Authentically Orthodox: A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life

by Zev Eleff

With a fresh perspective, Authentically A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life challenges the current historical paradigm in the study of Orthodox Judaism and other tradition-bound faith communities in the United States.Paying attention to "lived religion," the book moves beyond sermons and synagogues and examines the webs of experiences mediated by any number of American cultural forces. With exceptional writing, Zev Eleff lucidly explores Orthodox Judaism's engagement with Jewish law, youth culture and gender, and how this religious group has been affected by its indigenous environs. To do this, the book makes ample use of archives and other previously unpublished primary sources.

Eleff explores the curious history of Passover peanut oil and the folkways and foodways that battled in this culinary arena to both justify and rebuff the validity of this healthier substitute for other fatty ingredients. He looks at the Yeshiva University quiz team's fifteen minutes of fame on the nationally televised College Bowl program and the unprecedented pride of young people and youth culture in the burgeoning Modern Orthodox movement. Another chapter focuses on the advent of women's prayer groups as an alternative to other synagogue experiences in Orthodox life and the vociferous opposition it received on the grounds that it was motivated by "heretical" religious and social movements. Whereas past monographs and articles argue that these communities have moved right toward a conservative brand of faith, Eleff posits that Orthodox Judaism―like other like-minded religious enclaves―ought to be studied in their American religious contexts.

The microhistories examined in Authentically Orthodox are some of the most exciting and understudied moments in American Jewish life and will hold the interest of scholars and students of American Jewish history and religion.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism

311 pages, Paperback

Published November 10, 2020

Reviews

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun compilation of historical events that became defining moments of American orthodox Judaism. Eleff does a delightful job of weaving stories with history, primary source research, and large overlying themes to help us understand how American (modern) orthodoxy arrived to the 21st century. It is really a series of individual essays, each of which could be read on its own, weaved together to explain how Judaism adapted to America and how the dialectic of strict orthodoxy interweaved with modernity and exogenous shocks.

The chapters covered the rise and fall of the Rambam School, an attempt to build a modern orthodox K-12 in Baltimore; How the Bat Mitzvah, once shunned in Orthodoxy, became a standard (including stories about the first Bat Mitzvah at Lincoln Square, Elana Kagan, supreme court justice; The creation of the Bracha Bee to compete with the American Spelling Bea, which mentions perennial powerhouse Torah Academy of Greater Philadelphia; when wearing a Yamulke at all times became a mandatory show of affiliation for Orthodox Jews (something it never was), including on the basketball court; and many other fun stories and interesting tidbits.

The central ideas include: 1) faith groups, such as Orthodox Judaism, have navigated change by balancing their religious practices with various aspects of American culture, oscillating between embracing certain external customs and rejecting others; 2) Americans from diverse backgrounds seek what they perceive as genuine forms of life and culture, meaning that we should perceive Orthodoxy both as unique and similar to other evolving religious and cultural shifts happening in America.

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a set of well-written essays about American Orthodox Judaism- in particular, about how Orthodox Jews decide what is appropriate when there is no well-settled rule telling them what to do. For example, one essay discusses the rise of the bat mitzvah- an institution that began with Conservative rabbis and spread to first to the "Orthodox frontier" (areas outside New York that were dominated by non-Orthodox Jews) and later to the Orthodox heartland of New York City. On the other hand, Orthodox rabbis continue to be more hostile to innovations that seemed to threaten male domination of prayer spaces, such as women's prayer groups.

However, some passages were unnecessarily judgmental towards more right-wing Orthodox Jews; the book uses the word "rigid" more than once. And I thought that an early essay on peanut oil (which most rabbis once regarded as kosher for Passover, but which is now less widely viewed as acceptable) misses an important part of the story: Eleff focuses on the rise of strict Hungarian customs, but doesn't mention that there are lots of other oils that are kosher for Passover. As a result, Orthodox Jews are more willing than they were in the 1940s to accept strict rulings on this narrow issue. (By contrast, in the 1940s peanut oil was, according to Eleff, the major alternative to chicken fat).

Despite these imperfections, Eleff's essays support the core of his argument: rather than consistently becoming more strict, Orthodoxy has become more acculturated to American life in some ways, and stricter in other ways.

[Shari (Shira) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating analysis of trends and issues in Orthodox Judaism in the United States

[Devorah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew the history of peanut oil in America could be so much fun and laden with such nuance inside the various Jewish Orthodox Communities? This was an informative and entertaining read.