Rupture and Reconstruction - (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization) by Haym Soloveitchik (Hardcover)

About the Book

A cogent analysis of Orthodoxy's 'swing to the right': a rupture with existing attitudes and patterns of behaviour that has had major consequences for Jewish society and spirituality. This new edition deals with criticisms raised since the essay, long established as a classic in the field, was originally published.

Book Synopsis

The essay that forms
the core of this book is an attempt to understand the developments that have
occurred in Orthodox Jewry in America in the last seventy years, and to analyse
their implications. The prime change is what is often described as 'the swing to
the right', a marked increase in ritual stringency, a rupture in patterns of
behaviour that has had major consequences not only for Jewish society but also
for the nature of Jewish spirituality. For Haym Soloveitchik, the key feature
at the root of this change is that, as a result of migration to the 'New Worlds' of England, the US,
and Israel and acculturation to its new surroundings, American
Jewry--indeed, much of the Jewish world-- had to reconstruct religious practice
from normative texts: observance could no longer be transmitted mimetically, on
the basis of practices observed in home and street. In consequence, behaviour
once governed by habit is now governed by rule. This new edition allows the
author to deal with criticisms raised since the essay, long established as a
classic in the field, was originally published, and enables readers to gain a
fuller perspective on a topic central to today's Jewish world and its
development.

Review Quotes

'Few scholarly works have managed to meaningfully penetrate both the academy and the Orthodox Jewish community like Haym Soloveitchik's Rupture and Reconstruction. Republished-as an expanded monograph-for the first time in over 25 years, Soloveitchik puts forward a compelling thesis on the development of Orthodox Jewish practice in America over the past 70 years.' Yaakov Taubes, Religious Studies Review

'One of the most influential essays in the past thirty years [...] As an account of the development of what we know as right-wing Orthodoxy, Soloveitchik's is compact and cogent. And some of his insights perhaps apply beyond observant Orthodoxy.'
Simon Rocker, The Jewish Chronicle

'Rereading "Rupture" in light of Dr. Soloveitchik's clarifications affords us the opportunity to consider anew how its brilliant descriptions can help us understand our present and develop prescriptions for our future.'
Rabbi Aryeh Klapper, Jewish Press

About the Author

Haym Soloveitchik is the Merkin Family Research Professor at Yeshiva University, New York, and the former director of the School of Jewish Studies at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has also taught at the Sorbonne and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He has published books in Hebrew on pawnbroking and usury, Jewish involvement in the medieval wine trade, and the use of responsa as a historical source.