Mazel tov

My Years with an Orthodox Jewish Family. Two different worlds, one friendship. An autobiographical account of a home tutor's experiences with an Orthodox Jewish family in Antwerp in the 1990s. Margot is an atheist and a feminist who lives with her Iranian boyfriend and studies languages. The Schneiders are an Orthodox Jewish family with four children. Margot needs to earn some extra money, and the Schneiders need a tutor for their children. So, one day, two completely different worlds collide. Margot starts to learn about concepts like Shabbat, Yom Kippur, meshuge, and treif, and thanks to the young student, the Schneiders begin to open up to the world far more than they had originally intended. It is Margot who teaches twelve-year-old Elzira to ride a bike and make friends. It is Margot who has adult discussions about politics with fourteen-year-old Jakov, but also starts a profitable business with him selling school essays. And it is Margot who, many years later, writes a brilliant autobiographical story that was named book of the year in Belgium and even touched the Belgian queen. Margot believes that the better we understand the way of life of Orthodox Jews, the more likely we are to accept them as our neighbours, friends, and colleagues, and not as 'those strange people dressed in black'.