The World Outside by Eva Wiseman

Wiseman has crafted yet another interesting novel that informs and engages young readers about the Crown Heights riots of 1991.

Seventeen-year-old Chanie Altman belongs to the Lubavitcher Hasidic community in Crown Heights, New York. She lives in a huge home with her Babba, her mother and father, her twin brother Moishe and her older brother Yossi. Chanie spends much time caring for her twin brother who was disabled during a difficult birth.

Chanie's family, along with others in the Crown Heights Hasidic community, follow the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.  Hasidic Jews live by strict rules; boys and girls do not mingle, there is no television and they do not go to movies, they only listen to Jewish music, and they never read non-religious books. The boys do not continue secular schooling after grade five while the girls attend seminary and then marry.

Chanie and her friends, Deborah Leah and Faygie Kauffman are in grade twelve at Bais Rivkah, a Lubavitcher high school in Crown Heights. Chanie is different from her friends as she loves music and especially wants to sing, which is forbidden to Lubavitcher girls. She also is beginning to question all of her beliefs.

One Sunday in March, Chanie, Deborah and Faygie, go to the mall to hand out candles and prayer leaflets to Jews. During this outreach, Chanie meets David Goldberg, a handsome young man with beautiful blue eyes. Although Daniel is of Jewish background, he is not religious. Chanie feels instantly attracted to him, something she terms the "Evil Inclination" which she tries to resist.

Soon after, David begins coming to her home to study the Torah with Yossi, something that shocks Chanie. This leads Chanie and David to begin secretly meeting. At first Chanie plans to tell David she cannot meet him again as it is forbidden. When David overhears her singing to Moishe, he is impressed by her beautiful voice. Believing her to be very gifted, David encourages Chanie to apply to Julliard, despite that fact that, for her, singing is forbidden.

Meanwhile Chanie meets a black girl, Jade, who is from Boston and is staying in Crown Heights with her Aunt Rita Mae. Jade has taken the semester off from her studies at Vassar to decide what she wants to do with her life. Chanie is warned by her mother not to mix with Blacks who do not trust their Jewish neighbours, but Chanie has other ideas. Soon she and Jade are meeting at Yoni's Yummi Pizza Parlour where Jade encourages Chanie to discover what she wants from life. Chanie explains to Jade that members of the Lubavitch Sect believe they must do what the Rebbe tells them to.

Unknown to her parents, Chanie continues to see both Jade and David, developing a strong friendship with Jade and following through on David's suggestion to apply to Julliard. Events come to a climax when a black boy in Crown Heights is struck and killed by one of the cars in Rabbi Schneerson's entourage. Set against the riots against Jews in Crown Heights, Chanie must decide her path in life and determine what matters most to her. Will she follow her dreams or will she remain true to her beliefs?

Discussion

The World Outside is a coming of age story set within the Lubavitch-Hasidic Jewish community of Brooklyn, New York in the late twentieth century. 

The Lubavitch-Hasidic movement was founded in the late eighteenth century in Russia. The movement moved from Russia to Poland, and then with the outbreak of Nazism in Europe, to Brooklyn, New York in the 1940's. The Hasidic movement was brought to America by the then rabbi, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who passed away in 1950.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson who became the Rebbe or leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in 1951, was a Russian-American. Born in Nikovaev, which was part of Russia, in 1902, Schneerson came to New York in 1941,escaping Nazi Europe. In 1991, a car in Schneerson's motorcade, fell behind the lead car and ran a red light. In doing so, the car struck two seven-year-old Guyanese-American children, Angela and Gavin Cato. The children were pinned under the car, killing Gavin while Angela survived.  The accident triggered the Crown Heights riot that lasted three days, from August 19 to 21, 1991. Jews were attacked by the Black residents, homes damaged and businesses looted. An Jewish international student was murdered. The riot had long-lasting implications for both the Jewish and Black communities and the city of New York.

The Hasidic community believes in traditional roles for men and women. Women, while they do work outside the home in secretarial, retail and in teaching in girls' religious schools, are seen as wives and mothers. Hasidic women believe in dressing modestly and those who are married wear wigs and a scarf. Hasidic men are recognizable with their dark clothing, black hats and long beards. Men and women are segregated: boy and girls are educated separately and men and women do not mingle at social events. As shown in the novel, the Lubavitch-Hasidic sect is involved in outreach to other non-sect Jews.

In The World Outside, readers learn what life is like in the Lubavitch-Hasidic community through the character of Chanie who is deeply conflicted. She struggles with the beliefs her Hasidic sect hold dear and her desire to see some of the outside world. While Chanie's choice might disappoint some readers, the reality is that for the type of sect that Chanie belongs to, her beliefs are deeply ingrained and the ties to her large family are deeply held. Wiseman does a wonderful job of portraying the internal conflict Chanie struggles against. Readers will suspect that Chanie's difficult and uncompromising mother has likely faced similar choices in her past. Many of the other characters in the novel are well developed and interesting; Chanie's strict and forceful mother, Jade who is open and welcoming with her friendship, and David who falls in love with Chanie and who demonstrates his love for her by his care for her family.

Chanie's application to Julliard felt unrealistic especially given that Chanie had no formal music training and could not read music. Julliard auditions are rigorous and likely included submitting a prescreening audio recording even back in 1991. Overall though, The World Outside offers a unique look at a section of American society that has chosen to live life very differently from the secular world. The novel asks readers to consider themes of rebellion, reconciliation and coming of age within a strict society that has unique expectations. 

Book Details:
The World Outside by Eva Wiseman
Toronto: Tundra Books    2014
232 pp.