Wednesday, November 18, 2015
I left Hasidism to become a woman
A man descended from a Hasidic "dynasty" is transitioning into a woman — enraging members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community she left behind.
Srully Stein — who now goes by Abby — recently came out as a woman and said she's finally living as her true self — something she said was impossible to do growing up in her restrictive household in Brooklyn.
"In the community that I was raised in, Trans did not exist, neither was it ever discussed," the 24-year-old writes in her blog.
"I was therefore convinced that I have to be crazy, and that I have to get this 'stupidity' of feeling like a girl, out of my head."
Stein — who some say has "royal blood" coursing through her veins because of her grandfather, the prominent Rabbi Mordechai Stein — began hormone replacement therapy Sept. 4.
The results have been "amazing," she kvelled.
"The road is long, but with the support of some amazing friends and professionals, for the first time in my life I feel like I am getting to be my real self," she wrote in a recent post, which received more than 20,000 hits in just a couple days.
Stein's roots trace back to Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, believed to be the founder of the Hasidic Judaism.
Her grandfather, Mordechai, was born in Fălticeni, Romania, and her father was born in Israel.
Her ancestors are part of several Hasidic sects, her grandfather's mother was part of the Twersky family, a "very famous" old dynasty from the Ukraine, she said.
Stein recently broke the news to her father — and hasn't heard from him since.
"I think right now it's shock more than anything," Stein told The Post. "He doesn't know what to do."
Others took to social media to spew hate-filled messages about her transition.
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