Book Talk: Brooklyn Odyssey: My Journey Out of Hasidism
Tuesday, September 15, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Join us to learn about sociologist Zalman Newfield’s fascinating new memoir about exiting an ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn. Professor Newfield (Hunter College) will read from his new book, Brooklyn Odyssey: My Journey Out of Hasidism, and discuss it with Fordham anthropology professor, Ayala Fader. A Q & A will follow the discussion. All are welcome.
Zalman Newfield, PhD, is an associate professor of sociology and Jewish studies at Hunter College, CUNY. Raised in a Lubavitch family in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, he attended yeshivahs in Chicago, Miami, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and participated in Jewish outreach activities in Russia, China, and Singapore. Newfield earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Brooklyn College and a PhD in sociology from New York University. He then taught sociology courses for two years in six medium- and maximum-security New Jersey state prisons. His book, Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020), explores the lives of Lubavitch and Satmar men and women who decided as young adults to leave that way of life. In his spare time he is a host on the New Books Network podcast, interviewing scholars from diverse disciplines. Newfield lives in Hoboken, NJ, with his wife and two children. Find out more at zalmannewfield.com.
Ayala Fader, PhD, is professor of anthropology at Fordham University. She is the award-winning author of Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn (2009) and Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age (2020). Fader’s research has been generously supported by fellowships and grants, including the NSF and the NEH and appears in public and academic venues. She is the founding director of Fordham’s Center for Public Anthropology and Sociology and the Demystifying Language Project, which makes linguistic anthropology a social justice resource for public high schools.
