Social Change and Halakhic Evolution in American Orthodoxy

Chaim Waxman, a prominent sociologist of contemporaryOrthodoxy, is one of the keenest observers of American Jewish society. Inillustration of how Orthodoxy is adapting to modernity, he presents a detailed discussionof halakhic developments, particularly regarding women’s greater participationin ritual practices and other areas of communal life. He shows that thedirection of change is not uniform: there is both greater stringency andgreater leniency, and he discusses the many reasons for this, both in theJewish community and in the wider society. Relations between the varioussectors of American Orthodoxy over the past several decades are alsoconsidered.