Mordechai Becher & Moshe Newman, Feldheim, 1994
This book and others like it (my friend Rabbi Becher has also written a Hebrew text on a related subject) fills an important need in a Jewish community where many observant people come from non-observant backgrounds. As the subtitle tells us, the book is geared to ‘maintaining good family relations and adjusting to your new lifestyle – a practical halachic guide for the newly observant.’ Helping neophytes remain respectful and sensitive to the needs and lives of their non-religious relatives is a serious concern for all communal leaders, for this is obviously necessary, even when the relatives are intolerant towards the Baal Teshuvah. Issues treated include: family celebrations, Kashrut in parental homes, Shabbat observance, healthy evolution of religious identity and observance, dating and the pursuit of secular studies. The authors are sensible, balanced and hala chically expert, important factors in a thorny and fraught area of Jewish life. The authors are very lenient in their approach, which is predicated on maximising the quality of the relationship between family members who live very different lives. A useful text.
