American shtetl : the making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic village in upstate New York / Nomi M. Stolzenberg, David N. Myers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stolzenberg, Nomi M., author.

Myers, David N., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Politics and government.

Jews.

Kiryas Joel (N.Y.)--History--20th century.

Kiryas Joel (N.Y.).

Kiryas Joel (N.Y.)--History--21st century.

Kiryas Joel (N.Y.)--Social life and customs.

New York (State)--Kiryas Joel.

Teitelbaum, Joel.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (497 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Summary:

A compelling account of how a group of Hasidic Jews established its own local government on American soilSettled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York. While rejecting the norms of mainstream American society, Kiryas Joel has been stunningly successful in creating a world apart by using the very instruments of secular political and legal power that they disavow.Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of daily life in Kiryas Joel, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic norms. They delve into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, following his journey from nineteenth-century Hungary to post–World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of founding an ideal Jewish town modeled on the shtetls of eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers chart the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They show how constant legal and political battles defined and even bolstered the community, whose very success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years.Timely and accessible, American Shtetl unravels the strands of cultural and legal conflict that gave rise to one of the most vibrant religious communities in America, and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation.

Contents:

Epilogue: Leaving Kiryas Joel

Notes

Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish Terms

List of Personalities

Index

Cover

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Prologue: Approaching Kiryas Joel

Part I: The Past and Present of the Shtetl

Chapter 1: Life in the Shtetl

Chapter 2: Satmar in Europe

Chapter 3: Satmar in America: From Shtetl to Village

Part II: Law and Religion in the Village and Beyond

Chapter 4: Not in America?

Chapter 5: Only in America!

Chapter 6: The Law of the Land (Is the Law)

Part III: Conflict, Competition, and the Future of Kiryas Joel

Chapter 7: "Two Kings Serving the Same Crown": The Great Schism in Kiryas Joel and Beyond

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691226439

0691226431

OCLC:

1276855971