| Synopsis: This book focuses "on the 'ba'al teshuvah' (return to traditional Judaism) movement in Israel and America. . . . {Danzger} assesses the motivation, background, experiences, and religious expectations of returnees to Judaism. .. . Beginning with a discussion on origins of return (home, synagogue, yeshiva), he {attempts to} trace the conflict between returnees' worldly values and religious authority and the efforts, on the one hand, to make these concerns part of the traditionalist world (such as saving a gentile on the Sabbath) and,on the other, to apply strict Orthodox mores (such as non equality in public prayer) to returnees' own circumstances. Also he {seeks to} portray parallelsand differences between Jewish and Christian revivalism." (Choice) Glossary. Bibliography. Index.
From the Publisher
This comprehensive study of the revival of Orthodox Judaism was written by M. Herbert Danzger, a sociologist who is also a part of the world of Orthodox Judaism. Danzger interviewed more than two hundred newly Orthodox Jews, their rabbis, teachers, and recruiters, and spent hundreds of hours in yeshivot (seminaries) and at outreach programs in America and Israel. With these rich data, he presents colorful portraits of men and women in both countries that reveal why they became Orthodox Jews, how Orthodoxy was brought to their attention, how they were socialized into their new commitment, and what sort of life they entered, with what rewards and at what costs.
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