Beyond Sectarianism: The Realignment of American Orthodox Judaism

• In Event: American Haredi Orthodoxy in Transition

Abstract

Until the mid-twentieth century, most researchers of American Jewry relegated the Orthodox segment to no more than a dwindling and insignificant remnant of traditional Eastern European Jewish life. The year 1965 marked a turning point. In a path breaking investigation entitled "Orthodoxy in American Jewish Life," a young social scientist named Charles S. Liebman not only undermined the prevailing approach, but spawned a new sub-discipline that has since garnered considerable scholarly and popular interest.
Twenty-first century American Orthodoxy continues to grow in geographical, institutional, and political strength, and a generation of outstanding academics has deepened understanding of this stream dramatically. In as far as demographics are concerned the 2013 Pew Survey of U.S. Jewry demonstrates that all denominations declined in comparison to the growth of unaffiliated Jews, but the Orthodox unequivocally had the highest retention rate. Moreover, Orthodoxy is the only denomination whose younger members (under 50) have higher rates of retention of their religious identities than their older counterparts. Thus, unless there is a dramatic reverse in the current trends, it would appear that Orthodoxy’s place among the active and strongly connected American Jewish population will only expand in the coming decades.
Despite the proliferation of scholarship, Liebman's once "revolutionary" understand of American Orthodoxy’s character and divisions, remains the accepted view of the ongoing trajectory of this Jewish stream. The crucial contention of this paper is that one of his principle understandings, the sharp division of American Orthodoxy between church-like Modern Orthodoxy and sectarian Haredi Orthodoxy, needs to be reassessed in light of events and new initiatives that arose particularly from the 1990s.

author

• Adam S. Ferziger, Bar-Ilan University