Research Catalog

Title

• ‏Hidden heretics = באהאלטענע אפיקורסים : Jewish doubt in the digital age / Ayala Fader.
• Hidden heretics = Bahalṭene apiḳorsim : Jewish doubt in the digital age / Ayala Fader.

Author

Fader, Ayala, 1964-

Publication

• Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2020]
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 270 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

"This book concerns a cohort of Ultra-Orthodox Jews based in the greater New York area who, while retaining membership and close familial and other ties with their strictly observant communities, seek out secular knowledge about the world on the down low (so to speak), both online and via in-person encounters. Ayala Fader conducted her ethnographic research in these rarified social circles for years, developing relationships of trust with the mostly young married men and women who have taken to clandestine methods to find alternative social spaces in which to question what it means to be ethical and what a life of self-fulfillment looks like. Fader's book reveals the stresses and strains that such "double-lifers" experience, including the difficulty these life choices inject into relationships with wives, husbands, and one's children. Not all of these "double-lifers" become atheists. Fader's interlocutors can be placed on a broad spectrum ranging from religiously observant but open-minded at one end to atheism on the other. The rabbinical leadership of these ultra-orthodox communities are well aware of this phenomenon and of how unfiltered Internet access makes such alternative forms of seeking an ever-present temptation. (Some Ultra-Orthodox rabbis have been sounding the alarm for years, claiming that the Internet represents more of a threat to community survival today than the Holocaust did in the last century.) Fader's book examines the institutional responses of Ultra-Orthodox communities to the double-lifers. These include what is typically referred to as a Torah-based type of "religious therapy" conducted by trained members of these communities who as therapists and "life coaches" blend elements of modern psychiatry with Ultra-Orthodoxy and "treat" troubling, potentially life-altering doubt and skepticism as symptoms of underlying emotional pathology"--

Series Statement

Princeton studies in culture and technology

Uniform Title

Princeton studies in culture and technology.

Alternative Title

• ‏באהאלטענע אפיקורסים
• Bahalṭene apiḳorsim

Subjects

• Ultra-Orthodox Jews
• Judaism and secularism
• History
• 2000-2099
• New York (State) > New York
• Internet > Religious aspects > Judaism
• Social media > Religious aspects > Judaism
• Ultra-Orthodox Jews > Relations > Non-traditional Jews
• Ultra-Orthodox Jews > New York (State) > New York > History > 21st century
• Judaism and secularism > New York (State) > New York
• Ultra-Orthodox Jews > Cultural assimilation > New York (State) > New York

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-260) and index.

Contents

1. Life-changing doubt, the Internet, and a crisis of authority -- Part I: 2. The Jewish blogosphere and the heretical counterpublic -- 3. Ultra-Orthodox rabbis verses the Internet -- Part II: 4. The morality of a married double life -- 5. The treatment of doubt -- 6. Double-life worlds -- 7. Family secrets -- 8. Endings and beginnings -- Appendix: What you need to know about Ultra-Orthodox Jewish languages.

Call Number

JFE 21-3096

ISBN

• 9780691169903
• 069116990X

LCCN

2020001342

OCLC

1125977351

Author

Fader, Ayala, 1964- author.

Title

Hidden heretics = Bahalṭene apiḳorsim : Jewish doubt in the digital age / Ayala Fader.

Alternate Script for Title

Hidden heretics = באהאלטענע אפיקורסים : Jewish doubt in the digital age / Ayala Fader.

Publisher

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2020]

Copyright Date

©2020

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Princeton studies in culture and technology

Princeton studies in culture and technology.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-260) and index.

Local Note

AUTH: FORDHAM UNIVERSITY. ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITIES

Chronological Term

2000-2099

Research Call Number

JFE 21-3096