Making Meaning Out of Madness: A Jewish Journey by Miranda Portnoy; St. Petersburg, Florida: Book Locker; ISBN 9781647-818818, 374 pages.
SAN DIEGO – This is a painful book to read, dealing as it does in the mentally abusive treatment author Portnoy said she suffered at the hands of her parents, brother, boyfriend, and college administrators both in the United States and Israel. There seemed no end to Portnoy’s complaints.
Deliverance, however, came after she found her way into the arms of Chabad, the international Chassidic organization where she learned to live an observant lifestyle, married a fine Jewish man after a proper courtship, and was lifted from the trough of low self-esteem.
The author makes it very clear that she has changed the names of the people in the book, possibly to guard against libel suits, as well as the names of the institutions of higher learning where she studied.
The book may have been cathartic for her, and perhaps others who have suffered an overwhelming sense of rejection and diminishment will find in her words a path forward to self-esteem. The book is scheduled for Nov. 30 release.
*
Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com