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{{Short description|American-Israeli author and playwright}}
] ]
'''Naomi Ragen''' (born July 10, 1949) is an ]-]i ] author, playwright and ] activist. Ragen lives in ] and writes in English. A recurring theme in her fictional works is injustice against women in the ] Jewish community. She has been sued in Israel for ] three times, and was convicted twice.<ref></ref><ref name="cross-currents.com">http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2013/11/10/naomi-ragen-drops-plagiarism-appeal-claims-victory/</ref><ref>http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2014/11/27/judgment-rendered/</ref> Ragen maintained that she was being persecuted for her ]. '''Naomi Ragen''' ({{langx|he|נעמי רגן}}; born July 10, 1949) is an ]-]i modern-Orthodox Jewish author and playwright. Ragen lives in ], and writes in English. A recurring theme in her fictional works is injustice against women in the ] Jewish community. Ragen has been the subject of various lawsuits over claims of plagiarism.


== Biography == ==Biography==
Naomi Ragen (née Terlinsky) was born in ]. She received an Orthodox Jewish education before completing a ] in literature at ]. In 1971, she moved to Israel with her husband. In 1978, she received a master’s degree in literature from the ]. She has four children and lives in ]. Naomi Ragen (née Terlinsky) was born in ]. She received an Orthodox Jewish education before completing a ] in literature at ]. In 1971, she moved to Israel with her husband. In 1978, she received a master's degree in literature from the ].


She has four children and lives in ].
⚫ == Literary career ==

⚫ Ragen’s first three novels describe the lives of Haredi Jewish women in Israel and the United States, dealing with themes that had not previously been addressed in that society's literature: wife-abuse (''Jephte’s Daughter'': 1989), adultery (''Sotah'': 1992) and rape (''The Sacrifice of Tamar'': 1995). Reaction to these novels in the Orthodox and Haredi communities was mixed. Some hailed her as a pioneer for exposing problems which the communities had pretended did not exist, while others criticized her for "hanging out the dirty laundry" for all to see and for obsessively seeking to portray Haredi life negatively.
⚫ ==Literary career==
⚫ Ragen's first three novels describe the lives of Haredi Jewish women in Israel and the United States, dealing with themes that had not previously been addressed in that society's literature: wife-abuse (''Jephte's Daughter'': 1989), adultery (''Sotah'': 1992), and rape (''The Sacrifice of Tamar'': 1995).


Her next novel (''The Ghost of Hannah Mendes'': 1998) is the story of a ] family brought back from assimilation by the spirit of their ancestor ], a 16th-century ] ]. Her next novel (''The Ghost of Hannah Mendes'': 1998) is the story of a ] family brought back from assimilation by the spirit of their ancestor ], a 16th-century ] ].
Line 12: Line 15:
''Chains Around the Grass'' (2002) is a semi-autobiographical novel dealing with the failure of the ]. ''Chains Around the Grass'' (2002) is a semi-autobiographical novel dealing with the failure of the ].


In ''The Covenant'' (2004) Ragen deals with an ordinary family confronted with ]. In ''The Covenant'' (2004), Ragen deals with an ordinary family confronted with ].


''The Saturday Wife'' (2007), the story of a rabbi's wayward wife, is loosely based on ]’s ], and is a satire of modern Jewish Orthodoxy. ''The Saturday Wife'' (2007), the story of a rabbi's wayward wife, is loosely based on ]’s ], and is a satire of modern Jewish Orthodoxy.


''The Tenth Song'' (2010) is the story of a family whose life is shattered when a false accusation of terrorism is made against the father.<ref></ref> ''The Tenth Song'' (2010) is the story of a family whose life is shattered when a false accusation of terrorism is made against the father.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewishinstlouis.org/page.aspx?id=231950 |title=The Tenth Song |access-date=2013-04-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231160033/http://www.jewishinstlouis.org/page.aspx?id=231950 |archive-date=2010-12-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''The Sisters Weiss'' (2013) is a novel about two sisters born into an ultra-Orthodox family in 1950s Brooklyn who choose very different paths in life.


''The Sisters Weiss'' (2013) is a novel about two sisters born into an Orthodox family in 1950s Brooklyn. ''The Devil in Jerusalem'' (2015) is a mystery featuring Detective Bina Tzedek investigating a corrupt haredi cult rabbi.


''An Unorthodox Match'' (2019) a novel set in the ultraorthodox community of Boro Park, Brooklyn, in which a secular Jewish woman adopts a haredi lifestyle and marries a haredi widower.
''The Devil in Jerusalem'' (2015) is a mystery featuring Detective Bina Tzedek.


''An Observant Wife'' (2021) is a sequel to ''An Unorthdox Match''.
=== Theater ===
⚫ ''Women’s Minyan'' (2001) is a play about a Haredi woman fleeing from her adulterous and abusive husband. She finds that he has manipulated the rabbinical courts to deprive her of the right to see or speak to her twelve children. The story is based on a true incident.<ref>{{cite web|author= Esther Solomon|title=Sins of the husbands| url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/sins-of-the-husbands-1.204182| publisher=| work= Haaretz |date=2006-11-06 |access-date=2011-12-13}}</ref> ''Women’s Minyan'' ran for six years in ] (Israel's National Theatre) and has been staged in the United States, ] and ].


=== Columnist === ===Theater===
⚫ ''Women's Minyan'' (2001) is a play about a Haredi woman fleeing from her adulterous and abusive husband. She finds that he has manipulated the rabbinical courts to deprive her of the right to see or speak to her twelve children. The story is based on a true incident.<ref>{{cite web|author= Esther Solomon|title=Sins of the husbands| url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/sins-of-the-husbands-1.204182| work= Haaretz |date=2006-11-06 |access-date=2011-12-13}}</ref> ''Women’s Minyan'' ran for six years in ] (Israel's National Theatre) and has been staged in the United States, ] and ].
⚫ Ragen is also a ] for ].


== Lawsuits == ===Columnist===
⚫ Ragen was also a ] for '']''.
{{Overly detailed|date=January 2016|section=yes}}
⚫ In 2007, Michal Tal, an American-Israeli writer, claimed that lines and sentences contained in Tal's novel ''The Lion and the Cross'' were plagiarized in Naomi Ragen′s novel ''The Ghost of Hannah Mendes''.<ref>{{cite web|author= Dan Izenberg|title=Naomi Ragen denies plagiarism |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894498711&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull | work=Jerusalem Post|date=2007-02-23 |access-date=2011-12-13}}</ref> Tal died mid-trial, before a verdict was reached. The court set aside the unfinished trial with a provision that it could be reopened by Tal's descendants if they so desired in future.


==Plagiarism lawsuits==
On 11 December 2011, the Jerusalem District Court in a 92-page opinion by Judge ] upheld Sarah Shapiro′s plagiarism claim, ruling that Ragen′s "plagiarism was tantamount to a premeditated act;" that Ragen had knowingly copied from Shapiro's work in her novel ''Sotah,'' which shows “a resemblance in the subjects and motifs, resemblances in language and terminology, similarity and resemblance in dialogue, at times word for word, and cumulative violations."<ref name="JP249203">{{cite web|author= Ben Hartman |title=Court rules Naomi Ragen plagiarized in best-seller |url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=249203| publisher=| work= Jerusalem Post|date=2011-12-13 |access-date=2011-12-13}}</ref> Shapiro had asked for NIS 1 million in damages. The court gave the parties a month to negotiate compensation, and indicated it would decide at a later date re. copyright infringement.<ref name="Haaretz1.400891">{{cite news |author = Maya Sela|title = Jerusalem court finds author Naomi Ragen guilty of plagiarism|url = http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-court-finds-author-naomi-ragen-guilty-of-plagiarism-1.400891|work = Haaretz|date = 2011-12-12|access-date = 2011-12-13}}</ref>
===Michal Tal===
⚫ In 2007, Michal Tal, an American-Israeli writer, claimed that lines and sentences contained in Tal's novel ''The Lion and the Cross'' were plagiarized in Naomi Ragen's novel ''The Ghost of Hannah Mendes''.<ref>{{cite web |author=Dan Izenberg |title=Naomi Ragen denies plagiarism |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894498711&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |work=Jerusalem Post |date=2007-02-23 |access-date=2011-12-13 }}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Ragen vigorously denied the accusation and charged that Tal's "Table of Similarities" was riddled with fabricated quotes from both of the books. Tal died mid-trial, before a verdict was reached. The court set aside the unfinished trial with a provision that it could be reopened by Tal's descendants if they so desired in future. In 2010, Jerusalem District Court judge ] ruled that since Tal's descendants did not wish to continue with the litigation, the claim would be dismissed.<ref name=":0" /> In 2012, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled there was no basis to the claim.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/1.1610494|title=רגן נוקתה מתביעה קודמת על גניבה ספרותית|last=סלע|first=מיה|date=2012-01-06|newspaper=הארץ|language=he|access-date=2016-09-08}}</ref>


===Sarah Shapiro===
On 27 March 2012, Ragen and Shapiro reached a settlement. Ragen was ordered to pay Shapiro 233,000 NIS (over $62,500) for copyright infringement, an unprecedented amount in a plagiarism case in Israel.<ref>Cross-Currents Blog, March 28, 2012 http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2012/03/28/naomi-ragen-ordered-to-pay-233000-shch-for-plagiarism/</ref>
In 2007, Sarah Shapiro brought a claim against Ragen which alleged that Ragen had plagiarized from Shapiro's book ''Growing with My Children'' in her novel ''Sotah''.<ref name="Haaretz1.400891" /> Ragen acknowledged at the trial that she had read Shapiro's book two or three years before writing her own, but she had not copied the sentences and ideas.<ref name="toi2012" /> On 11 December 2011, Judge Shapira upheld the plagiarism claim.<ref name="JP249203">{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=249203|title=Court rules Naomi Ragen plagiarized in best-seller|date=2011-12-13|access-date=2011-12-13|author=Ben Hartman|work=Jerusalem Post}}</ref> Shapiro had asked for NIS 1 million in damages, and the court ordered the parties to negotiate the amount to be awarded. It also indicated it would decide at a later date the copyright infringement claim.<ref name="Haaretz1.400891">{{cite news |author = Maya Sela|title = Jerusalem court finds author Naomi Ragen guilty of plagiarism|url = http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-court-finds-author-naomi-ragen-guilty-of-plagiarism-1.400891|work = Haaretz|date = 2011-12-12|access-date = 2011-12-13}}</ref> On 27 March 2012, Ragen and Shapiro reached a settlement, and Ragen was ordered to pay Shapiro 233,000 ].<ref name="toi2012">{{cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/author-naomi-ragen-to-pay-nis-233000-for-plagiarism/|publisher=]|title=Author Naomi Ragen to pay NIS 233,000 for plagiarism|date=March 27, 2012|access-date=2016-02-04}}</ref>


In June 2012, Ragen appealed the District Court's decision in the Supreme Court, claiming that it set a precedent that would deny Israeli writers freedom of expression.<ref>Haaretz, July 5, 2012 http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-author-naomi-ragen-files-appeal-against-plagiarism-ruling-1.448905/</ref> In June 2012, Ragen appealed the District Court's decision to the Supreme Court, claiming that it set a precedent that would deny Israeli writers freedom of expression.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-author-naomi-ragen-files-appeal-against-plagiarism-ruling-1.448905/|title=Israeli Author Naomi Ragen Files Appeal Against Plagiarism Ruling|last=Sela|first=Maya|website=Haaretz|access-date=2016-09-08}}</ref> On 6 November 2013, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the District Court's judgment regarding Ragen's plagiarism. The Supreme Court judge requested that "for the sake of peace between the two parties", Shapiro's award be donated to a charity of Shapiro's choice, a request to which Shapiro acquiesced. Ragen still had to pay Shapiro's attorneys and Ragen is still subject to an injunction against reprinting ''Sotah'' without removing all plagiarized text, an approximate total of 25 sentences.<ref name="Supreme">{{Cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173699#.Unq3sySE4kN|title=Supreme Court: Naomi Ragen to Delete Disputed Sentences|website=Israeli National News|date=6 November 2013 |access-date=2016-09-08}}</ref> Shapiro chose to donate the 97,000 shekels personal award, not including Ragen's payment of Shapiro's legal costs, to ] and ].<ref name="Supreme"/>


===Sudy Rosengarten===
On 6 November 2013, the Israeli Supreme Court accepted a settlement between Ragen and Shapiro which did not overturn the original verdict of the District Court's decision, but which sought nonetheless a "softening" of the financial aspect of the settlement. Shapiro was asked by the Supreme Court, "for the sake of peace and good feeling between the parties" to donate her personal winnings to one or two charities of her choice, as the condition for Naomi Ragen's dropping of the Supreme Court appeal. To the media Ragen claimed victory,<ref>Walla, November 6, 2013 http://e.walla.co.il/?w=/6/2692498&m=1</ref> although it was Ragen who lost 233,000 shekels to Shapiro and who paid Shapiro's attorneys and court costs. Ragen is still subject to an injunction against reprinting her book ''Sotah'' without removing all plagiarized text, a total of 25 phases.<ref>http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173699#.Unq3sySE4kN</ref><ref name="cross-currents.com" /> As requested by the Supreme Court, Shapiro donated the 97,000 shekels awarded her for personal damages, not including Ragen's payment of Shapiro's legal costs, to ] and ], two charity organizations.<ref name="cross-currents.com" />
In November 2014, Ragen was found liable for plagiarism for copying content from Sudy Rosengarten's short story "A Marriage Made in Heaven" which had been published in "The Our Lives Anthology" edited by Sarah Shapiro.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=21449|title=Author Naomi Ragen loses plagiarism suit|last=Harel|first=Zvi|work=Israel Hayom|access-date=2016-08-09}}</ref> Ragen had claimed that she had only used Rosengarten's work as literary inspiration, and that the few sentence fragments at issue constituted an insignificant portion of her full length novel.<ref name=":1" /> Ragen was ordered to pay 73,000 NIS to Rosengarten.<ref name=":1" />


== References == ==References==
{{Reflist}} {{Reflist}}


== External links == ==External links==
* * {{Official website|http://www.naomiragen.com/}}


{{Authority control}} {{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. -->
| NAME = Ragen, Naomi
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American writer
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1949-07-10
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ragen, Naomi}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ragen, Naomi}}
⚫ ]
⚫ ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
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⚫ ]
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⚫ ]
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Latest revision as of 06:21, 1 November 2024

American-Israeli author and playwright
Naomi Ragen

Naomi Ragen (Hebrew: נעמי רגן; born July 10, 1949) is an American-Israeli modern-Orthodox Jewish author and playwright. Ragen lives in Jerusalem, and writes in English. A recurring theme in her fictional works is injustice against women in the Haredi Jewish community. Ragen has been the subject of various lawsuits over claims of plagiarism.

Biography

Naomi Ragen (née Terlinsky) was born in New York City. She received an Orthodox Jewish education before completing a bachelor's degree in literature at Brooklyn College. In 1971, she moved to Israel with her husband. In 1978, she received a master's degree in literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She has four children and lives in Jerusalem.

Literary career

Ragen's first three novels describe the lives of Haredi Jewish women in Israel and the United States, dealing with themes that had not previously been addressed in that society's literature: wife-abuse (Jephte's Daughter: 1989), adultery (Sotah: 1992), and rape (The Sacrifice of Tamar: 1995).

Her next novel (The Ghost of Hannah Mendes: 1998) is the story of a Sephardic family brought back from assimilation by the spirit of their ancestor Gracia Mendes, a 16th-century Portuguese crypto-Jew.

Chains Around the Grass (2002) is a semi-autobiographical novel dealing with the failure of the American dream.

In The Covenant (2004), Ragen deals with an ordinary family confronted with Islamic terrorism.

The Saturday Wife (2007), the story of a rabbi's wayward wife, is loosely based on Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, and is a satire of modern Jewish Orthodoxy.

The Tenth Song (2010) is the story of a family whose life is shattered when a false accusation of terrorism is made against the father.

The Sisters Weiss (2013) is a novel about two sisters born into an ultra-Orthodox family in 1950s Brooklyn who choose very different paths in life.

The Devil in Jerusalem (2015) is a mystery featuring Detective Bina Tzedek investigating a corrupt haredi cult rabbi.

An Unorthodox Match (2019) a novel set in the ultraorthodox community of Boro Park, Brooklyn, in which a secular Jewish woman adopts a haredi lifestyle and marries a haredi widower.

An Observant Wife (2021) is a sequel to An Unorthdox Match.

Theater

Women's Minyan (2001) is a play about a Haredi woman fleeing from her adulterous and abusive husband. She finds that he has manipulated the rabbinical courts to deprive her of the right to see or speak to her twelve children. The story is based on a true incident. Women’s Minyan ran for six years in Habima (Israel's National Theatre) and has been staged in the United States, Canada and Argentina.

Columnist

Ragen was also a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.

Plagiarism lawsuits

Michal Tal

In 2007, Michal Tal, an American-Israeli writer, claimed that lines and sentences contained in Tal's novel The Lion and the Cross were plagiarized in Naomi Ragen's novel The Ghost of Hannah Mendes. Ragen vigorously denied the accusation and charged that Tal's "Table of Similarities" was riddled with fabricated quotes from both of the books. Tal died mid-trial, before a verdict was reached. The court set aside the unfinished trial with a provision that it could be reopened by Tal's descendants if they so desired in future. In 2010, Jerusalem District Court judge Yosef Shapira ruled that since Tal's descendants did not wish to continue with the litigation, the claim would be dismissed. In 2012, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled there was no basis to the claim.

Sarah Shapiro

In 2007, Sarah Shapiro brought a claim against Ragen which alleged that Ragen had plagiarized from Shapiro's book Growing with My Children in her novel Sotah. Ragen acknowledged at the trial that she had read Shapiro's book two or three years before writing her own, but she had not copied the sentences and ideas. On 11 December 2011, Judge Shapira upheld the plagiarism claim. Shapiro had asked for NIS 1 million in damages, and the court ordered the parties to negotiate the amount to be awarded. It also indicated it would decide at a later date the copyright infringement claim. On 27 March 2012, Ragen and Shapiro reached a settlement, and Ragen was ordered to pay Shapiro 233,000 NIS.

In June 2012, Ragen appealed the District Court's decision to the Supreme Court, claiming that it set a precedent that would deny Israeli writers freedom of expression. On 6 November 2013, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the District Court's judgment regarding Ragen's plagiarism. The Supreme Court judge requested that "for the sake of peace between the two parties", Shapiro's award be donated to a charity of Shapiro's choice, a request to which Shapiro acquiesced. Ragen still had to pay Shapiro's attorneys and Ragen is still subject to an injunction against reprinting Sotah without removing all plagiarized text, an approximate total of 25 sentences. Shapiro chose to donate the 97,000 shekels personal award, not including Ragen's payment of Shapiro's legal costs, to Yad Eliezer and Yad Sarah.

Sudy Rosengarten

In November 2014, Ragen was found liable for plagiarism for copying content from Sudy Rosengarten's short story "A Marriage Made in Heaven" which had been published in "The Our Lives Anthology" edited by Sarah Shapiro. Ragen had claimed that she had only used Rosengarten's work as literary inspiration, and that the few sentence fragments at issue constituted an insignificant portion of her full length novel. Ragen was ordered to pay 73,000 NIS to Rosengarten.

References

  1. "The Tenth Song". Archived from the original on 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
  2. Esther Solomon (2006-11-06). "Sins of the husbands". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  3. Dan Izenberg (2007-02-23). "Naomi Ragen denies plagiarism". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  4. ^ סלע, מיה (2012-01-06). "רגן נוקתה מתביעה קודמת על גניבה ספרותית". הארץ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  5. ^ Maya Sela (2011-12-12). "Jerusalem court finds author Naomi Ragen guilty of plagiarism". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  6. ^ "Author Naomi Ragen to pay NIS 233,000 for plagiarism". The Times of Israel. March 27, 2012. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
  7. Ben Hartman (2011-12-13). "Court rules Naomi Ragen plagiarized in best-seller". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  8. Sela, Maya. "Israeli Author Naomi Ragen Files Appeal Against Plagiarism Ruling". Haaretz. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  9. ^ "Supreme Court: Naomi Ragen to Delete Disputed Sentences". Israeli National News. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  10. ^ Harel, Zvi. "Author Naomi Ragen loses plagiarism suit". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 2016-08-09.

External links

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