NEW WORLD HASIDIM SUNY Series in Anthropology and Judaic Studies Walter P. Zenner, Editor NEW WORLD HASIDIM Ethnographic Studies of Hasidic Jews in America edited by Janet S. Belcove-Shalin STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS The system for transliterating Hebrew words into English is based on standard Hebrew orthography as detailed in the Encyclopaedia ]udaica, vol. I (New York: Macmillan, 1971), with allowance made for more readily recognized spellings of certain words. Certain terms that are far more identifiable in Yiddish than in Hebrew are used and are based on YIVO transcription guidelines. In some instances, variant spellings are employed with respect to dialect or common usage. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1995 State University of New York All rights reserved Production by Susan Geraghty Marketing by Fran Keneston Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever with out written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data New world Hasidim : ethnographic studies of Hasidic Jews in America I edited by Janet S. Belcove-Shalin. p. cm.-(SUNY series in anthropology and Judaic studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-2245-3-ISBN 0-7914-2246-1 (pbk.) 1. Hasidism-United States. 2. Hasidism-United States-Social conditions. 3. Jews-United States-Politics and government. 4. Habad-United States. 5. United States-Ethnic relations. I. Belcove-Shalin, Janet S., 1954-. II. Series. BM198.N38 1995 305 .6'96-dc20 94-300 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For all Hasidim who aspire to Hesed CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Foreword xi Samuel C. Heilman Introduction: New World Hasidim 1 Janet S. Belcove-Shalin Chapter 1 Boundaries and Self-Presentation among the Hasidim: A Study in Identity Maintenance 31 William Shaffir Chapter 2 HaBaD & Habban: "770's" Impact on a Yemenite Jewish Community in Israel 69 Laurence D. Loeb Chapter 3 The Language of the Heart: Music in Lubavitcher Life 87 Ellen Kosko(( Chapter 4 Varieties of Fundamentalist Experience: Lubavitch Hasidic and Fundamentalist Christian Approaches to Contemporary Family Life 107 Lynn Davidman and Janet Stocks Chapter 5 Engendering Orthodoxy: Newly Orthodox Women and Hasidism 135 Debra R. Kaufman Chapter 6 Agents or Victims of Religious Ideology?: Approaches to Locating Hasidic Women in Feminist Studies 161 Bonnie Morris Vll viii NEW WORLD HASIDISM Chapter 7 The Economic Revitalization of the Hasidic Community of Williamsburg 181 George Kranzler Chapter 8 Home In Exile: Hasidim in the New World 205 Janet S. Belcove-Shalin Chapter 9 The Bobover Hasidim Piremshpiyl: From Folk Drama for Purim to a Ritual of Transcending the Holocaust 237 Shifra Epstein Chapter 10 The Charismatic Leader of the Hasidic Community: The Zaddiq, the Rebbe 257 Solomon Poll Contributors 2 77 Index 281 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank a number of people whose help and goodwill made this volume possible. I am grateful to the volume contributors, who took in stride my repeated requests for revisions. I would like to note that work on this volume afforded me the opportunity to personally get to know many of my colleagues whom I had here tofore known only through their work. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my colleagues Veona Hunsinger and Donald E. Carns. Veona saw the manuscript through several revisions and helped prepare the final text. Donald encouraged me in my work and provided me with the extra time and resources needed to finish this project. I would like to thank Rosalie M. Robertson, Walter P. Zenner, and Christine E. Worden of SUNY Press for guiding this volume through its many incarnations. I also wish to thank two family members: my father, Allan S. Belcove, for his keen eye at proofreading; and my husband, Dmitri N. Shalin, for his faithful support of this project and readiness to shoulder a greater burden of household duties to expedite its com pletion. I think I speak for all contributors to this volume when I extend my heartfelt thanks to the many Hasidim who generously offered their time and insight to the odd, often inscrutable, and sometimes annoying lot of ethnographers. It is to the Hasidim that I wish to dedicate this volume. lX