American Shtetl: The Intriguing Story of Kiryas Joel, a Booming Hasidic Town in Suburban New York
May 16, 2023
This year’s Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick lecture was presented by Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers who focused on their research and recent book American Shtetl: The Intriguing Story of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York.
After providing background on life in Kiryas Joel, and the history of Satmar Hasidism, Stolzenberg and Myers explained the evolution of Kiryas Joel as an official municipality with its own elected local government. They detailed how legal and political battles defined and even strengthened the community, whose success has coincided with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past few decades.
Nomi M. Stolzenberg is the Nathan and Lilly Shapell Chair at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. David N. Myers is a Distinguished Professor of History and Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA.
Cosponsored by Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago.