hood" is your "Hasidic 101 Guide" to satisfy your curiosity. Written by Robert Eisenberg, a secular Jew who became driven to have that same curiosity satisfied after discovering that Hasidim are a part of his own family's history, this book is both very entertaining & very informative, delving deeply into a subculture very few of us are educated about. I was riveted to each page as I followed Eisenberg on his journey throughout North America & Europe to discover his Hasidic roots, & was fascinated by the great diversity inherent to this niche within Judaism that those on the outside might wrongly presuppose is monolithic (this book is where I first discovered the existence of ANTI-Zionist/ANTI-Israel Ultra-Orthodox Jews, revealing a phenomenon that is shocking to most non-Hasidic individuals). While you enroll in this abbreviated course on Hasidic studies I highly recommend you also pick up a DVD copy of the wonderful 1981 film, "The Chosen", starring Maximilian Schell, Rod Steiger, Robby Benson & Barry Miller, taking place in Brooklyn in the mid-1940s, which reveals the stark contrast between a modern Jewish professor who is an aggressive Zionist pioneer & a revered Hasidic rabbi who is a vehement Anti-Zionist, & how this chasm that separates them radically affects the friendship of their two sons.

Very interesting. Well paced and well written with a large cast of characters, none of whom overstay their welcome. A series of quick snapshots of moments in Hasidic life.

A real insight on the diverse and crazy world of the Hassidim. I didn't realise there were so many sects - all following different Rabbis, some living, some dead for centuries. A fascinating and enlightening read

Terrible and illegible quality of printing. While the cover is nice and looks like a normal book, the inside is a poorly copied photocopy. Interesting read from what I was able to read on the horrible printing.