123 School Work

Cosmopolitans and Parochials

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  The Cosmopolitans and Parochials: Modern Orthodox Jews in America (1989) by Samuel C. Heilman and Steven M. Cohen primarily focuses on variation within American Jewish Orthodoxy. Heilman and Cohen compartmentalize Orthodox Jews into three main categories: traditionalists, centrists and nominally Orthodox. They break down the Orthodox Jewish segment into these categories based upon answers to a questionnaire mailed to a limited sampling of the Orthodox population on the East Coast. Heilman and Cohen attempt to answer the question as to whether or not Orthodoxy is disappearing in the modern Western Civilization. They seek to discover whether Jews are beginning to step back from traditionalism and join the more mainstream American cultures and lifestyles. Through careful evaluation of the data collected Heilman and Cohen confidently concluded that unlike preconception that Orthodoxy was a dieing identity in actuality it has been increasing at a stead rate over the years. The majority of Orthodox today are becoming more religious than there parents. Although the book has evidence that supports this conclusion, the data and methods used to deduce the argument are flawed...