One of the deep ironies of leaving Orthodox Judaism is that people ask you to tell the story of your exit over and over again. Some people who left even make their living telling that story. Why do people who have no connection to Orthodox Judaism find these stories so interesting, and why does telling the story feel false even when it’s completely true?

Episode Credits:

Written by Naomi Seidman and Produced by M. Louis Gordon. Recorded by Francois Heroux and Lucien Lozon at MCS Studios Toronto. Mixed by Cory Choy at Silver Sound NYC, with theme music by Luke Allen. Our Senior Producer is David Zvi Kalman.

Heretic in the House is a podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.

You can sign up for Frieda Vizel's walking tours of Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn at friedavizel.com.

Check out the book Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, and other work by Zalman Newfield, at his website, zalmannewfield.com