I Uncovered an Incredible Book

I never knew about Leah Lax, but I picked up her memoir Uncovered in a box in my neighborhood and absolutely enjoyed learning about her through this book published a decade ago.

Leah, born as Lisa to a Jewish family in Dallas that belonged to Congregation Emanu-El. This is a very large congregation that was formed in 1876. Her mother was an artist, and her father was mentally ill ultimately. She had two sisters, one older and one younger. I have been unable to determine her last name at birth.

I have been scared of orthodox Judaism for a long time, though I am not anti-semitic at all. All very conservative religions scare me. I appreciate religion, but I would like to see it unite rather than divide. Well, Lax, who will turn 70 soon, became Hasidic by choice at a very young age in her teens. Living in Dallas made practicing this form of Judaism very difficult, but she went to St. Paul in Minnesota to learn more about it and of course Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

Leah Lax was very much into her form of Judaism, and she tells in the book about marrying her husband at a very young age and having 7 kids. As a Houstonian, I was shocked to learn that she and her family lived in Houston. She does a good job in the book of explaining the challenges of raising a family under Hasidic rules in Houston.

One of the best books about the challenges of Hasidism that I ever read was Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, by Abby Stein, written in 2019 and read by me in 2022 after my tragedy. Leah too has done a remarkable job of migrating her life and communicating the story. She transitioned herself as a lesbian, and she is now married to a woman.

She earned a MFA from the University of Houston and has written fiction, composed opera. Kudos to Leah Lax for being bold enough and adventurous enough to try different things.