American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York

by Nomi M. Stolzenberg, David N. Myers

Overview

A compelling account of how a group of Hasidic Jews established its own local government on American soil

Settled 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 it disavows.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691259291
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	02/20/2024
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	1,110,568
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Nomi M. Stolzenberg holds the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She has written widely on law and religion. Twitter @nomideplume1 David N. Myers holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His many books include Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction. Website davidnmyers.com Twitter @DavidNMyersUCLA

Table of Contents

Illustrations vii

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: Approaching Kiryas Joel 1

Part I The Past and Present of the Shtetl

Chapter 1 Life in the Shtetl 27

Chapter 2 Satmar in Europe 82

Chapter 3 Satmar in America: From Shtetl to Village 115

Part II Law and Religion in the Village and Beyond

Chapter 4 Not in America? 165

Chapter 5 Only in America! 222

Chapter 6 The Law of the Land (Is the Law) 277

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 337

Epilogue: Leaving Kiryas Joel 376

Notes 397

Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish Terms 445

List of Personalities 449

Index 455

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Fascinating and original. American Shtetl offers a surprising and compelling account of a distinctively American story."—Martha Minow, author of When Should Law Forgive?

“Timely and provocative. From two brilliant scholars and cultural translators of our time comes an honest and compelling window into the secluded, separatist micro-society of Kiryas Joel. Stolzenberg and Myers paint a sensitive and at times searing picture of a Jewish community that is simultaneously a world apart and a quintessentially American invention. American Shtetl is riveting.”—Rabbi Sharon Brous, Founder/Senior Rabbi, IKAR

“The Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel is not as anomalous as it looks. It has a history, brilliantly described in this book, that could have happened only in America. And only Stolzenberg and Myers could have turned the extraordinarily complicated legal and political entanglements that make up this history into an accessible and fascinating story.”—Michael Walzer, author of The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions

"A superb, important book. American Shtetl is a brilliant work of scholarship that offers a new way of thinking about the complex American Jewish relationship to religious freedom and political liberalism."—James Loeffler, author of Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century

"An excellent book. Stolzenberg and Myers provide a wonderful mix of history and reportage to contextualize and enrich their argument."—Paul Horwitz, author of First Amendment Institutions

Editorial Reviews

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year

"Honorable mention for the Saul Veiner Book Prize, American Jewish Historical Society"

From the Publisher