Shulem Deen

Deen first became known as the author of the blog "Hasidic Rebel",{{cite news|author=Julie Wiener |url=http://www.jta.org/2015/04/08/arts-entertainment/hasidic-rebel-shulem-deen-on-leaving-orthodoxy-and-losing-his-children

|title="Hasidic Rebel" Shulem Deen on leaving Orthodoxy and losing his children |publisher=JTA |date=2015-04-15}} which he wrote from 2003 until 2012, and which was the subject of a 2003 feature article in the Village Voice.{{cite news|author=William O'Shea |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-07-15/news/the-sharer-of-secrets/ |title=The Sharer of Secrets |publisher=Village Voice |date=2003-07-15}} Deen's blog was the first widely read website by a born Hasid casting doubt on his religious faith.{{cite news |author=Pearl Gabel |url=http://narrative.ly/culture-crossings/heretic-hasidim/ |title=Heretic Hasidim |publisher=Narratively |date=2012-12-13 |access-date=2016-03-22 |archive-date=2014-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118212049/http://narrative.ly/culture-crossings/heretic-hasidim/ |url-status=dead }} In 2010, Deen launched the Unpious website, along with "Shtreimel", another ex-Hasidic blogger, and has served as its editor throughout. The site was intended as a platform for voices critical of the Hasidic lifestyle and beliefs.{{cite news|author=Tova Ross |url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/158130/ex-frum-memoirs |title=How Ex-Frum Memoirs Became New York Publishing's Hottest New Trend |publisher=Tablet Magazine |date=2014-01-07}}

Deen's memoir, All Who Go Do Not Return, was published in 2015, and chronicles his transition from devout member of the Skver Hasidic sect to secular Jew.{{cite news|author=Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-all-who-go-do-not-return-by-shulem-deen-1428874330 |title=No Guides for the Perplexed |publisher=Wall Street Journal |date=2015-04-12}} Deen's book is part of a subgenre of memoirs by formerly Haredi writers,{{cite news|author=Ezra Glinter|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/121099/shulem-deens-all-who-go-do-not-return-memoir-review |title=A Heretic Grows in Brooklyn |publisher=The New Republic |date=2015-03-18}} and is considered to be one of the best.{{cite magazine|author=Kelsey Osgood |url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/judaism-and-the-twice-born |title=Judaism and the Twice-Born |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2015-04-01}}{{cite news|author=Jennifer Senior |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/books/review-here-and-there-a-renunciation-of-a-sect-tinged-with-love.html |title=Review: 'Here and There', a Renunciation of a Sect, Tinged With Love |work=New York Times |date=2015-12-06}}

Deen is a regular columnist at The Forward, and writes widely on the intersection of Hasidic and secular life, including articles in the New Republic, Salon, and Tablet. Even though his work is perceived to be critical of the Hasidic lifestyle and worldview,{{cite news|author1=Jay Michaelson|title=In the grips of Jewish fundamentalism: New memoir sheds light on Hasidic community|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/in-the-grips-of-jewish-fundamentalism-new-memoir-sheds-light-on-hasidic-community/2015/03/17/35ebfe28-cccd-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2015-03-17}} he has appeared on Orthodox media, such as David Bashevkin's 18Forty podcast.{{cite news |last1=Yudelson |first1=Larry |title=Preaching the Controversy |url=https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/preaching-the-controversy/ |access-date=July 16, 2023 |work=Jewish Standard |agency=Times of Israel |date=September 9, 2020}}

Deen currently serves as a board member at Footsteps, a New York City organization that assists formerly Haredi Jews with transitioning to life outside the Haredi world.{{cite news|author=Josh Nathan-Kazis|url=http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/157558/the-footsteps-of-those-leaving-ultra-orthodoxy/ |title=The "Footsteps" of Those Leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy |publisher=Forward.com |date=2012-06-08}}

• 2015 National Jewish Book Awards, Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award for Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19}}
• 2016 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award for Creative Non-Fiction
• 2017 Prix Médicis essai for Celui qui va vers elle ne revient pas (All Who Go Do Not Return){{cite news |url=https://www.letemps.ch/culture/2017/11/09/beau-palmares-prix-medicis |title=Le beau palmarès du Prix Médicis |language=French |work=Le Temps |author=Eléonore Sulser |date=9 November 2017 |access-date=9 November 2017 |archive-date=10 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110005041/https://www.letemps.ch/culture/2017/11/09/beau-palmares-prix-medicis |url-status=dead }}

Deen spent his early life among Satmar Hasidim in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn,{{cite news|author=Shaul Magid|title=My Teacher's Son: A Memoir of Heresy is Marked by a Father's Unnerving Piety|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/190205/shulem-deen-dovid-din|publisher=Tablet Magazine|date=2015-04-15}} and joined the Skver Hasidic dynasty when he was a teenager, moving to the town of New Square, New York, the movement's headquarters, to settle after marriage. He was married in 1993, and has five children.{{cite book|author=Joseph Berger|title=The Pious Ones|date=2014-09-09|publisher=Harper Perennial|location=New York|isbn=978-0062123343|pages=2,158,194}} In 2005, Deen was expelled from New Square by its leaders for holding heretical views, and several years later, he divorced his wife and left the Hasidic lifestyle entirely. He is mostly estranged from his children, who have remained among the Skverer Hasidim in New Square, New York.{{cite news|author=Joseph Berger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/nyregion/outcast-mothers-death-and-questions-about-jewish-sects-sway-over-children.html |title=Outcast Mother's Death, and Questions About Jewish Sect's Sway Over Children |work=The New York Times |date=2013-11-21}} He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

• [http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/70518/too-cool "Too Cool"], Tablet, June 22, 2011
• [http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/the_sound_of_sin/ "The Sound of Sin"], Salon, April 19, 2012
• [http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/147240/hasidic-children-parents?all=1 "In Death of Ex-Hasid, a Mirror for Trauma of Many"], Tablet, October 2, 2013
• [http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/chasidic-schools-ensure-ignorance-and-poverty "Op-Ed: Chasidic Schools Ensure Ignorance and Poverty"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423003305/http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/chasidic-schools-ensure-ignorance-and-poverty |date=2016-04-23 }}, The Jewish Week, September 17, 2015
• [http://narrative.ly/stories/my-roommate-the-prostitute/ "My Roommate, the Prostitute"], Narratively, January 7, 2015
• [http://forward.com/my-heretical-year/325031/how-i-kept-my-faith-in-faith/ "How I Kept My Faith in Faith"], The Forward, December 1, 2015

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.shulemdeen.com Official Website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4NSYaYjXA8 VIDEO: A Life Apart, An Ex-Hasid in Brooklyn: BK Stories, by BRIC TV]
• [http://www.wnyc.org/story/expelled-heresy/ Interview with Brian Lehrer on WNYC radio]
• [http://gimletmedia.com/episode/23-exit-return-part-i/ Story Feature on Reply All Podcast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418144237/https://gimletmedia.com/episode/23-exit-return-part-i/ |date=2016-04-18 }}

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Category:21st-century American memoirists

Category:Jewish American memoirists

Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers

Category:1974 births

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from Brooklyn

Category:Disengagement from religion

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Yiddish-speaking people

Category:Skver (Hasidic dynasty)

Category:Prix Médicis essai winners

Category:Former Hasidim

Category:Jews from New York (state)

Category:People from Borough Park, Brooklyn