Yes, you read that title correctly. My friend Yale Levy has just published Brooklyn Love
She agreed to answer a couple of my nosy questions, and best of all she agreed to GIVE AWAY a free copy of the paperback version when it comes out in about a month. (Right now you can only get it on Kindle).
To enter to win: Just scroll down and leave a short comment that lists a person place or thing that you think is both Jewish and romantic! It can be short–one word is fine. (Would also welcome any more serious insights you might have about todays shidduch scence…). Winner will be drawn in 2 weeks, on Oct. 16. But let’s get to Yael…
Hi Yael! I am so pleased that you have chosen to make my humble site a stop on your e-book tour.
What sparked the idea for you to write a romance-comedy novel based in the Orthodox Jewish world?
While I love reading literary novels, I find most “great literature” tends to be depressing. If most novels about observant Jews are literary– the public gets a really skewed version of what Orthodox Jews and a religious lifestyle are all about. I wanted to show a lighter side of my community and yes, while there are social problems– there’s also a lot of humor– and love inherent in the culture.
Did you find it difficult to pitch to publishers–did they feel it was too narrow, or were they excited by the unique flavor?
Most publishers were excited by the unique flavor, but their marketing departments were terrified that the readership would be too narrow. I’m happy my agent found the publisher I’m with– Crimson Romance publishes all kinds of fantastic and original romances.
What’s your own personal story of ‘romance’– How did you meet your husband?
After shidduch dating for five years, I was utterly burnt-out and decided there had to be a better way: I threw out my checklist and decided to just let things develop naturally.
When a friend asked me ‘what I was looking for in a man’ I told her it boiled down to someone good-hearted who I found attractive (and took a responsibility to work and provide for his family.) My friend set me up with her friend’s brother and when she told me more about him, my initial reaction was “No!” We had different backgrounds…different goals…different everything– it seemed like a waste of time. She responded, “It’s too late– I already gave him your number.”
After the first phone call we had plenty to talk about…and still do!
When a friend asked me ‘what I was looking for in a man’ I told her it boiled down to someone good-hearted who I found attractive (and took a responsibility to work and provide for his family.) My friend set me up with her friend’s brother and when she told me more about him, my initial reaction was “No!” We had different backgrounds…different goals…different everything– it seemed like a waste of time. She responded, “It’s too late– I already gave him your number.”
After the first phone call we had plenty to talk about…and still do!
Orthodoxy comes in many flavors from Hassidic to modern, Atlanta to Monsey. Why did you pick this flavor of Orthodox, and why Brooklyn?
I picked the “litvishe” community in Brooklyn to write about because that is where I’m from and those are the experiences I know best.
Have you been getting any uniquely Jewish reactions to your book that you might not have gotten for a regular romance?
I’ve been hearing from a lot of people that they have to get the book for a girl they know who is currently in “shidduchim.” Most people in the dating game are grappling with a lot of issues I bring up in the book. And nobody has been talking about how to deal with the issues in any kind of logical or realistic manner. (Yes! If boys date girls older than them then ALL the problems will be solved!)
Have you shown it to your Rabbi or Rebettzin, and if so–what did they think?
While I felt compelled to write the book, I was hesitant about getting it published because I wasn’t sure if it was “lashon hara.” I showed an earlier version to Rabbi Michael Broyde and he told me not only wasn’t it a problem to publish, but that it was holy work to do so. He graciously offered to write a foreword to the book but I felt that with the publisher who acquired it– the audience is mostly not jewish–so didn’t see a need for that.
This isn’t just a fun read, is it? It touches on some serious issues our community is facing like the shidduch crisis…
When I scroll on a listserve for observant moms I’m always struck with the casualness a woman will ask strangers if she thinks she ought to divorce. For instance, one I remember where she writes her husband is a nice man but she never loved him– she doesn’t hate him either, is indifferent– and he doesn’t want more kids while she does. Should she get a divorce?
And I’m thinking, OMG, why did you marry someone you don’t love? Why would you put your kids through that because of other kids you may or may not ever have? And why are you asking strangers on a listserve? And I know the answers: She grew up in a community like mine and was pushed to marry her nice guy– whom she never loved–and never will.
This system might have worked in some shtetl where they were all just trying to survive and marriage was part of that equation– but in this day and age? In America? Do parents still think if they just push their kids into an early marriage then they’ll be safe? They won’t. Our community is imploding from the inside out and every one wants to pass the buck. “It’s the internet’s fault, it’s the placement of a woman’s button…now it’s iPhone’s fault.” How about we look at the dynamics that are going on and try to help educate our kids to make better choices? To deal with the world as it is and help our kids navigate it?
Yael, I agree. And I think that a ‘romance novel’ is a fantastic format that can uniquely explore more fully the relationship issues that the community is facing. Rabbi Broyde is right about the ‘holiness’ of such an endeavor–yasher koach, Yael! And thanks so much for taking the time to chat.
Want to enter to win a copy of Brooklyn Love? Just leave a comment stating a person place or thing that you think is both Jewish and romantic! It can be short–one word is fine. Would also love to hear any more serious insights you might have about todays shidduch scence.
? Just leave a comment stating a person place or thing that you think is both Jewish and romantic! It can be short–one word is fine. Would also love to hear any more serious insights you might have about todays shidduch scence.
TASHLICH AT PROSPECT PARK MNY YEARS AGO
The steps by the Montefiore Windmill overlooking the Old City in Jerusalem!
Someone else’s wedding. and NOT the airport. (I can’t tell you how many friends I knew who went on shidduch dates at the airport!)
Someone’s else’s wedding. (and NOT the airport. i couldn’t believe how many friends went on shidduch dates at the airport!)
My parents spent their wedding night at the Waldorf Astoria 56 years ago, in the honeymoon suite. It cost them $25 for the night and they could only afford it for the first night. Six years ago my Father wanted to do somthing special for my Mom for their 50th anniversary. He also saves everything! He went to the Waldorf Astoria with his receipt and cancelled check for the honeymmon suite $25 rate and showed it to them. They let him return with my Mom (his bride of 50 years) and they stayed again in the honeymoon suite for only $25. The going rate now is $500 per night.
They are my example of a real romantic love story.
Walking the boardwalk in Long Beach, NY on Shabbos.
Shir HaShirim
etc restaurant
Marrying the man of your dreams under the Kuppah with your Mother’s wedding band.(who unfortunately passed when I was 13 yrs. old)
A sukkah…It looks like a chupah and always evokes joy!
Hikes on West Rock in New Haven, CT.
Washington Square Park on a Sunday summer night…
Attending a live performance of Fiddler on the Roof with that special person.
Discussing the songs and the performance over coffee after the play.
Getting lost in Central Park on a third date, cutting through to dead-end into some guys fishing in the reservoir. We have been happily getting lost together for the past teh years. I found it amuzing that Hindy from the book also got lost in Central Park and also found her bashert there.
Walking home from shul together
What’s more jewish than food & free? A guy packing a picnic for a sunset-watch on the beach.
Meeting at around someone Shabbos table
the badeken — seeing him for the first time after a week of not talking – oh yeah
Saw a girl for the first time in a while across the mechitza on Rosh Hashona evening – totally smitten! Asked her out after Yom Kippur, but was turned down. Celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this past year 🙂
Married over 34 years- Sitting on the porch together Motzei Yom Tov, after all your children have returned to their homes with their child/children 😀
Sitting up late on the couch Friday night and talking when the house is quiet and the Shabbos candles are still burning…
Celebrating happy anniversaries…may there be many of them.
Walking to the pond to feed the ducks.
Jewish and romantic? That’s easy! My husband!
My cousin proposed to his girlfriend on her Birthday which was the Shabbos of my nephew’s Bar Mitzva (so the family was all together to celebrate)–and they got married 3 months later on my birthday!
My husband asked me to marry him on Purim. Very romantic!
Shabbat proposal
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
Hall’s Pond (esp. with Carvel ice cream)
Kotel
the first date set up by a shadchan 🙂
Seeing your spouse as your best friend
Meeting your husband on Jdate.com and having your very first date at the synagogue on Purim. 🙂
Looking into my husband’s eyes and knowing what he’s thinking.