On the Margins of Orthodoxy

Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press).Jessica Lang, Professor of English, is the former Dean of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College and the inaugural Dean of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University. Her research focuses on the Jewish American experience and on Holocaust Literature. She co-edited the volume Off the Derech: Leaving Orthodox Judaism and authored the monograph Textual Silence: Unreadability and the Holocaust (Rutgers University Press, 2017), which focuses on understanding the experience of reading and trauma. She has published on the interaction of reading and identity in Jewish, American, and Holocaust texts.Glenn Dynner, Ph.D., holds the Jay Berkowitz Chair in Jewish History at the University of Virginia. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of Men of Silk: The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish Society (Oxford University Press, 2006); Yankel’s Tavern: Jews, Liquor & Life in the Kingdom of Poland (Oxford University Press, 2014); and The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2024). He is also Co-Editor of the journal Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies.Joshua Shanes is the Emanuel Ringelblum Professor of Jewish History at the University of California, Davis. He has published widely on modern Jewish history, religion, politics, and antisemitism in both academic and popular journals. His second manuscript, A History of Jewish Orthodoxy, will appear with Rutgers University Press in 2026.

“With much ado about ‘off-the-derech’ (OTD) or ‘unorthodox’ figures on television, in recently published memoirs, and featured in the media, On the Margins of Orthodoxy provides a rich resource for anyone interested in the Orthodox Jewish and post-Orthodox Jewish experiences—and everything in between. The book explores the notion of leaving orthodoxy through personal and analytical chapters, using feminist, historical, and sociological approaches to examine a complicated but telling phenomenon in Jewish and modern life. This collection is vital because, to quote editor and contributor Jessica Lang, ‘We are living in an OTD moment!’” — Karen E. H. Skinazi, Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Culture, Hebrew Union College“This important book is a welcome addition to recent studies and edited volumes addressing those leaving their ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. The book takes on the ‘OTD (off the derech or path) moment’ and makes critical contributions by addressing the diversity of what OTD has meant in the past and might mean in the future. Coming at the topic from different disciplinary perspectives this innovative and fascinating book addresses Jewish exiters over time and space, considering gender, media, psychology, and more. The volume will be of great interest to historians, social scientists, and literary scholars in Jewish studies, religious studies, and for a more general public.” — Dr. Ayala Fader, Professor of Anthropology, Fordham University“This groundbreaking volume is the first of its kind, offering both historical and contemporary perspectives on the process of leaving Orthodoxy. Bringing together complementary contributions from multiple disciplinary points of view, it provides a unique and essential resource for anyone interested in understanding this complex and deeply significant phenomenon. A must-read for scholars, students, and general readers alike.” — Jessica Roda, author of For Women and Girls Only. Associate Professor, Georgetown University

• Introduction: The Paths That Rise to Meet Us Glenn Dynner, Jessica Lang, Schneur Zalman Newfield, Joshua ShanesChapter 1: “The Past Keeps Changing”: An Occasional Reflection on OTDNaomi SeidmanChapter 2: The Second Disenchantment: Three Phases of Exit in Ashkenazic Jewish HistoryGlenn DynnerChapter 3: Contemporary Chabad-Lubavitch: Observations of a Former ChasidJoshua ShanesChapter 4: OTD and the Continual Act of Becoming OneselfJessica LangChapter 5: Role Redefinition: Costs and Opportunities for Formerly Hasidic MothersMiriam MosterChapter 6: Empowering Doubt in Treading Old and New DerechsYehudis Keller and Estee HirschChapter 7: The OTD Spectrum: Not On or Off but Somewhere along the PathRona Miles and Alla ChavargaChapter 8: Reflecting on the Unobservant: Persisting Biases among Orthodox Leavetakers in TorontoDavid BelfonChapter 9: Marginality and Off the Derech’s Intermarginality: Exploration of the #itgetsbesser MovementAlexandra StankovichConclusion: The Future of OTDJessica LangAbout the Contributors Glossary Bibliography Index