Escaping My Religion Leah Vincent on the Katie Couric Show

octopus

Tue, Jun 04 2013, 9:01 pm

it is very sad that she felt cut off. there just seems to be so many gaps in the story. It can be true. fact is stranger than fiction. I just have a hard time believing the story because it's... bizarre.

b from nj

Tue, Jun 04 2013, 9:15 pm

I happened to be exercising at the time that the show was on & I got to see the girl who left the Westboro Church as well as Leah Vincent. I found it to be such a sad story, that she felt abandoned by her parents but sadly I can believe it b/c some parents think that it's best to kick kids out when they are questioning Judaism lest they don't influence the other siblings.

I would like to believe that I will always love my children even if I don't agree with their life choices. Of course, the ideal for me is that they WILL follow my derech but in reality children need to be allowed to find their own paths & sometimes our paths are not the ones that our children will want to follow for themselves, devastating as that may seem to us as parents but I think we still owe it to them to show them unconditional love & be there for them no matter what yet of course, it is easier said than done.

BlueRose52

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 12:21 am

I also found there to be curious gaps in her story, but I don't doubt that they can be filled in in way which would reveal more of the heartbreaking experience she had to endure. These shows give very limited time to explore a story and the person has to quickly summarize large parts of their life in quick, easily digestible nuggets to get enough of the story out. As she said, she's working on a memoir, so pretty soon the world will find out in all its gory details the unpleasantness she underwent in the name of Judaism.

MaBelleVie

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 12:37 am

octopus wrote:

I agree. I'm not one to bury my head in the sand regarding these issues, but this one strikes me as off.

HindaRochel

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 1:09 am

Usually I do find the stories not so complete, but the only real gap I saw in this story was how and where they abandoned her. It seems a bit odd that they'd bring her back to the USA then leave her at the airport.

The rest I just think is time (for the clip). Unless she is lying she is married, has a degree from Harvard, doesn't appear to have a big chip on her shoulder, nor does she seem interested in tearing down the community where she was born and raised.

Other women's stories have struck me as less true, or more vendetta; her's does not.

Moreover the response by the father claiming she was mentally ill not only was a fairly typical "dismiss her claims" type of response, but fits with the rest of her story where she stated her parents would have her locked up if she persisted in her desires. It is very possible they had her see a therapist to "correct" her thought processes.

MaBelleVie

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 1:28 am

Her experiences are not consistent with any sect that I'm familiar with. Based on her description, she sound more like the product of a dysfunctional family than of a dysfunctional system. And I say this while believing there are many others out there who *are* products of a dysfunctional system.

BlueRose52

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 2:45 am

MaBelleVie wrote:

Her experiences are not consistent with any sect that I'm familiar with.

Really? You never heard of frum communities that forbid attending college? It's really so hard to imagine frum parents who overreact when a daughter wears something tight fitting? Any you've never heard of parents bringing a child back from Israel who they fear is stepping out of line?

rainbow dash

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 2:56 am

Her story reminds me of an article in this wks Binah about a good girl who rebelled for just 2 weeks, after which she went back to being a good girl but unfortunately the rest of her live was defined by those 2 weeks.
The article is called Voices of Victory.

bamamama

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 3:19 am

rainbow dash wrote:

JOOC, what was the pshat of the story?

Bambamama

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 4:47 am

Obviously there are dysfunctional families (and systems as another mother pointed out) and possibly she came from such a family but her exaggerations make me think she's just joining the bandwagon of ex-Ultra Orthodox Jews for her 15 min. of fame, and book deal.

MaBelleVie

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 9:42 am

BlueRose52 wrote:

MaBelleVie wrote:

Her experiences are not consistent with any sect that I'm familiar with.

I was referring to the whole picture, not each individual experience. Those features are not characteristic of any one sect that I'm familiar with. Does anyone know her background?

(I actually don't know of any mentally stable parents who would bring a child home from seminary for buying a tight sweater.)

BlueRose52

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 10:17 am

Bambamama wrote:

What exactly are the exaggerations you're talking about? Do you know her story personally? If not, how do you know that what she's describing is an exaggeration?

BlueRose52

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 10:30 am

MaBelleVie wrote:

BlueRose52 wrote:

MaBelleVie wrote:

Her experiences are not consistent with any sect that I'm familiar with.

I was referring to the whole picture, not each individual experience. Those features are not characteristic of any one sect that I'm familiar with. Does anyone know her background?

Her background is yeshivish.

MaBelleVie wrote:

(I actually don't know of any mentally stable parents who would bring a child home from seminary for buying a tight sweater.)

Do you really think it was that simple? She didn't say that's what happened. She said the sweater incident spurred a major rift, which led to that. It's also quite likely that she was in general not acting as proper as they wanted (she did mention that she was "enjoying her independence").

Bambamama

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 10:35 am

BlueRose52 wrote:

Bambamama wrote:

What exactly are the exaggerations you're talking about? Do you know her story personally? If not, how do you know that what she's describing is an exaggeration?

I would have to review her "testimony" to tell you exactly, and I have no desire. But what comes to mind is how she fed into Katie Couric's question about what her parents meant that they would lock her up if she went to college. And she went on about how terrified she was. When that was hardly an imminent threat. She was 15.

Merrymom

Wed, Jun 05 2013, 10:35 am

Whatever she did wrong, you don't send a 16 year old to a foreign country and you don't kick a 17 year old (girl) out of the house. Imho her parents are responsible for her being raped.