Lonely (Wo)man of Faith in a Modern World

Matthue Roth first sneaked onto my radar when I was 17. My friend Zahava was reading a book called Never Mind the Goldbergs, about a chick named Hava Aaronson, Modern Orthodoxy’s answer to feminist punk rock. Or maybe she was feminist punk rock’s answer to Modern Orthodoxy. Either way, her story involved the straddling, and the eventual rapprochement of fault lines that Zahava and I knew intimately. Argue all you want about the juxtaposition of the words “modern” and “Orthodox” (and worse, the semiotics and implications and attendant practices of this neologism): being Orthodox and 17 in 2005 New Jersey can be confusing, particularly when you spend your nights listening to Tori Amos and writing Draco/Harry smut instead of studying for your Chumash (Bible) test on Why Homosexuality is a Sin, which made Hava a niche-specific heroine who could have provided one blueprint on how to be a lonely (wo)man of faith in a modern world.