In “Becoming Un-Orthodox,” a study of ex-Orthodox Jews by University of Kansas professor Lynn Davidman, a woman identified only as “Leah” describes Friday night meals in her parents’ home. “Shabbes was kind of a wash,” she says.
“My father was always tired and so was my mother. They were fighting. We were fighting. And so there was not that kind of love and joy that makes the brainwashing really stick.”