Leaving the Fold: Contemporary Memoirs of Faith, Doubt, and Self-Transformation

Explore two compelling memoirs by writers who grew up in insular religious communities that ultimately conflicted with their own evolving ideas, values, and identities.

Their departures from family and community entailed personal losses, but also launched them into liberating journeys of self-transformation.

Before the first online class on Dec 1, please read Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life by Amber Scorah. Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, Amber married an elder and went to live as a missionary in China. Living in a different culture, learning a foreign language, and meeting new people exposed her to alternative mindsets, turning her world and her faith upside down. Shunned by family and friends, she found new sources of meaning and began her life anew.

The second class session on Dec 15 will explore Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman by Abby Stein—acclaimed by Publishers Weekly as a “harrowing and inspiring story of the exploration, discovery, and acceptance of her truth, both body and soul." Born a son to a Hasidic rabbinical family in Brooklyn, Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. After reading forbidden texts, she transitioned from ultra-Orthodox manhood to a new existence as a transgender Jewish woman.

Join cultural historian Lori Rotskoff online to share your thoughts, opinions, and questions with other passionate readers.