18Forty Podcast1 Jul 2025

Ayala Fader: How Do Haredi Jews Deal With Religious Doubt? [OTD 3/3]

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Ayala Fader—an anthropologist who studies American Haredi communities and their “hidden heretics”—about the personal, familial, and communal factors that pull us toward and push us away from different Jewish communities.
In this episode we discuss:

How should we respond to the discomfort we experience when the communities we live in don’t measure up to the communities we desire?
How has the internet changed Hasidic and yeshivish cultures over the past three decades?
How has the surge of antisemitism and anti-Zionism affected the views of Hasidic Jews?

Tune in to hear a conversation about the ways we seek out and build communities that nourish us.

Interview begins at 12:48.

Ayala Fader is a professor of anthropology at Fordham University. Her research investigates contemporary North American Jewish identities and languages and engages key issues at the intersection of religion, Jewish Studies, gender, and linguistic anthropology, including language and media. She is also the founding director of the Demystifying Language Project, a partnership between academia and public high schools, housed in the New York Center for Public Anthropology at Fordham. Fader is the author of Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age.

References:

“Failure Goes to Yeshivah” by David Bashevkin

Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn by Ayala Fader

Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age by Ayala Fader

Naftuli Moster with Frieda Vizel: "Why I left Hasidic education activism"

When Prophecy Fails by Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken, and Stanley Schachter

Jew Vs Jew by Samuel G. Freedman

18Forty Podcast: “Rav Moshe Weinberger: Can Mysticism Become a Community?”

For more 18Forty:
NEWSLETTER: 18forty.org/join
CALL: (212) 582-1840
EMAIL: info@18forty.org
WEBSITE: 18forty.org
IG: @18forty
X: @18_fortyWhatsApp: join here

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/18forty-podcast--4344730/support.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(283)

Jenna Weissman Joselit: Being Jewish in America [American Jewish History 3/4]

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Jenna Weissman Joselit, a professor of Jewish studies and history, about the everyday expressions of Judaism that reinforce the identity and distinct...

7 Jul 1h 27min

Zev Eleff: 250 Years of American Judaism [American Jewish History 2/4]

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to historian Zev Eleff about what 250 years of Jewish life in America can teach us about religion, identity, and the future of American Judaism.In this ...

30 Jun 1h 26min

Elana Moskowitz: In Appreciation of My American Jewish Childhood [American Jewish History 1/4]

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Elana Moskowitz, an educator at Michlelet Mevasseret Yerushalayim, about how her American Jewish upbringing shaped her life and worldview.Moskowitz g...

24 Jun 1h 36min

Finance Debate: Larry Rothwachs and Leslie Ginsparg Klein

In this annual debate episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin moderates a discussion on finances within the Orthodox Jewish community. The specific resolution is: The current state of semachot...

16 Jun 1h 16min

Listener Feedback with David Bashevkin

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin responds to listeners’ feedback and comments, in conversation with Denah Emerson.In this episode we discuss:—Should every Jew be Orthodox?—Is th...

9 Jun 1h 34min

David Bashevkin: ‘We are meant to teach the world how to embrace unchosen identity’ [18 Questions, 40 Mystics]

Ahead of the next episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we invite you to hear David Bashevkin's appearance on 18 Questions, 40 Mystics.What does it mean to live a Judaism that fits into our lives? David Bas...

26 Mai 1h 28min

Agunah Revisited: How To Avoid High Conflict Divorce

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we revisit the topic of agunot by talking to Sarah Nissel and Yona Elishis, who run the Jewish Divorce Assistance Center of Los Angeles.We’re also joined by Kes...

19 Mai 1h 20min

Adam Ferziger: Agents of Change [Israel & Diaspora II 4/4]

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Adam Ferziger, a historian of modern Jewish movements, about how American Jews have helped shape the evolution of Israeli Judaism.In this episode we ...

12 Mai 1h 16min