One must admit the truth: Reading the book by Esti Weinstein, a former adherent of Gur Hasidism who committed suicide in June after long years of separation from her ultra-Orthodox daughters, is exhausting and sometimes boring. From a purely literary angle, as prose “Do As He Wills” is an immature text. If it weren't for the sensational, tragic story behind it, it likely wouldn't attract many readers. This unusual tragedy is also the reason that many weeks after the text circulated on the internet free to everyone, large and renowned publisher Kinneret-Zmora-Bitan decided to publish it as nonfiction, edited by Shmuel Rosner. The story of Weinstein's life and suicide has enthralled Israelis.

Eight years ago, Weinstein left the Gur Hasidim, an ultra-Orthodox sect whose strict and forbidding regulations seem truly extreme to secular Israelis. Upon leaving the sect, Weinstein's ties with six of her daughters were severed because they remained Hasidic. Her one other daughter, Tammy Montag, left the sect, and ultimately saw to the publication of her late mother's text. Weinstein's separation from her daughters, enforced by the elders of the sect, led to her suicide, or so Weinstein's relatives claim. The Hasidim, who argue that they have been maligned in the media, contend that Weinstein abandoned her daughters and brought about her situation herself.

“We believe in the book,” Kinneret-Zmora-Bitan​ told Al-Monitor, “especially in light of its quick and immediate consumption by tens of thousands of people online, alongside the daughter's desire to fulfill Esti's will — that the book be brought to the awareness of the religious and secular public.”

Weinstein's text underwent very light editing and proofreading, and Montag wrote an introduction. “We published it as fast as possible, since the book and the event are in the public consciousness,” the publisher said.