
Becoming Eve
My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
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Narrated by:
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Abby Stein
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By:
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Abby Stein
The powerful coming-of-age story of an ultra-Orthodox child who was born to become a rabbinic leader and instead became a woman
Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of 18th century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Stein was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews.
But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity - a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life.
Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be?
©2020 Abby Stein (P)2020 Seal PressListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Becoming Eve is a powerful, moving story of grappling with both gender and faith. Abby Chava Stein is a compelling storyteller who shows us how to follow the voice within--even when everyone and everything around us is telling us not to." (Danya Ruttenberg, author of Surprised By God and Nurture the Wow)
"Becoming Eve is a beautiful, haunting story of self-discovery. Her longing for truth, acceptance, and love will echo in the heart of every reader." (Leah Vincent, author of Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood)
"'No agenda, just my story,' Abby Stein writes in the prologue to her fascinating memoir. And yet, her book delivers on a very definite agenda: helping us empathize with experiences radically different from our own. With humor and grace-and impressive erudition of Jewish mysticism-Abby Stein grants us entry into a singular, otherworldly capsule: the byzantine world of Hasidic 'royal' families and the Sisyphean pursuit of living an authentic life within it. (Shulem Deen, author of All Who Go Do Not Return, winner of the Prix Médicis and the National Jewish Book Award)
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Fascinating!
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Brava Abby! A story of love and self-determination
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A captivating memoir
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Really touching.
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Truely Amazing
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Riveting Read
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Great story with abrupt ending
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Best book I've read in a long time.
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Because the Hasidic Jewish community which Abby grew up in, in Brooklyn, New York is so insular and keeps out knowledge and exposure of the rest of society, including non-orthodox Jews. The thought that she was a she while in a male body did enter and remained in her mind and soul from a very young age.
One gets a rare insight into the sheltered Hasidic Jewish world. We hear (or read) about this world as it is. Much of it quite positive, some not so positive. One does nott at all get the sense that one is being manipulated to show how beautiful nor how ugly the Hasidic Jewish world is or was. Abby shares what she shares with us. mostly just to give us an understanding of what she lived through. No doubt she has more to say. I look forward to hearing more. God bless her. Baruch Hashem.
The Soulful Story of a Male to Female Hasid.
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In fact, I believe this is the most relatable book I've ever read on the subject and I didn't know what trans was until I was in my third decade of life. To that point I've only seen depictions on talk shows of sexualized and unrelatable individuals.
The book ends pretty abruptly at the coming out. Understandingly so, this is a young persons perspective, and they are still young when writing this. The details of their coming out process are not revealed. The relationship over time with their young child still remains to occur. If their family will accept it eventually it's unknown.
I recommend this book to anyone that ever wondered if trans people are created by the media, or if they occur naturally as history of many cultures would indicate.
I recommend this book to any young person that wonders how they themselves may have come to terms with trans, had they grown up not knowing about trans.
I further recommend this book to anyone with an appetite for learning.
Wonderfully read by the author
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