Rochel’s discontent with Lubavitch’s stringent customs led her to join other questioners at an infamous 888 Montgomery St. apartment, where poets would recite verses as a joint made its way around the room. Finding others who also questioned Lubavitch saved Rochel from a dangerous bout with depression that nearly ended in suicide, Levine says. The options for such questioners are not many.

“If you breached basic expectations...if you didn’t believe, if you lost faith and expressed it, forget it,” Levine says. “You’re out of there.”

The risqué nature of many of Levine’s findings would be enough to taint the girls’ reputations permanently. When writing the book she thus took on a precautionary approach, changing names, addresses and other small details to ensure that none of the girls’ true identities would be given away.

“It was a big challenge, because on the one hand, there’s a lot of juicy stuff in this book. On the other hand, the more juicy it is, the more dangerous it is for the girls,” Levine says. She boasts with a big smile on her face that someone has yet to guess any of the girls’ identities correctly.

Though previous books like Reviving Ophelia have worked at exploring female adolescence in all its messy glory, Levine’s is the first to focus specifically on the subculture of Hasidic girls. Like the Lubavitchers who believe that all thoughts and acts are worthy of attention due to its ability to bring the Messiah closer, Levine believes that cultures and people who are “different” from the mainstream of American life are worthy of study.

“We can all learn from the [Lubavitch] notion that we are very important; our thought, individual selves are very important,” Levine says. “We’re all worthy of scrutiny.”