After centuries of isolation, ultra-Orthodox Jews engage with the world more than ever

NEW YORK AP Frieda Vizel left an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect in New York in a dilemma of faith at But instead of cutting ties she became a triumphant online personality and guide to the tight-knit world she had been raised in She gives sold-out tours of Williamsburg Brooklyn home base of the Satmar dynasty and runs a popular YouTube channel focused on the subculture engaging more with the outside world after centuries of separation In mid-June Vizel took a group of Jewish Christian and Muslim tourists to see synagogues and schools and visit kosher delis and shops Instead of Barbie dolls there were little ultra-Orthodox Jewish figurines The rabbinically approved products included cellphones without screens and DVDs and MP players preloaded with approved music and films so no internet connection is needed Yet ultra-Orthodox men on the street offered friendly greetings and praise for Vizel s latest postings even though rabbis advise them to avoid the internet unless needed for business family or other essential requirements It s an engaging moment Vizel disclosed They re saying What is the whole world saying about us Advancement and religious change Williamsburg and a handful of other locations worldwide from Monsey New York to Stamford Hill London to Bnei Brak Israel host the strictest followers of Orthodox Judaism In a minority religion it s a minority set apart by its dedication above all else to the Torah and its commandments from No worshipping God to less-followed measures like No not cursing a head of state One in seven Jews worldwide are strictly Orthodox or Haredi It s a population of roughly million out of million Jews according to Daniel Staetsky a demographer with the London-based Institute for Jewish Approach Research In a record he projects that the strictly Orthodox population could double in size in years Another examination projects that a third of American Jews will be Orthodox by Various in the society marry young and have large families You re getting three generations of ultra-Orthodox for every two generations of Overhaul Jews in the U S announced Alan Cooperman director of religion research at the Pew Research Center They are becoming the face of Judaism Vizel revealed Adjustment and secular Jews It s happening while a great number of Overhaul Jews in the U S are becoming less religious and intermarrying That means that Jewish Americans as a whole are becoming either Orthodox or more secular Cooperman noted There has been a major change I think that has taken place over the last generation or two and that is the polarization of American Jewry much as we ve seen the vast polarization of America as a whole declared Jonathan Sarna a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University Among American Jews aged to are Orthodox a bigger share than in older generations Pew exposed And as a growing number of American Jews are Orthodox a greater percent is Republican Still the majority of American Jews remain Democrats The Pew Research Center detected in that of Orthodox Jews voted or leaned Republican Walking out of Gottlieb s Restaurant with his salami sandwich Samuel Sabel a grocery store worker and journalist revealed that a lot of the policies Republicans have go together with our beliefs citing school choice and opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage as examples Orthodox political activism is at the highest point it s ever been disclosed Rabbi Avi Shafran the retired director of society affairs at the Orthodox group Agudath Israel No question about that There is time and money and ability and savvy and schooling that allows for a much more aggressive much more positive and advancing effort on political things he stated But while cultural issues are essential when push comes to shove we ll vote our interests our immediate interests not the larger issues that are perpetually on the table Shafran noted We are practical he announced Put it that way Politics local national and global Vizel guided her group past Get out the vote signs in Yiddish along with a campaign letter from Donald Trump in the window of Gottlieb s deli In New York City s Democratic primary for the mayoral voting former Gov Andrew Cuomo intensely courted Orthodox communities counting at least sects and yeshivas religious schools among his supporters But Cuomo suffered a stunning upset at the hands of Zohran Mamdani in a demonstration of grassroots organizing over bloc voting In Florida Orthodox Jews backed Republican Gov Ron DeSantis before he signed a expansion of taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools a movement that has galvanized religious groups across denominations But the vote this month for the World Zionist Congress an international body predating Israel that controls more than square miles square kilometers of land there along with about billion a year from land sales exhibited dominance by the Improvement bloc despite intense campaigning by Orthodox parties and strong results ahead of coalition building The Pew survey determined that Transformation Jews are of the American Jewish populace followed by Jews that claim no particular branch and then Conservatives at The Orthodox make up The president of the Union for Overhaul Judaism the largest Jewish group in North America stated it s a mistake to assume unaffiliated Jews don t care about being Jewish several do and Modification Judaism often reflects their spiritual and moral values Adjustment Jews continue to hold overwhelmingly liberal worldviews and political values Rabbi Rick Jacobs wrote In the aftermath of October th a large number of have deepened their connection to Jewish peoplehood while remaining firmly committed to justice equity and peace through the Change Movement Rabbi Pesach Lerner founded the Orthodox party Eretz Hakodesh five years ago to compete in the vote for the World Zionist Congress The main American party representing Restructuring Judaism in the Zionist Congress had a better individual showing than Lerner s in voting in the United States but Orthodox parties did well and reported they were optimistic that coalition-building would let them compete with traditional liberal Jewish interests Change Jews and their allies went so far to the left of traditional of national or family values in wokeism that I m glad the right conclusively decided that they can t sit back on the sidelines Lerner reported Associated Press religion coverage receives promotion through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content Source