Book

Life in a religious community: the Lubavitcher chassidim in Montreal

Holt, Rinehart & Winston of Canada • Toronto, Ont. • Published In 1974 • Pages:

By: Shaffir, William.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

This work, which is an extension of the author's doctoral dissertation, deals with a community of Lubavitcher Hasidic Jews in Montreal, Canada, and how they have managed to persist in an urban environment. This group, as do other Lubavitcher communities '…define the outside world as threatening to their distinctive lifestyle, but, unlike other Hasidic communities, the members of this group do not attempt to isolate themselves from contact with outsiders. Instead, as the study shows, the Lubavitcher Chassidim actively seek out contacts with the larger Jewish community' (p. vi). The latter portion of this document examines why they do this, and how they manage to cope with the challenges and threats of assimilation posed by such contacts. The proselytizing activites of this group, which is so characteristic of the Lubavitcher Hasidim, although seemingly endangering the community's tenability, actually provide interactional context with a religious base making religion the explicit focus of attention. The data for this study, collected largely by participant observation, covers a variety of topics such as the history of the movement, the Shaffir's methodology, the Lubavitcher religious structure, the religious schools, relations with other non-Lubavitcher groups and with gentiles, the community's proselytization work, and the introduction of newcomer converts to the Lubavitcher way of life.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Priesthood

Religious denominations

Missions

Education system

Elementary education

Students

cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

North American Hasidic Jews

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

1996

RegionThe area the document pertains to

North America

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

Book

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Sociologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

John Beierle ; 1995

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

began in 1969

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

variable

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Lubavitch; Montreal, Québec, Canada

NotesAdditional notes

William Shaffir

Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-244)

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

75316813

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Jews