Halakhic Change vs. Demographic Change

American Orthodoxy, British Orthodoxy, and the plight of Louis Jacobs

Bibliographic Data

ID12709296
AuthorsC I Waxman (0000-0002-4539-0271, Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume14
Issue1
Pages58-71
Publication date2015-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Modern Jewish Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1472-5886 • E-ISSN: 1472-5894
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14725886.2014.1000061
OpenAlexW1568906585
LanguageEN
References cited20

Many Orthodox Jews, especially the Ultra-Orthodox or “Haredim,” insist that both the Written and Oral Torah as we know them were given at Sinai and that any mention of halakhic development is heresy. This article seeks to highlight change in American Orthodox Judaism from the end of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twenty-first centuries. The first part deals with cultural change. A series of changes in the halakhah-related sphere that are deemed to be religiously acceptable in the halakhah-observant community are then presented. The issue of the influence of values on the halakhic decision-making process is briefly discussed, after which a number of possibilities—sociological and demographic—are raised as explanations of the basis for the then-Chief Rabbi Brodie's veto of the appointment of Rabbi Louis Jacobs as Principal of Jews’ College and his subsequent refusal to reappoint Jacobs as Minister of London's New West End Synagogue

Heresy · Judaism · Political science · Principal (computer security · Sociology · Theology · Torah · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

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