Leah Lax (born 1955 or 1956) is an American author and
librettist.[1] She is best known for her memoir Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home which was later developed as an opera with composer
Lori Laitman.[2][3]
Her interest in writing started while reading anthologies by feminist and lesbian poet
Adrienne Rich.[9] Lax started writing in earnest after she underwent a secret abortion to terminate a life-threatening pregnancy.[10] In 2007 Lax co-wrote The Refuge for the
Houston Grand Opera with composer
Christopher Theofanidis debuted at Houston's
Wortham Center.[11] In 2013, she created and designed Houston's In Concert Against Hate for the
Houston Symphony In collaboration with the
Anti-Defamation League,[12] In 2020, Lax created an opera Uncovered with composer
Lori Laitman and director/dramatist Beth Greenberg.[3] Lax wrote the libretto based on her memoir Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home,[13] narrating thirty years as a
Hasidic wife, mother, and closeted lesbian.[14][15]
^Pfefferman, Naomi (September 2, 2015).
"Author Leah Lax: A lesbian girl in an Orthodox world". Jewish Journal. Retrieved June 14, 2024. In 1975, Leah Lax – 19 and relatively new to Orthodoxy – walked with trepidation into the office of her Orthodox rabbi at the University of Texas at Austin.