The Frieda Vizel Podcast8 Feb 2024

The Secret Stories of Hidden Heretics | In Conversation with Ayala Fader

Youtube video link: https://youtu.be/2BmWbcCMW3M?si=B3yDwGD7exBuY4fc

In many of my videos, I've explored how Hasidic Jews live in the 21st century.
*But what happens to those for whom this way of life doesn't work?*

Some, like myself, leave. But not everyone who has doubts or different beliefs leaves. Some stay. And in this interview, I explore the stories of what we'll call here "the double lifers". The people who stay, despite rejecting the Orthodox Jewish core theological tenets.

Why do they stay? What's it like to live a double life? What are the moral quandaries of leaving or living a double life? Is it moral to have an affair after an arranged marriage? My wonderful guest delves into so many fascinating topics.

Ayala Fader is Professor of Anthropology at Fordham University. She is the author of the book 'Hidden Heretics, Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age', which tells the stories of a group of hidden heretics, how they lost faith and how they navigated life in the community in their new ways of understanding the world. The book also explores the impact of the internet on Hasidic Judaism, a topic which as the viewers of this channel will know, has fascinated me greatly and been the subject of several of my videos, including my major documentary on how an insular society deals with the internet Ayala also wrote the award-winning book Mitzvah Girls Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn.

You can get Ayala Fader's books here.

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