by Sarah Bunin Benor

The UJA-Federation recently released the 2011 New York Jewish Population Study, conducted by Steven M. Cohen, Jack Ukeles, and Ron Miller. In this blog post, I highlight some of the study’s findings, focusing on the high birth rates and the diversity among Orthodox Jews, and I discuss some reactions I’ve found among visitors to Orthodox websites.

The major headline about the study was the rapidly increasing Orthodox population. As the report indicates, this is mostly due to high birth rates rather than to an influx of ba’alei teshuva. Although Orthodox households represent only 19% of all Jewish households in the survey area, Orthodox Jews represent 32% of all Jews. Among Jewish children in the New York area, 61% are Orthodox. In fact, there are almost as many Hasidic children as non-Orthodox Jewish children:

Number of children in the New York area
Non-Orth.      Modern           Yeshivish        Hasidic
131,000        42,000             39,000           127,000

While the survey did not ask about number of births for each woman, it did ask about number of children living in the household. For woman ages 35-44, the differences between the groups are striking:

Mean number of children living in the households of women ages 35-44
Non-Orth.       Modern           Yeshivish        Hasidic
1.3                 2.5                  5.0                5.8

Note that the survey area includes the five boroughs of New York City plus Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, but not Rockland or Orange counties (home to the large Orthodox communities of Monsey and Kiryas Joel) or any counties in New Jersey or Connecticut. So the numbers reported here do not represent the full range of Orthodox Jews within commuting distance of New York City.

Orthodox Jews’ reaction to the study has been mixed, as I found by reading comments on Vos Iz Neias and The Yeshiva World News. Some express concern about poverty and employment patterns among frum Jews, and others debate whether having many babies is a positive response to the Holocaust. One commenter expresses a sentiment that I heard from several frum Jews during my fieldwork, including some ba’alei teshuva:

“Of course the “center” [non-Orthodox Jews engaged with Jewish life] will decline since once someone decides on being non-Orthodox they will normally end up totally assimilated (that is the pattern over the last few millenia), and if they decide that being Jewish is important to them, they will seek out something authentic (as opposed to “Bagel and Lox” or “being a Democrat”) and end up becoming a Baal Tseuvah.”

But not everyone is gloating about the survey’s demographic findings. Some point out that many non-Orthodox Jews support Orthodox institutions financially and express concern that dwindling numbers will mean less support (through Federations, Chabad houses, etc.).

Another comment on The Yeshiva World questions the survey’s distinction between Modern Orthodox and Haredi (which combines Yeshivish and Hasidic):

“If I have a Black Hat always listen to my Rabbi, think Men and women should be separated as much as possible, but have a degree, non-Jewish friends, and accept that the Earth is 4.5 Billion years old am I a right wing MO or left wing Charedi?”

This comment confirms trends that scholars have been noting for years – trends that I discuss in Chapter 5 of Becoming Frum, which deals with what I call the “Modern Orthodox to Black Hat continuum.” Orthodox Jews reference this continuum to compare themselves to others based on the stringency of their observance and their openness toward non-Orthodox and non-Jewish society and culture, among other factors. Frumster.com, an online dating service, recognizes that people think of this continuum as they identify potential mates. The website requires those who register to select one of several categories, including Modern Orthodox Liberal, Modern Orthodox Machmir, Yeshivish Modern, Yeshivish Black Hat, and Chassidish. After Frumster received complaints from people who did not feel comfortable categorizing themselves, they also created a catch-all category: Shomer Mitzvot. As the Yeshiva World comment above suggests, people’s discomfort stems partly from the fact that the categories are based on several criteria, not just the stringency of halachic interpretation.

Despite the fuzzy boundaries between categories, distinguishing between Modern, Yeshivish, and Hasidic is important on a survey like the New York one. Take for example the survey’s findings about educational attainment:

Percent of men with a college degree
Non-Orth.      Modern           Yeshivish        Hasidic
63%             55%                45%               16%

I found a similar trend in language usage based on my analysis of data on Frumster.com (758 women, 751 men):

Figure 5.3 (Becoming Frum): Percentage of respondents who list Yiddish as one of the languages they speak

In a survey I conducted with Steven M. Cohen (who was also one of the authors of the New York study) in 2008, we found a similar trend with respect to reported use of Hebrew and Yiddish words and phrases:

Table 5.1 (Becoming Frum): Percentage of survey respondents who report using Orthodox Jewish English loanwords and phrases

Some items in Table 5.1 differ most between non-Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Jews (such as chas v’shalom). For some items, Modern Orthodox Jews pattern with non-Orthodox Jews (such as the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the phrase said around the High Holidays: gmar cha-SEE-mah TO-vah). And for others, all groups differ at similar rates (such as takeh), representing a true continuum. As we can see from this data, combined with results of the New York survey, it is not enough to distinguish between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews; more fine-grained differences are important in understanding diversity within the Jewish world.

by Sarah Bunin Benor, author of Becoming Frum

When I received the “breaking news” last month that Hasidic reggae star Matisyahu had shaved his iconic beard, I recognized this transition as part of a common progression among ba’alei teshuva, Jews who become Orthodox. In my research among “BTs” in Philadelphia and elsewhere, I found that some newcomers, eager to integrate into the frum (religious) community, go overboard in their use of Orthodox practices at first. They seek out stringencies in religious observance and “overuse” words like “mamish” (really) and “baruch Hashem” (blessed be God). Women wear skirts and sleeves longer than required by Jewish law, and men let their tzitzis (fringes) hang out more conspicuously than their “Frum From Birth” peers. Eventually many of these BTs feel that they have given up too much of themselves, and they temper their use of these Orthodox cultural practices.

Like any social scientist, I had the urge to name this progression, and the term I chose was the “bungee effect.” A bungee jumper plunges off of a high place connected to a strong elastic cord. When she gets to the bottom of the cord’s reach, she bounces back up a bit. So too with many BTs: near the beginning of their religious transformation, they “jump off the deep end,” and then they bounce back to a happy medium (see Chapter Eight of Becoming Frum for a more detailed explanation). A few years ago Matisyahu was performing in a dark suit and hat, and his beard and payos (sidelocks) were discussed by fans and critics worldwide. More recently he has been performing in more casual clothing, still displaying symbols of his Orthodox identity – his kippah and tzitzis. His recent shave seems to be the next logical step in his bungee bounce.

Not all BTs experience this progression. Some take on Orthodox observance and culture more gradually, avoiding elements that they find too alien. Others jump in with both feet and never bounce back, becoming so adept at frum culture that people assume they grew up Orthodox. There is great diversity among BTs, and Matisyahu’s recent transition represents just one approach – one that I observed and heard about from many other BTs.

The notion of a bungee jump implies that BTs’ journeys are linear – more and then less. Of course the reality is more complex: they might shed some elements of Orthodoxy while taking on others, based on meeting new role models or encountering new approaches to Jewish philosophy and spirituality. But Orthodox Jews do often discuss a continuum between Modern Orthodoxy on one end and “Black Hat” Hasidic and Yeshivish Orthodoxy on the other. Many community members view transitions along this continuum as linear. Matisyahu’s beard symbolized his connection to Black Hat Hasidism, and its absence symbolizes his decision to identify closer to the Modern end of the continuum.

As Matisyahu reassured his 1.3 million Twitter followers, he has not shed his religious observance: “For all those who are confused: Today I went to the Mikva and Shul just like yesterday.” His shave is merely the next phase in his spiritual journey, his upward bounce after his head-first dive into Orthodoxy.