It is some time now since I began writing this blog, but as far as I remember I have never written a book review here. And the present post is not exactly a book review either, but some thoughts about an excellent book I have just finished reading. The book is Becoming Un-Orthodox: Stories of Ex-Hasidic Jews (Oxford University Press, 2015), by Lynn Davidman, a sociologist on the faculty of the University of Kansas. Her book is based on depth interviews with a number of individuals who defected from very compact Haredi communities in America. Davidman states upfront that precisely this defection is part of her own biography. This is unusual for sociologists, who typically prefer to approach their research wearing the surgical mask of scientific objectivity. In this case dropping the mask does not detract from the objectivity of the research—Davidman manages to use her personal experience to establish empathy with her subjects, then steps back with all the objectivity of an observer of a tribe to which she has never belonged. The book is an example of qualitative sociology at its best—which means that it is close to good ethnography.
“Haredi” (plural “Haredim”) is a Hebrew word meaning “one who trembles” – in this case trembles before God. This is a term used by those who belongs to this branch of Judaism; outsiders often refer to them as “Ultra-Orthodox”, a term which has a pejorative undertone. Haredim don’t think that they are “ultra”-anything; they consider themselves as being the most genuine Jews – it is other Jews who are “ultra” in the sense of being outside normative Judaism. Davidman distinguishes between two distinct types of Haredim—the “Yeshivish” (a Yiddish word denoting individuals who practice traditional Judaism in the manner of yeshivas (religious schools), and the Hasidim who derive from the mighty wave of charismatic Judaism in 18th-century eastern Europe, and who are still named after the European towns where they originated (Lubavitcher, Satmer, and so on). Both types of Haredim are distinctly different from the so-called Modern Orthodox, who are quite strict in their observance but interact much more freely with the larger American society. A rough Christian comparison would be Yeshivish/strictly Calvinist Presbyterians, Hasidim/”Pentecostalized”charismatic Presbyterians, Modern Orthodox/mildly conservative mainline Presbyterians. (All comparisons limp. But I’m impressed by the fact that every religious community in America ends up with different denominations—probably because of the powerful combination of religious pluralism and religious freedom. Thus the customary enumeration of Jewish denominations as Orthodox, Conservative and Reform is much too simple. The Orthodox category, as just outlined, is not at all homogenous. Actually, each Hasidic sect, led by a charismatic rebbe (Yiddish for rabbi) could be considered a sort of denomination, with each school periodically ready to excommunicate all the others.)
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