The Orthonomics Podcast Mark Trencher

In this episode, we speak with Prof. Naomi Seidman about people leaving Orthodoxy and the related stories, experiences and misconceptions. She shares what she personally learned in leaving her Haredi community, as well as the insights of many others.  

We also draw upon the 2016 study “Starting a Conversation: A Pioneering Survey of Those Who Have Left the Orthodox Community,” in which 885 people recounted their experiences, and we include some verbatim quotes from some of these people, explaining what motivated them and what they want the Orthodox community as a whole to know about their leaving. 

 Recommended: Prof. Seidman’s excellent limited (four episodes) podcast series, Heretic in the House, from the Shalom Hartman Institute.  

A couple of very worthwhile books are:  

Shulem Deen’s All Who Go Do Not Return, a National Jewish Book Award winner. 

Prof. Schneur Zalman Newfield’s Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. 

 In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we answer a question we are often asked … how many people are leaving Orthodoxy. We cite Rabbi Zvi Grumet’s 2018 study of high school graduates. 

Many of the Orthodox community research studies we reference in this podcast are available and downloadable free at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html.  
Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support. 
 
Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com). 

In this episode, we speak with Keshet Starr about the agunah (“chained wife”) problem and what is being done to resolve it. Hot off the press (from a large-scale survey that had not yet been released as we recorded this episode), we have new data on the agunah situation and some fascinating verbatim comments from women and men about their divorce difficulties, which we will read and discuss.
Link to ORA to find out more, at http://getora.org.
In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we answer a question we are often asked … why do we do research? Why do we even get into “these issues”?
Many of the Orthodox community research studies we reference in this podcast are available and downloadable free at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html. The document we referred to (things people most love, and those that cause unhappiness, relating to Orthodoxy) is located at this LINK. The infamous and often debated quote alluded to, by Rebbitzen Blu Greenberg, is: “Where there's a rabbinic will, there's a halachic way.”
Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support. Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com).

Elana Silber is CEO of Sharsheret (https://sharsheret.org), a national non-profit organization that improves the lives of Jewish women and families living with or at increased genetic risk for breast or ovarian cancer, through personalized support and educational outreach. We address such issues as: which Orthodox groups are at higher risk, what advances are being made, and how can people be helped in facing health, emotional, financial and family impacts? The Sharsheret website has much valuable information and informative links.
In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we examine the cost of an Orthodox life in New York City as compared to the Midwest … and is there a difference in how Orthodox households perceive their overall financial situation? The report "Finances of Orthodox Jewish Life (December 2021)” is downloadable at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html.
Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support.
Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com).
Music: “Rumble” by bensound.com.

In this episode, we speak with Prof. David Myers, co-author (with his wife) of the fascinating book "American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York,” and founder of the new Haredi Research Group, a multi-disciplinary group that is aiming to help us all better understand the American Haredi (Chasidic and Yeshivish) community. Information on this fascinating book is at https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691199771/american-shtetl.
 
"The Haredi Moment Has Arrived” by Eli Spitzer – https://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/jewish-world/2022/01/the-haredi-moment-has-arrived/
 
Link to the newly created Haredi Research Group.
 
In our "What Do You Want to Know?” segment, we hear back from a Haredi attorney who tells us that our research is flawed due to an inability to properly reach his community. So we offer an explanation and it seemed that he was reasonably satisfied. You be the judge!
 
Many of the Orthodox community research studies we reference in this podcast are available and downloadable free at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html.
 
Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support.
 
Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com).

In this episode, we speak with Rabbi Shimmy Trencher, MSW, who has been an Orthodox Jewish high school dean of students and principal for the past 15 years, has had leadership positions at NCSY, and is the founder of a Jewish high school student self-development program that has positively affected the lives of hundreds of teens.

Many of the Orthodox community research studies we reference in this podcast are available and downloadable free, at http://nishmaresearch.com/social-research.html. We cited some of this research in this episode: click on “REPORT - The Successes, Challenges, and Future of American Modern Orthodoxy (2019)” (page 24) and “REPORT - 2017 Nishma Research Profile of American Modern Orthodox Jews” (pages 56-57) for more information on how the community sees its day schools.
 
The survey data assessing day schools may be found on pages 55-58 at this link: http://nishmaresearch.com/assets/pdf/Report%20-%20Nishma%20Research%20Profile%20of%20American%20Modern%20Orthodox%20Jews%2009-27-17.pdf
 
Thanks to Leora Trencher for designing our logo, and to Elana Trencher and Aliza Levy for their audio support.

Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com).

Music: “Rumble” by bensound.com

In this episode we explore key issues that intrigue us, with an emphasis on hearing what people think in their own words. Let's turn the microphone over to you, our listeners! 
 
We will hear people’s thoughts on such questions as: What are the things in your Orthodox community that most bother you … the “pain points”? Is there someone you go to for spiritual guidance? Who and how is this working out for you? Are you and your spouse “on the same page” religiously? Thinking broadly, do you have any questions, issues, or thoughts relating to sexual attitudes, behaviors, practices, halachot, etc. as they affect you? Are there aspects of Orthodox practice where you find yourself being more machmir/ stringent or more meikil/lenient compared to other people in your religious community, and what are they? And more.

This episode is also being presented on the Franciska Podcast.

Orthonomics is produced by Scott Kahn of JCH Podcast Productions (http://jchpodcasts.com).

Music: “Rumble” by bensound.com