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This chapter considers developments indicating significant ritualistic departure not only from ultra-Orthodox norms and values but from what had been traditional Jewish religious behaviour since the last half-century. It examines both organizational and institutional developments and informal sources on the Modern Orthodox sector as a significant component of American Orthodoxy. It also refers to the role of women as the most discussed and pressing concerns for many Modern Orthodox Jews. The chapter looks at the increasing numbers of modern Jewish women who feel that they have a very limited or no place in the Orthodox synagogue or the organized community. It points out the variety of attempts that have been made to expand the educational opportunities available to Orthodox women and give them a greater role in synagogue life since the 1960s.

This chapter focuses on changes within American Orthodoxy concerning interpretations of Orthodox Jewish beliefs. It discusses American Orthodoxy that was united in its allegiance to the credo of torah min hashamayim, in which both the Written Law and the Oral Law were given by God to Moses at Sinai. It also refers to Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Moshe Tendler, who axiomatically assert a literal version of both parts of the credo. The chapter analyses the absence of any publicly voiced alternative to the literal interpretation of the credo that is rooted in explicit talmudic assertions which were reiterated by Maimonides. It describes how Maimonides laid down the fundamental credo and implied that the Torah is from God.

This chapter examines works on American Jewry written during the 1950s and 1960s that begin with the contrast between the pessimistic evaluations of the state of American Judaism at the end of the nineteenth century. It notes the starker contrast made between the state of American Orthodox Jewry at the time of the Second World War and at the start of the twenty-first century. It also considers Jeffrey Gurock's detailed analysis that demonstrates the first half of the twentieth century as the era of non-observance for American Orthodoxy. The chapter recounts how English-speaking Orthodox rabbinate had suffered somewhat of a reversal and was forced to take stock of its future by the 1940s. It points out the most traditional and Jewishly educated members of east European Orthodox Jewry and rabbinic intellectual elite that were most resistant to migration to the United States.

This chapter talks about observers of American Orthodoxy that were struck by what was labelled as a move to the right during the second half of the twentieth century. It discusses the insistence on the term ‘glatt kosher’ and stricter rules of kashrut in general, as well as the increasing insistence on separation of the sexes in the synagogue during services. It also explores basic sociological factors that explain why Orthodoxy in modern society is adopting a stance of greater isolation from the wider Jewish community and of ritualistic stringency. The chapter mentions Charles Liebman and his pioneering 1966 analysis of American Orthodox Judaism in the American Jewish Year Book. It distinguishes between ultra-Orthodox Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy in terms of attitudes towards the broader Jewish community, modernity, and Zionism.

This chapter describes American Orthodoxy as a product of the east European immigration to America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explains how American Orthodoxy was followed by the Holocaust-era immigration, deep ties with Israel, and adaptation to American society and culture. It also analyses religious behaviour that is widely viewed as halakhah within the realm of minhagim, such as Haym Soloveitchik. The chapter mentions how Religious Jewish women adopted increased and heightened kashrut practice that eventually became the norm. It talks about Menachem Elon, who indicated that international travel has introduced fresh customs and ideas to America's Jewish community, particularly from eastern Europe after the Second World War and Israel in the recent years.

This chapter focuses on the state of Greek Orthodoxy in America at the end of the twentieth century. It assesses whether the Church under Archbishop Iakovos overreached in its efforts to Americanize, which alienated the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It analyzes the patriarchate's intervention, which illustrated the administrative limits the Greek Orthodox Church in America faces in its efforts to assimilate. The chapter describes the patriarchate's ability to invoke the transnational character of Orthodoxy in the new era of globalization. It explores the end of the evolution of Greek Orthodoxy into some form of American Orthodoxy through its fusion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.

This chapter focuses on the 1950s, in which Heschel demonstrated intense creativity. The manuscript of Man Is Not Alone had expanded to include a second, more massive volume, a global interpretation of Judaism that was eventually entitled God in Search of Man. In the meantime, he fashioned his speeches of 1952–53 into Man's Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism. As he consolidated his theological revolution, various branches of American Judaism were exploring his answers to their problems of Jewish identity. In addition to his encounters with the Conservative and Reform movements, Heschel was engaging with the worlds of American Jewish Orthodoxy. Among these traditionalist thinkers, Heschel found a more sympathetic audience, in addition to implicit criticism.