Author Leah Vincent to speak at Monmouth County Library Headquarters

Come to Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan on Sunday, May 4 for a compelling discussion by author Leah Vincent.

Vincent will speak about her gripping memoir Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood. The talk will begin at 2 p.m. at Library Headquarters, 125 Symmes Drive in Manalapan 07726.

Vincent was born into the Yeshivish community, a fundamentalist sect of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. As the daughter of an influential rabbi, Vincent and her ten siblings were raised to worship two things: God and the men who ruled their world.

 But the tradition-bound future Vincent envisioned for herself was cut short when, at 16, she was caught exchanging letters with a male friend, a violation of religious law that forbids contact between members of the opposite sex. Vincent's parents were unforgiving -- they put her on a plane and cut off ties.

Cast out in New York City, without a father or husband tethering her to the Orthodox community, Vincent was unprepared to navigate the freedoms of secular life.

Fast-paced, mesmerizing, and brutally honest, Cut Me Loose tells the story of one woman's harrowing struggle to define herself as an individual.

Today, Leah Vincent is a writer and activist who holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to writing for various publications, she is an advocate for reform within ultra-Orthodoxy and for the empowerment of former ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking a self-determined life. She works with Footsteps, the only organization in the United States supporting formerly ultra-Orthodox individuals.

For more information, please call the Library at 732-431-7220 x7222, or click on the Library ‘s webpage at www.monmouthcountylib.org