{"product_id":"ruth-blau-a-life-of-paradox-and-purpose-hardback-9780253065957","title":"Ruth Blau; A Life of Paradox and Purpose (Hardback) 9780253065957","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eRuth Blau\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Life of Paradox and Purpose\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMotti Inbari (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780253065957\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 30 May 2023\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e278 pages, 9 b\u0026amp;w photos - 9 Halftones, black and white\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.581 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eProf. Inbari explores the stranger-than-fiction tale of a woman who spied on the Gestapo, converted to Judaism twice, kidnapped a boy, and whose marriage sparked protests.\u003c\/p\u003e (The Times of Israel) \u003cp\u003eWhile the Haredi world has produced interesting people, perhaps one of the most interesting and simultaneously enigmatic and controversial is Ruth Blau. Her personality and life story demands a biography. And Motti Inbari, professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina, has filled that void with \u003ci\u003eRuth Blau: A Life of Paradox and Purpose\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e - Ben Rothke (JewishLink) \u003cp\u003eSummarizing Ruth's life would be doing a disservice. Inbari packs so much riveting detail into his 224-page book that I will only drop tantalizing hints of a Gestapo infiltration, spy missions in Morocco, religious identity crises, multiple failed relationships, questionable business activities, Mossad interrogations, Iranian rescue missions, and of course, kidnapping and hiding Yossele Schmacher for ideological purposes.\u003c\/p\u003e (JewishPress.com) \u003cp\u003eThis is an outstanding book. Its hero (actually heroine) is outstanding. Its research depth is outstanding. Even its writing style is outstanding.\u003c\/p\u003e - Menachem Keren-Kratz – Israel (Jewish Culture and History) \u003cp\u003eInbari . . . is generous in his overall assessment of the woman whose story he has so skillfully recounted. He recognizes her fanaticism and flaws but admires her resourcefulness, her courage, and her adherence to her principles.\u003c\/p\u003e - Allan Arkush, Binghamton University \u003cp\u003eThis is an outstanding book. Its hero (actually heroine) is outstanding. Its research depth is outstanding. Even its writing style is outstanding. This is the biography of Ruth Blau. This book is, to my best knowledge, the first academic book ever dedicated entirely to a single ultra-Orthodox woman.\u003c\/p\u003e - Menachem Keren-Kratz (Jewish Culture and History) \u003cp\u003eInbari is generous in his overall assessment of the woman whose story he has soInbari, soskillfully recounted. He recognizes her fanaticism and flaws but admires herskillfully herresourcefulness, her courage, and her adherence to her principles.\u003c\/p\u003e - Allan Arkush (Jewish Review of Books)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRuth Blau: A Life of Paradox and Purpose\u003c\/i\u003e explores the life of a curious, if not mysterious, character in modern Jewish history. Born a French Catholic, Ruth Blau (Ben-David) (1920–2000) lived a constantly twisting life. During World War II, Blau was active in the French Resistance, and under their command, she joined the Gestapo as a double agent. After the war, she studied philosophy as a PhD candidate at the Sorbonne during the 1950s. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfter converting to Judaism and moving to Israel in 1960, Blau was involved in concealing Yossele Schumacher, a seven-year-old child, as part of a militant conflict between ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews in Israel. In 1965, despite a huge scandal, she married Amram Blau, head of the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta. After the death of her husband in 1973, Blau took upon herself to travel to Arab countries to help the Jewish communities in distress in Lebanon and Iran, where she met Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and his deputy Abu Jihad. But the most significant connections she made were in Iran. In 1979, she met with the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRuth Blau: A Life of Paradox and Purpose\u003c\/i\u003e represents the first full-length biography of this remarkable woman. Drawing on a trove of archival materials and interviews with those who knew Ruth, Motti Inbari offers a complex, multifaceted portrait of a woman undertaking a remarkable and influential journey through modern European and Middle Eastern history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e1. Childhood\u003cbr\u003e2. Resistance\u003cbr\u003e3. \"Your God Is My God\": Lucette's Quest for Spirituality\u003cbr\u003e4. \"Your People Shell Be My People\": Conversion\u003cbr\u003e5. Where Is Yossele?\u003cbr\u003e6. The Hunt (1962)\u003cbr\u003e7. \"I Am Also Acquiring Ruth as My Wife\": The Marriage of Ruth Ben David and Rabbi Amram Blau\u003cbr\u003e8. Ruth Blau: The Rebbetzin\u003cbr\u003e9. \"Fierce Woman!\": Traveling in Muslim Countries\u003cbr\u003e10. Ruth Blau, the Ultra-Orthodox Society, and the Israeli Public Opinion\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52685677232408,"sku":"9780253065957","price":49.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/ruth-blau-a-life-of-paradox-and-purpose-hardback-9780253065957","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}