The Land of the Free? Orthodox Reactions to Religious Freedom in 19th and Early 20th-Century America

This paper explores the encounter between religious Orthodoxy and Liberalism in 19th and early 20th-century America. Studying the writings of Orthodox rabbis who emigrated as adults from Eastern Europe to the United States, it analyzes how these Jewish thinkers, who were raised and shaped within the Orthodox, nondemocratic worldview, understand Jewish life in a country with a declared liberal ethos and political reality. While much has been written about Jewish immigration in general, and Orthodox immigrants to America in particular, from the historical, sociological and anthropological points of view, less attention has been given to the political and epistemological dimensions of this encounter. The current paper focuses on this less explored topic, offering a conceptual/political analysis of an encounter between two different and perhaps conflicting political and epistemological worldviews.