In her new memoir, Kissing Girls on Shabbat, Dr. Sara Glass reveals her life within the confines of an extremely insular branch of Hasidism steeped in oppressive ancient traditions toward women.
She ultimately broke free from the sect, came out as a lesbian and fought hard to retain the custody of her children.
This journey set her on a path to becoming gaining her PhD, becoming a writer, speaker and advocate for individuals who have survived trauma to live bold, honest and proud lives.
In her new book Kissing Girls on Shabbat: A Memoir Dr Glass tells her coming-of-age, awakening and survivor story.
With honesty and courage, the author takes us inside the community and family in which she was raised, her two troubled marriages, and her struggles with shame, guilt and the dread of losing her children.
Kissing Girls on Shabbat follows Glass from her hard-won divorce through her extraordinary journey to finding herself.
As a teenager Sara Glass, then known as Malka, grew up in the small, insular Gur Hasidic sect in Borough Park, Brooklyn.
As a teen, she had accepted her calling as a servant of God: to become a dutiful wife and bear children. Still, she had questions. Hardest of all was to understand why she so deeply and powerfully felt a love that she was taught to hate—love for someone of her own sex.
At nineteen after flirting with danger and a vivacious young woman named Dassa, Malka accepted her fate and an arranged marriage to a quiet, pious, and anxious young man named Yossi. With her new husband, she moved from Borough Park to the secluded, self-contained, ultra-Orthodox world of Lakewood, New Jersey.
Here the couple had two children, and she lived an extremely orthodox life filled by ancient rituals and rules. Leaving this world proved to be very difficult and her life became a roller-coaster as she tried to discover where she fitted into the world.
Kissing Girls on Shabbat: A Memoir is released on 11th June.
