This presentation explores an ongoing “crisis of faith” among ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York that was blamed on the Internet. In a shift from the 1990s, rabbinic leadership has turned to interiority, integrating theological concepts into a therapeutic framework to combat religious doubt. Analyzing a rally against the Internet and the emergence of religious therapy, this presentation shows how current leadership has been protecting and treating hearts, minds and souls in their struggle to claim ultra-Orthodox authenticity.

Ayala Fader received her PhD from New York University and is currently Associate Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Women’s Studies Program at Fordham University. She is the author of the award-winning book Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn (Princeton 2009) and has published numerous articles on Yiddish-English bilingualism and socialization, New Age Jewish spirituality, Occupy Judaism, sex abuse, and changing notions of media and faith. Her articles have appeared in American Anthropologist, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Contemporary Jewry, The Immanent Frame, The Revealer, and Anthropological Quarterly, among others. Fader has received many fellowships in support of her work, most recently from the National Science Foundation (2014-2016) for her current book, Double Life: Faith, Doubt and the Internet among Ultra-Orthodox Jews (Princeton).

Image courtesy of Tony Allen-Mills

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