Zalman Newfield

Zalman Newfield, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies and author of Brooklyn Odyssey, recounts leaving the Lubavitch Hasidic world. He talks about secret learning, travels doing outreach, doubts around messianic fervor, the shock of shaving his beard, and choosing secular education and a different path in love and family. The conversation traces cultural ties, grief, and the complexities of exit.

Zalman Newfield, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies who left Lubavitch Hasidism, tells a personal memoir of growing up in Crown Heights. He recounts messianic fervor, secret learning and worldwide outreach. He describes doubt, the symbolic act of shaving his beard, pursuing secular education, and building a life that bridges tradition and the wider world.