Piety and Power

It's hard to find an objective and comprehensive work on ultraorthodox, or 'frum', Jewry which avoids either condemnation or apologetics. David Landau's did an excellent job, reporting in an objective and fair manner, with his personable writing style and touches of humor and warmth. Each chapter is devoted to a different aspect of frum life, which makes the information on such a complex world far easier to digest. Landau's breadth of knowledge about frum communities is most impressive for someone who, as I understand, is not an insider (at the time of writing, Landau was and still may be the chief editor of Ha'aretz). There are two reasons I did not rate this book 5 stars: 1) it is dated over a decade. However, I would still highly recommend its purchase, as the frum community has not changed all that much since, especially not in its philosophy, internal debates and structures, which Landau does a great job of canvassing; and 2) I would have loved for the book to be even more detailed, particularly in the emotional and social aspects of frum life, especially the everyday experiences of women and others who do not quite fit into the communal structure, and how they are taken care of by the community (like the childless elderly, disabled people, disaffected youth, etc). Also, a chapter devoted to frum views on the rest of the world would have been fascinating. However, the book was only designed to be a review. I'd rush to buy a reprint with additions.

This is a thoughtful book about the Charedim and their increasing influence in Jewish Society in general and Israel in particular. The author approaches matters from a non-charedi perspective and clearly sympathises with modern orthodox/irreligious Jews, although he tries hard not to be too judgemental. What the book lacks is a sense that Landau is an insider - he clearly isn't and it shows. Whilst you get interviews with a number of charedi leaders you don't feel that you're entering into the charedi mindset. I can't help feeling that without that inside track, many of the positions Landau records sound worse than they actually are. I stress that I'm modern-orthodox so I'm not beating my own drum here. Whilst it could be argued that the book is a look at charedi attitudes rather than a justification of them, the fact remains that a balanced look demands more identification with the charedim than the author provides. However, the book is a good entertaining read and contains a good (and possibly the only existing) joke about Gerer Hasidim. Worth it just for that!