American Orthodox Jewish outreach through higher education : three strategies for fashioning a post-Holocaust Judaism
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation charts three strategies undertaken by American Orthodox Jews to fashion a Judaism for the newly college educated Jewish masses in the decades following the Holocaust. By examining the ways in which modern Orthodox, Chabad Hassidim, and Haredi Jews turned to the language, structures, and institutions of American higher education to secure a place for Judaism in American life, this thesis uncovers the ways in which each group reimagined their underlying ideological frameworks for a new context and new audience. The analysis begins with the mid-century expansion of Yeshiva University, specifically the founding of the James Striar School, the first Orthodox residential college (yeshiva) designed for newly or prospective Orthodox Jews (ba'alei teshuva). It takes up the intellectual work of the school's founder, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin, and its director, Rabbi Morris Besdin, in reorienting an institution of higher education for religious purposes. The second example delves into the growth of para-university religious houses, specifically the Chabad House. Designed by Rabbi Shlomo Cunin and theologically informed from the teachings of sacred Chabad texts as marshaled by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Chabad House offered a counter-cultural religious message intentionally deployed at the margins of campus and society. The third instance attends to the institution of science -- specifically mathematical statistics -- in the research program and pedagogical efforts of the seminary Aish HaTorah. By examining the writings and lectures of the school's founder, Rabbi Noah Weinberg, in the larger context of Aish's outreach program, this study reveals how research institutions can be imagined and appropriated as a means of reviving the Jewish faith. At stake in the efforts of each sub-denomination is a bold claim on the mantle of authenticity of Jewish tradition. Such commitment to conservation compelled the development and authorization of creative hermeneutical link between these theological and institutional innovations to historical and scriptural origins. This intense engagement with higher education in three different forms illuminates the epistemological contours of a conservative American religion in the decades following the twin existential crises of the Holocaust and the ascension of a twentieth-century American secularism.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Williams, Matthew Casey |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Willinsky, John, 1950- |
| Thesis advisor | Willinsky, John, 1950- |
| Thesis advisor | Mayse, Evan |
| Thesis advisor | Zipperstein, Steve E |
| Degree committee member | Mayse, Evan |
| Degree committee member | Zipperstein, Steve E |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Graduate School of Education |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Matthew C. Williams. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Graduate School of Education. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/rn626wg3801 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by Matthew Casey Williams
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
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