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De-Colonialization of Body, Spirit and Mind in the Memoir of Deborah Feldman

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De-Colonialization of Body, Spirit and Mind in the Memoir of Deborah Feldman IAPT – 2/2021 typoscript [FP] – 09.06.2021 – Seite 138 – 2. Satzlauf De-Colonialization of Body, Spirit and Mind in the Memoir of Deborah Feldman Constanze Thierfelder Conscious – and especially unconscious – God-representations play an important role in the de- velopment of an individual’s psyche. God-representations can also be the agents of colonializa- tion. They can make the individual consent to their own oppression. In the case of Deborah Feldman, they were part of the restrictive context in the ultra-orthodox community in which she grew up. But a different God-representation helped her to find a way out of this repressive sys- tem. In all of her struggles, the body was the site in which different God-representations played out and demonstrated their importance and meaning. Finally, Deborah had to make the decision over which God-representation she wanted to trust. I. Preface Dr. Constanze Thierfelder, PhD teaches as “Privatdozen- tin” at the Philipps-University of Marburg, Department In her memoir “Unorthodox – The Scandalous Re- of Practical Theology, and works as a Hospital Chaplain jection of My Hasidic Roots,” Deborah Feldman re- at the “Elisabethenstift” in Darmstadt, Germany. She constructs her life story and describes how she left wrote her dissertation in the field of psychology of reli- the Hasidic Satmar community as a narrative of lib- gion and her habilitation on the importance of acknowl- eration. Feldman describes the oppressive struc- edging difference in the field of Pastoral Care. tures facing this ultra-orthodox Jewish community, especially for women and girls. Deborah Feldman’s memoir can be read from body, spirit, and mind. Reading it from only one many different perspectives. As a historian, you can perspective makes the interpretation of the novel see the preconditions of the Satmar community in prone to blind spots. the persecution of Jews in Europe, in the Holocaust, The deconstructive and feminist perspective of the Shoah. You can also look at it from the angle of Gayatri Spivak assumes this intersectional perspec- feminist theologians like Judith Plaskow and Ellen tive. She analyzes different forms of oppression and Umansky and see that according to Jewish tradition, asks: “Can the Subaltern speak?” (Spivak 1994, 66). women will not stand at Sinai (Plaskow 1991, 11) Spivak criticizes Marxist and Postcolonial theories and do not participate in the revelation of the com- that neglect the perspective of women and their ing Messiah (Umansky 1989, 190). You can also look contribution to society. Such theorists do not take at the memoir of Deborah Feldman from the per- into account the multiple ways in which women are spective of sociology, or psychology of religion. exploited: by sexual violence, by giving birth to too The oppressive structures Feldman describes many children and exploiting their body, sometimes need to be understood as a repressive intersectional whilst being the only breadwinner (Spivak 1988b). reality where marginalization, colonial and patriar- They disregard the ways in which women are rarely chal structures not only add up but represent an in- part of decision-making in politics, economy, or re- terwoven and complex reality of the oppression of ligion. They tune out how women and girls are dis- Valburga Schmiedt Streck, Júlio Cézar Adam, Cláudio 138 Carvalhaes, eds. 2021. (De)coloniality and religious practices: liberating hope. IAPT.CS 2: 138–145 Doi: 10.25785/iapt.cs.v2i0.170 ORCID-ID: 0000-0002-7261-8147 IAPT – 2/2021 typoscript [FP] – 09.06.2021 – Seite 139 – 2. Satzlauf De-Colonialization of Body, Spirit and Mind in the Memoir of Deborah Feldman criminated against in education and society and are ry, and now in Romania. He was a fierce opponent of seldom asked to speak their minds or develop a all forms of assimilation and against Zionism be- voice of their own. cause only the Messiah himself was supposed to cre- Spivak points to the intersectional oppression of ate a Jewish state. many women, in a very elaborate manner without In 1940, before the Holocaust, Teidelbaum ig- ever losing sight of the economic and ideological nored all threats against the Hungarian Jews and methods of colonialization and their consequenc- failed to engage in the preparation of rescue plans. es. As the situation became more dangerous, he Similarly, I do not wish to deny or marginalize equipped himself and his closest followers with vi- the historical and everyday denigration and sup- sas to help them escape to Palestine or the US. At the pression of the Jewish people when trying to under- same time, he thwarted all attempts to cooperate stand the way in which women are exploited and with Zionist and other organizations that could deprived of their voices within the Satmar Commu- have helped the rest of the community to escape. nity. For this, I will use the methodology of the psy- Teidelbaum himself made a narrow escape, although choanalytic psychology of religion of Ana Maria he had already arrived at the concentration camp Rizzuto (1979) and the materialist biographical Bergen-Belsen. Bribing the Gestapo with the finan- method of Frigga Haug (1983). Ana Maria Rizzuto cial help of Jewish supporters, he managed to be- helps to analyze the unconscious God-images that come part of a group that was set free to travel to shape our identity and where they are situated. Ac- Switzerland. He decided to settle in Williamsburg cording to Rizzuto, our unconscious can sustain in the US (Keren-Kratz 2014). several God-images of different character. There, he gathered other survivors of the Holo- Frigga Haug points to the fact that women are caust and founded the Satmar Community. Again, not only victims but consent to their own suppres- he opposed Zionism and any form of assimilation. sion in many ways. Acknowledging this they are He introduced strict measures to separate the Sat- able to become active agents in their own life and mar Community from other parts of the US-Amer- can free themselves from the entanglements that tie ican society. He tightened dress codes, especially for them down. women who were to dress “in a modest way.” For My interest is to show the intersectional reality of example, they were to wear thick brown stockings Deborah’s oppression and also “the tools” she used with seams. Teidelbaum even encouraged one of the to find her way out of this world of suppression. Hasidim to produce these stockings called “palms,” Deborah Feldman gives an insight into a very re- according to the English translation of “Teidel- strictive sectarian community. But she does more baum”. Married women were to shave their heads than that. With her book she testifies that liberation every month before they went to the Mikwah, the is possible even if all stakes are against it. The break- ritual bath (Mintz 1995). ing success of her book far beyond the US market Teitelbaum tightened the Hasidic rules against brought her fame and helped her to survive. Part of assimilation and intensified the “purification” of the the success may be a kind of voyeurism into a hid- community at a dire price, one which women and den exotic world. But Deborah Feldman also rep- children in particular had to pay. He implemented a resents a woman who made her way out of this separate educational system, where girls were ne- locked-in world, and many women can identify glected. In the US, where freedom of religion rules with this. over the rights of women and children and where the rights of the individual reigns over compulsory education, Joel Teidelbaum and his followers were II. The historic background free to make their own rules. Neglecting education and pushing young fami- The Satmar Community in Williamsburg, NY, was lies to generate as many children as possible has founded in 1946 by Rabbi Joel Teidelbaum. His turned Hasidic Williamsburg and other neighbor- nephew Moshe Teidelbaum followed him in 1979 hoods into places where poverty and overcrowded (Rabinowicz 1996, 484). Born in 1887 in Transylva- housing are endemic. In 2020, the COVID-19 pan- nia (in Romania) Joel Teidelbaum gathered an ul- demic hit the Satmar Community hard because of tra-orthodox community around him in 1905 in living conditions and Hasidic leaders’ refusal to Satu Mare, “Satmar” in Yiddish, formerly in Hunga- close schools and Synagogues (Stack 2020). 139 IAPT – 2/2021 typoscript [FP] – 09.06.2021 – Seite 140 – 2. Satzlauf Constanze Thierfelder III. Outline of Deborah Feldman’s memoir and psychological coercion finally made her con- “Unorthodox” ceive. During these difficult times, she decided to take a writing class at Sarah Lawrence College, tell- ing her husband she was going there to train as a Deborah Feldman published her memoir “Unortho- secretary. dox” in 2012, having left the Satmar Community Feldman describes how she wanted to escape the two years before. Even if it is at times hard to believe, Satmar Community before her son was introduced her memoir gives an insight into the contemporary into the school system. She realized that she wanted situation of a sectarian Jewish community. another life for him as well as for herself. The con- Feldman describes living with her grandparents tract to publish her memoir gave her the financial who were both survivors of the Shoa and were part means to leave the Satmar community. of the Satmar Community’s first generation. When Having the financial means to support herself her parents divorced, she lived with her grandpar- and her son helped her to leave. But she also needed ents. Her mother left the family and the congrega- all her mental and spiritual resources. Like in most tion when Deborah was still a toddler.
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