Published: 28 June 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
A risqué novel set in the Hasidic community has readers wondering about the anonymous author and the community she claims to know
Shmutz by the pseudonymous Felicity Berliner revolves around a 19-year-old woman named Raizl. Born into a large Hasidic family in Brooklyn, she discovers while surfing on a laptop the wonders – others would say the tragedies – of the world of internet pornography, just moments before looking for a shidduch (arranged match).
Raizl turns to a therapist in a desperate attempt for help after the Google search failed to provide the hoped-for outcome. But, she tells her therapist, “‘there were so many pictures of men! […] After I saw that, I had a different idea. I typed "kiss." You give the internet a word, and it gives you back pictures. So many people kissing. And men with long hair and meshiggeneh makeup.’”
From that point on, a dizzy, erotic spin begins to take over her life. By day, she strips off the clothing of men walking past her. By night, she watches porn films beneath her blanket. And on Shabbat, she suffers from withdrawal symptoms as a result of the forced abstention that the holy day imposes upon her. Sexual images overwhelm her everyday reality. She compares every yeshiva boy offered up as a potential shidduch to the well-endowed muscular guy in the porn she just watched.
‘There Are Similarities Between the Hasidic Community and Pornography’ (Haaretz)
Photo: Cover detail of Shmutz (feliciaberliner.com)
