Keep Your Wives Away from Them Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires

Reconciling queerness with religion has always been an enormous challenge. When the religion is Orthodox Judaism, the task is even more daunting. This anthology takes on that challenge by giving voice to genderqueer Jewish women who were once silencedand effectively rendered invisibleby their faith.Keep Your Wives Away from Themtells the story of those who have come out, who are still closeted, living double lives, or struggling to maintain an integrated "single life" in relationship to traditional Judaismpersonal stories that are both enlightening and edifying. While a number of films and books have explored the lives of queer people in Orthodox and observant Judaism, only this one explores in depth what happens after the struggle, when the real work of building integrated lives begins. The candor of these insightful stories inKeep Your Wives Away from Themmakes the book appealing to a general audience and students of women's, gender, and LGBTQ studies, as well as for anyone struggling personally with the same issue. Contributors include musician and writer Temim Fruchter, Professor Joy Ladin, writer Leah Lax, nurse Tamar Prager, and the pseudonymous Ex-Yeshiva Girl.

Miryam Kabakov is director of the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival, national program director of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, coordinator of LGBT programming at the Manhattan Jewish Community Center, and a frequent speaker and workshop leader. She lives in Minnesota.