Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The untold full story of the most paradoxical woman who fought the Israeli Mossad and her marriage to the extreme antizionist Rabbi of Jerusalem. History at its best."—Margalit Shilo, Bar Ilan University
"Ruth Blau: A Life of Paradox and Purpose constitutes a landmark study of a heretofore mysterious yet highly significant personage in modern Jewish history. A French convert who married the resolutely anti-Zionist Neturei Karta leader Rabbi Amram Blau, this study of her life provides great insight into our understanding of Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy and the role of women within it. Inbari draws on rich archival resources and extensive interviews to construct this story of her life and its many twists and turns both in Israel and the Diaspora. In so doing, he makes an original and vital contribution to modern feminist and Israeli scholarship."—David Ellenson, Brandeis University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Childhood
2. Resistance
3. "Your God Is My God": Lucette's Quest for Spirituality
4. "Your People Shell Be My People": Conversion
5. Where Is Yossele?
6. The Hunt (1962)
7. "I Am Also Acquiring Ruth as My Wife": The Marriage of Ruth Ben David and Rabbi Amram Blau
8. Ruth Blau: The Rebbetzin
9. "Fierce Woman!": Traveling in Muslim Countries
10. Ruth Blau, the Ultra-Orthodox Society, and the Israeli Public Opinion
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
