(7) The Evolving Orthodox and Haredi Worlds – Who is “Sliding” and In What Direction – with Professor Samuel C. Heilman

Baruch Lytle is an African American Orthodox Jew from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and he identifies as a Satmar Chasid. 

He describes his conversion to Judaism as the defining moment of his life and greatest accomplishment.  He is also an award-winning journalist, having written nearly 200 articles for the largest Jewish newspaper in America, The Jewish Press.   

In 2023, he won the Simon Rockower Award – the Jewish journalism version of the Pulitzer – for Excellence in Journalism. His favorite writing assignments deal with self- improvement, and he has worked extensively with the developmentally disabled at agencies throughout New York State. 

In this episode we discuss his personal religious journey, and some of the interesting issues in the Orthodox community that he has covered. 

Baruch and I also discussed our recent Orthodox Political survey, and I discussed the variations within Modern Orthodoxy and the “silo effect”: 

Report – A Survey of Orthodox Jewish Political Attitudes and Behaviors: Haredi and Modern Orthodox Sectors 

Article – Despite What Some Want to Believe, Modern Orthodoxy is Indeed Politically Split 

 Some of Baruch Lytle’s Jewish Press articles referenced in this podcast: 

Study Finds Frum Jews Financially Secure – And Stretched 

The State of Orthodox Singles: It's Complicated 

Interview with Middle East Intelligence Expert Avi Melamed 

Book Review: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Antisemitism 

In this episode, we first look at how Covid affected a shul and community, and we discuss with Rabbi Brander the creativity, innovations, and possible lasting changes that took place. 

We then discuss with a leading demographer the impact that Covid had on the Jewish community in terms of actual mortality and death statistics. While we are typically aware of things that happen within our community and within our families, there is only speculation as to how the community as a whole did. Dr. Staetsky will disclose his ground-breaking research on this topic. 

We want to hear from you, so you can contact us at this link to offer comments and questions about the Jewish community: http://bit.ly/areas-of-interest 

Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support. Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com). 

In this episode, we speak with Benyamin Cohen, news director at The Forward, author of “My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith,” named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly, “The Einstein Effect: How the World's Favorite Genius Got into Our Cars, Our Bathrooms, and Our Minds,” and a man of diverse and fascinating interests and explorations. 

 In our brief film discussion, I recommended “Fill the Void” as my favorite Jewish movie of the past decade. Check it out and let me know what you think. 

 In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we discuss some findings from our just-released report “The Nishma Research 2023 Jewish Community Profile” - Beliefs, Practices, Attitudes and Priorities Across the Jewish Community With a Focus on U.S. Modern Orthodox and Haredi (Chasidish and Yeshivish) Sectors. Specifically, we discuss how some communal priorities have shifted significantly in recent years, and how there are some significant priority differences between the Modern Orthodox and Haredi sectors. 

We want to hear from you, so you can contact us at this link to offer comments and questions about the Jewish community: http://bit.ly/areas-of-interest

Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support. Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com). 

In this episode, we speak with the noted Jewish world demographer Dr. Daniel Staetsky about population trends, particularly in the Haredi world. Dr. Staetsky is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (London), and has published widely on Jewish, Israeli and European demography and social statistics. He has written many popular columns in the Times of Israel. 

Many of the Orthodox community research studies we reference in this podcast are available and downloadable free at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html.  These include our recent article “Nishma V’Naaseh?” and our just-released report “The Nishma Research 2023 Jewish Community Profile” - Beliefs, Practices, Attitudes and Priorities Across the Jewish Community With a Focus on U.S. Modern Orthodox and Haredi (Chasidish and Yeshivish) Sectors. 

In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we answer a listener question that has been posed a few times, and we suggest that the question needs to be more nuanced if we were to pursue research on the issue raised. As presented to us: “Why does the Chasidic community refuse to provide a proper education for its students?” 

What Do You Want to Know? – We want to hear from you, so you can contact us at this link to offer comments as well as letting us know what questions you suggest we explore in future research: http://bit.ly/areas-of-interest 

 
Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support. 
 
Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com). 

In this episode, we speak with Prof. Naomi Seidman about people leaving Orthodoxy and the related stories, experiences and misconceptions. She shares what she personally learned in leaving her Haredi community, as well as the insights of many others.  

We also draw upon the 2016 study “Starting a Conversation: A Pioneering Survey of Those Who Have Left the Orthodox Community,” in which 885 people recounted their experiences, and we include some verbatim quotes from some of these people, explaining what motivated them and what they want the Orthodox community as a whole to know about their leaving. 

 Recommended: Prof. Seidman’s excellent limited (four episodes) podcast series, Heretic in the House, from the Shalom Hartman Institute.  

A couple of very worthwhile books are:  

Shulem Deen’s All Who Go Do Not Return, a National Jewish Book Award winner. 

Prof. Schneur Zalman Newfield’s Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. 

 In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we answer a question we are often asked … how many people are leaving Orthodoxy. We cite Rabbi Zvi Grumet’s 2018 study of high school graduates. 

Many of the Orthodox community research studies we reference in this podcast are available and downloadable free at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html.  

Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support. 
 
Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com).