Yom Kippur a Go-Go: A Memoir

By Matthue Roth

Yom Kippur A Go-Go is a mind-blowing meeting of pop culture, Orthodox faith, and hipster poetics. Matthue Roth is an American original: an Orthodox Jew who cites Outkast and Michelle Tea among his influences, who won’t touch a light switch on Shabbos but mimics a screaming orgasm onstage while reading his paean to Orthodox girls. From the World Bank riots (what can you do when the revolution starts on Shabbos?) to Thursday night tranny basketball in San Francisco’s Dolores Park, Matthue takes readers on a journey among the queer and hip streets of urban America in his exuberant memoir, Yom Kippur a Go-Go. With humor and insight, Roth describes the tension between contemporary life and the demands of faith. He falls in love and in lust with a panoply of girls, both strictly kosher and determinedly secular, to the accompaniment of MP3 rabbinical lectures on modesty (“Boys are nothing but perverts and filthy animals!”).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cleis Press
• Release date: Apr 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781573446419

Matthue Roth

Matthue Roth's first novel, Never Mind the Goldbergs, was named a Best Book for the Teen Age by the New York Public Library and a Popular Paperback in Religion by the ALA. He's also written a memoir, Yom Kippur a Go-Go, a supermodel spy caper, Candy in Action, and a Russian Jewish hacker mystery, Losers. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, and he's a Hasidic Jew.

Reviews for Yom Kippur a Go-Go

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A memoir about pursuing poetry, punk rock and Orthodox Judaism. I really liked this book, and Matthue, to begin with, but as time went on I get a bit bothered by his dealings with girls. Specifically, his desire to have relationships without touching—even hand holding is supposed to be out. He’s a cool guy—articulate, passionate and clearly a deep thinker—and I liked his friends and their oddities. In the end, though, I was still uncomfortable with his faith, and sad that he put so much effort into praying every day and so little in convincing the more conservative members of his synagogue that being queer was ok.