Zalman Newfield holds a Ph.D. in sociology from NYU and is a lecturer for NJ-STEP, Rutgers University’s college program for New Jersey state prison inmates. He is currently working on two book projects, a memoir and a scholarly account of Hasidic exiters.
“Are you Jewish?” I would call out on street corners for hours as a Lubavitch teenager, asking passers-by, “Do you want to put on tefillin?” Now, some 25 years later, I can hardly relate to the teen standing on the corner in his black fedora hassling strangers. I thought of him recently when I was…
The recent Netflix documentary One of Us — which depicts the lives and tribulations of three Jews who are attempting to or have already left Hasidic Judaism — has led several commentators to reflect on the subject of those who leave the ultra-Orthodox community. One commentator, Anshel Pfeffer, who believes that there is currently a…
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