All Who Go Do Not Return: A Memoir

A moving and revealing exploration of ultra-Orthodox Judaism and one man's loss of faith

Shulem Deen was raised to believe that questions are dangerous. As a member of the Skverers, one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the US, he knows little about the outside world--only that it is to be shunned. His marriage at eighteen is arranged and several children soon follow. Deen's first transgression--turning on the radio--is small, but his curiosity leads him to the library, and later the Internet. Soon he begins a feverish inquiry into the tenets of his religious beliefs, until, several years later, his faith unravels entirely. Now a heretic, he fears being discovered and ostracized from the only world he knows. His relationship with his family at stake, he is forced into a life of deception, and begins a long struggle to hold on to those he loves most: his five children. In All Who Go Do Not Return, Deen bravely traces his harrowing loss of faith, while offering an illuminating look at a highly secretive world.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 03/24/2015
ISBN: 9781555977054
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.90d
Award: National Jewish Book Award - Winner

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2015
Library Journal 02/15/2015 pg. 107
Publishers Weekly 02/09/2015
Booklist 02/15/2015 pg. 4