Summary
Title: Zaddik: The Battle for a Boy's Soul
Author: Elaine Grudin Denholtz
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1573929204
Pro:
• Engaging, reads like a thriller or mystery
• Exposes the hidden world of religious kidnappings
Con:
• Not always clear which quotes are direct and which fictionalized
Description:
• Young Jewish boy is kidnapped by a rabbi and kept from parents for years
• Ultraorthodox Jews conspire to break the law and break up a family over religion
• Tells the story of a woman's fight to get her son back and find justice
Book Review
The consequences of such an answer are explored in detail in Elaine Grudin Denholtz’s book Zaddik: The Battle for a Boy’s Soul. In 1992, the 13-year-old son of an Israeli immigrant was kidnapped by an extremist, orthodox Hasidic rabbi, Schlomo Helbrans, and some of his radical followers. Shai Fhima, son of Hana Fhima, was not returned again until 1996 after having spent years shuttled between the United States, Canada and Europe, from one Hasidic family to the next. The reason? Helbrans thought Shai exhibited a “light” and would become a zaddik, a great religious leader who would be in personal communication with God.
Shai was originally taken to Helbrans in order to study for his bar mitzvah, but very quickly Helbrans objected to what he perceived to be an insufficiently religious home and upbringing. He told Hana that she shouldn’t send Shai to a public schools where he would take classes with blacks, Hispanics and Christians. He wanted Shai to follow the most stringent religious rules possible and berated Hana when she refused. Hana tried to remove Shai from Helbrans’ influence, but through deceit he was taken away, not to be seen again for several years.
What did the authorities do? Well, the District Attorney sat on the case, refusing to do anything — he needed the votes of Hasidic Jews and didn’t want to upset them by arresting one of their popular rabbis. Thus, personal political considerations outweighed justice and morality — this was the consequence of the inaction of Charles “Joe” Hynes, Brooklyn District Attorney.
How did Jews react? Too few condemned the actions of Helbrans. Some secular Jews objected to what he did, but even many of them were reluctant to criticize other Jews. Religious Jews kept trying to frame the controversy in terms of religious liberty and religious oppression — as if kidnapping a young boy had anything to do with religious liberty.
- “Whatever religion a family follows, it’s their own business. If someone doesn’t approve of the religion you teach your children, does it give him the right to take your children away?”
Jewish organizations refused to help and the Jewish press rarely reported anything favorable about her plight. She also received numerous threatening phone calls — some people threatening to kill her and some even threatening to ensure that Shai himself would not survive unless she stopped her search for him.
- “Rivalries among ultraorthodox sects are immediately erased in the face of a common enemy. In this case, Hana is perceived as the enemy. Defend her? Go to the aid of a secular Jew against a rabbi? Punish one of their own? God forbid. A polite voice cuts her off. “I’m sorry, we can’t get involved.””
What is even more distressing is the fact that Shai was not the first boy to be treated like this — and he probably won’t be the last. It is apparently an open secret that some ultra-orthodox Hasidic groups and/or rabbis have kidnapped many Jewish boys around the world, all in an effort to ensure that they be raised in the most devoutly religious manner possible. Indeed, Helbrans himself seems to be the product of such a kidnapping, and the book records his parents feelings thus:
- “What they do, they take boys who have trouble, maybe divorced parents, they look for this type. Lost young people. Not religious. They pick them out in Israel and bring them into yeshiva. They give them good food and lots of attention. And they feed them Judaism, their brand. Ultraorthodox Judaism. It comforts the boys, gives them answers. It makes them feel important. They get new clothes and everyone focused eyes on them. Then they steal away to Brooklyn. Some yeshivas are based in Jerusalem. But their counterpart is in Brooklyn.”
