Strictly Kosher Reading: Popular Literature and the Condition of Contemporary Orthodoxy

In every Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] neighbourhood today, bookstores overflow with an expansive variety of popular titles written by and for Haredi Jews. "Strictly Kosher Reading" offers a close reading of contemporary Haredi fiction, self-help, history, and popular theology, explaining how this isolationist religious community constructs its complex and paradoxical relationship with contemporary culture. Like isolationist religious groups throughout the world, Haredi Jews, as reflected in their popular literature, struggle to remain distinctive in a culture they find both frightening and attractive. Haredi popular literature sets up sharp boundaries between Haredi Jews and others. Yet, the same literature simultaneously undermines and blurs those boundaries.