To Play with Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey

Tova Mordechai's story of her journey from a Pentecostal cult to Judaism reads like a Jewish _A Little Princess_: she lives in poverty surrounded by plenty, is forcibly separated from her family; she succeeeds at everything she tries and yet receives no recognition for her successes, but she is cheerful and good-hearted throughout. If this book were fiction, it would be remarkable for its excellent writing, suspenseful plot, and believable characters. The fact that the book actually happened is all the more amazing. _To Play with Fire_ compellingly tells a truly fascinating and inspirational story, giving the reader an insight behind closed doors of two little-understood religions. Any autobiographical work about an author's religious "odyssey" sets off alarm bells in the mind of a demanding reader, yet this book avoids the clichees. Despite telling a very personal story about the evolution of the author's fundamental religious beliefs, it maintains a distance from them: much to her credit, the author does not attempt to persuade readers of the truth of her new belief system, and she does write a relatively honest assessment of her new life. Further, it is clear that Ms. Mordechai is writing for her audience, not herself: she tells her story because others have found it fascinating, not because she thinks herself a model of humanity, again quite unique of autobiographical works. Nevertheless, I do wish that she had written more about her current life. She mentions her reluctance to accept anything blindly, and indeed she argues extensively with the Lubavitch rabbis at her seminary, but she nonetheless stayed within Lubavitch during her struggles, rather than exploring other streams of Judaism, such as the Greek-Jewish and Egyptian-Jewish traditions of her ancestors. While the most important part of her exploration occurred in the transition from Christian to Jewish, I wish she had discussed her thoughts about the nature of religion itself: whether power in any religious group should ever be centralized in one figure whose opinion determines the policy of the religious group, or whether decentralized power (as in the classical Jewish model of multiple rival opinions) is safer. It is understandable that she cannot risk personal relationships by giving a complete discussion of her own life in her small community, but I was disappointed to watch her lush prose become sparse at the very end, and to see her incisive commentary become more muted. One warning to the reader: it is impossible to read only one chapter and it compelled me to stay up until 3 am to finish it.

This book is a very honest one. I especially loved the fact that Tova did not show Orthodox Judaism in rosy colors, but were describing her negative feelings and experience with Orthodox Judaism as well. And there were plenty of what to be upset about. However, she chooses Orthodox Judaism for the rest of her life. She made it clear that she despised Christianity not just because she was abused by so called "Christians" but also because she was rejecting the New Testament itself. She wrote openly inside her book that Jesus was a false prophet, and that Gospels were misquoting and distorting the Jewish Scriptures. She revealed herself as a very educated and knowledgeable minister quoting the verses from the Bible in order to explain us why according to her the entire Christian doctrine is wrong. I highly recommend this book to all people: both Jews and Christians. Written in a very sophisticated English it will certainly help them to understand it other.Also, this new edition "To Play with Fire" is much better than the old one "Playing with Fire". This new edition is longer on sixty pages and reveals more details about her experience and feelings. Even if you own the book "Playing with Fire", you certainly should get this uncut and unedited edition, too.

Well written story, in which the power of searching for truth emerges. I would, however recommend reading some of the books that she sends the readers to at the end of her book, particularly 'You take J- ,I'll take G-d'.

I hope they re-release this book. I found it fascinating. I lived in the UK and was a member of a real "happy clappy" Christian group, but I couldn't figure out which church her family was a part of....maybe Plymouth Brethren. Very strict, anyway. I really appreciated Tova's honesty, and her articulation of that most apalling feature of Christian Fundimentalism: the "God is a work in me-frozen smile", while you really want to cry. I also think it is amazing that her husband, a former Episcopalian became a hasidic Jew. I wanted to know more about his journey too. I often think about these people and I hope they are well. I was very encouraged by this book. I am not orthodox, but I spent too many years in Fundimentalism.

Tova Mordechai goes into great and interesting detail about her life before her return to her Jewish roots, and then about her struggle to eventually find herself at home in the Jewish world. The book left me wondering whether she ever compared the Christianity as interpreted by her particularlly strict church with the Christianity as it is expressed in other, more tolerant denominations -- seems like she blames on Christianity a lot of the sins of men claiming to be Christians, but conducting themselves in a decidedly un-Christian manner. Also, while it is clear that Judaism "fits" her, she doesn't really explain why; she seem to account for it by the fact that she has Jewish blood in her veins drawing her in a mysterious way toward Judaism, rather than by any particular idea or principal of Judaism that was more attractive or "true" than its counterpart in Christianity. This is a very interesting book with which someone raised as an "strictly observant Christian" can identify so easily.