Author Event: Brooklyn Odyssey, Zalman Newfield in conversation with Ken Schept

About this event

The Friends of the Livingston Library invite you to an evening of conversation with authors Zalman Newfield and Ken Schept. Newfield’s memoir Brooklyn Odyssey explores his journey from Crown Heights Hasidism into academia and the wider Jewish world with honesty, warmth, and deep humanity. Zalman’s talk will explore the themes of Jewish identity, family, tradition, intellectual curiosity, and what it means to forge a meaningful life on one’s own terms. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. Cash or check only. Registration is not required. --------------------------------------------------------------- Growing up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn as a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Orthodox Jewish community, Zalman Newfield was raised in an atmosphere of strict gender segregation, rigorous religious education, and nearly all-consuming ritual practices. Trained to be a Lubavitch emissary, he traveled around the world doing Jewish outreach to help usher in the messianic redemption. In Brooklyn Odyssey: My Journey out of Hasidism, Newfield describes how he gained perspective through reading, travel, and education and abandoned the faith of his youth. Brooklyn Odyssey is Newfield’s poignant and hopeful memoir about exiting Orthodoxy. He recounts asserting his individuality and taking the radical step of shaving his beard. Reflective about his upbringing, Newfield is open to and curious about a world beyond Brooklyn while also maintaining his profound bond with his family and Jewish tradition. He writes candidly about his emotional, intellectual, and social experiences in and out of the Lubavitch community. From pivotal moments of devastation, including the illness and death of his younger brother and of his revered spiritual leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to moments of joyful resolve, including the decision to pursue a doctorate and marry a non-Orthodox Jew, Newfield takes readers on his moving and impactful journey. ___ Zalman Newfieldis an Associate Professor of sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, CUNY. Raised in a Lubavitch family in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, he attended yeshivahs in Chicago, Miami, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and participated in Jewish outreach activities in Russia, China, and Singapore. Newfield earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Brooklyn College and a PhD in sociology from New York University. He then taught sociology courses for two years in six medium- and maximum-security New Jersey state prisons. His book, Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020), explores the lives of Lubavitch and Satmar men and women who decided as young adults to leave that way of life. In his spare time he is a host on the New Books Network podcast, interviewing scholars from diverse disciplines. Newfield lives in Hoboken, NJ, with his wife and two children. Find out more at zalmannewfield.com. Ken Schept grew up in New Jersey and attended Verona