Ep. 20 Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman: Abby Chava Stein

Have a Blessed Gay

Welcome to Have a Blessed Gay, your weekly spiritual-comedy podcast! Join holy host, Tyler Martin, as he critically discusses social norms, current events, mental health, religion, and spirituality from an outcast's perspective. In this episode, Tyler talks with Abby Stein, a Jewish educator, writer, speaker, and activist. She was born and raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Abby was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity -- a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life. In 2012, she left the Hasidic world, and In 2015 she came out as a woman of trans experience. Since coming out, she has been working to raise support and awareness for trans rights and those leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy. Her story has been covered all over the world, including in the New York Times, New York Post, New York Magazine, and Vogue. She’s also made live appearances on CNN, NBC, ShowTime, and NowThis, just to name a few. Today she lives in New York City, now a graduate of Columbia University, and an English speaker, her 4th language. They chat about her beautiful book, Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, her life while in the Hasidic community, how she creatively rebelled against it until she eventually left, and how she acclimatized to a new life. Please enjoy this awesome discussion!

Guest: Abby Chava Stein

Social Media: @abbychavastein

Website: https://thesecondtransition.blogspot.com/

Abby’s Book: Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/becoming-eve-my-journey-from-ultra-orthodox-rabbi-to-transgender-woman/9781580059169

The Strand: https://www.strandbooks.com/product/9781580059169?title=becoming_eve_my_journey_from_ultraorthodox_rabbi_to_transgender_woman

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/becoming-eve-abby-chava-stein/1130777534?ean=9781580059169

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Your Host: Tyler Martin

Instagram: @tylerisaacmartin

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