Rivka Levy's book gave me a glimpse into another life I otherwise would not get. Hers are the musings of an Orthodox Jewish woman, recorded over the course of the year 2015 as she grapples with life in Jerusalem, mothers two adolescent daughters, seeks spiritual fulfillment, and discusses religious quandaries with her lawyer/yeshiva student husband. Her British background brings a certain worldliness to her struggles with everyday life in Israel. She calls herself "frum," the Yiddish term for Orthodox Jews, but she's very conscious of the fact that she doesn't fit the regular mold of a "frum" Jewish woman. I learned a lot from her as that world is pretty alien to me--there was a plethora of Yiddish and Hebrew terms and religious concepts that meant a lot to her but not to me. I had to investigate! And I love it when an author makes me look stuff up and expands my horizons. And so I learned a bit about the Chasidic world she somewhat moves in--up until reading her book, for example, I had never heard about Jews making pilgrimages to Uman in the Ukraine. Rivka Levy's Secret Diary of a Jewish Housewife was so engaging, so personal and so upfront that I kept on reading and wished her book would go on and on. Thankfully, Rivka is an avid blogger, so I've been able to read on.
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