Samuel Heilman

Samuel Heilman is a professor of Sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York who focuses on social ethnography of contemporary Jewish Orthodox movements.

Personal

Heilman was born in May, 1946, to Henry and Lucia Heilman, both Polish survivors of the Holocaust who were saved by Oskar Schindler. After World War II the family went to West Germany with the encouragement of the American occupation forces, who wanted a Jewish presence there.^[1] Heilman is married to Ellin Marcia Heilman, a psychologist in private practice. Together, they have four children, Adam, Uriel, Avram and Jonah.

Scholarship

Heilman holds the Harold Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center of Queens College of the City University of New York, where he also serves as a Distinguished Professor of Sociology.^[2][3] Heilman has been frequently quoted in, and written op ed pieces for various publications that reflect his standing as a respected voice on issues relating to American Jewish life.^[4][5]

Awards

In 2004, Heilman won the Marshall Sklare Memorial Award for his lifetime of scholarship from the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry he also was awarded the highest university rank of Distinguished Professor of Sociology by the City University of New York. His books have received various awards: The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was declared a 2011 Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine and was winner of the 2010 National Jewish Book Award. The Gate Behind the Wall, was honored with the Present Tense Magazine Literary Award for the best book of 1984 in the "Religious Thought" category. A Walker in Jerusalem received the National Jewish Book Award for 1987 and Defenders of the Faith was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for 1992. Portrait of American Jewry: The Last Half of the 20th Century was honored with the 1996 [first] Gratz College Tuttleman Library Centennial Award. When a Jew Dies won both the Koret Award in 2003 and the National Jewish Book Award in 2004. Heilman is also the recipient of fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Mellon Foundation. He received a Distinguished Faculty Award from the City University of New York in 1985 and 1987. He has been a member of the board of the Association for Jewish Studies, the YIVO Annual and the Max Weinreich Center.

Criticism

As a scholar who writes about different sectors of the Jewish community, Heilman's statements have been a target for both praise and criticism. Together with Menachem Friedman, Heilman authored "The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson". Many of the authors conclusions, as well as their methodology and research were later criticized by some scholars including Chaim Rapoport in a book titled " "The Afterlife of Scholarship - A Critical Review of 'The Rebbe' by Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman". (Friedman was also criticised for not disclosing that he had served as an expert witness against the rebbe in a lawsuit involving ownership of the Chabad library, which may invite suspicion of an agenda-driven or biased opinion. Heilman responded that "we have no ax to grind".^[6]) Shortly after publication Shmuley Boteach criticized the book, writing in the Jerusalem Post that the book's central thesis had a "fatal flaw", though he concluded that the book had "merit" and provided a "humanizing portrait."^[7] David Klinghoffer asserted that "there are peculiar omissions and contradictions. [...] Readers of this biography may wonder if the authors have failed to grasp their subject," in his review for London's Jewish Chronicle.^[8] Jonathan Mark of the New York Jewish Week derided the book in a review, including a section where he referred to a "spitball [rather than] any substantiated academic conclusion, not what you'd expect from a pair of professors who demand to be taken seriously."^[9]

These criticisms contrast with various positive reviews: Aside from the book's selection as a recipient of the 2012 National Jewish Book Award, Publishers Weekly called the book an "outstanding biography," as did the Library Journal. Allan Nadler writing in the Forward called it "lively and provocative" and pointed to its "rich" chapters."^[10] In Moment, former poet laureate Robert Pinsky praised the book, as did Jewish Ideas Daily, the Tablet, the Jewish Post and Opinion and many others. The book was also reviewed in the feature story New York Times.^[11]

Controversy

After Heilman's publication of Sliding to the Right: The Contest for the Future of American Jewish Orthodoxy, Dr. Marvin Schick, a former political-science professor at Hunter College, dedicated his weekly article in the Jewish Week to the book, calling it "nonsense and offensive."^[12][13] Schick further asserted that Heilman "detests much of the Orthodox community" and that this influences the objectivity of his scholarship.^[14] In 1996 Heilman was quoted in the press as opposing the appointment of Thomas Bird as head of the Jewish Studies department at Queens College. A major controversy erupted when Heilman's opposition spilled over into the media. Most of Heilman's colleagues opposed his position, and he was criticized by the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League. Leon Wieseltier, literary editor for the New Republic also criticized Heilman for "behaving like a tribalist."^[15] Queens College President Allen Sessoms also criticized Heilman, though he subsequently appointed the late Dr. Benny Kraut, an Orthodox Jew, as head of the program.^[16]

In October 2012, Ami Magazine published an extensive cover article and interview with Professor Heilman. The article and interview investigated Heilman and his methods and reported finding "gaps in his knowledge of Jewish matters", and published evidence of Heilman's "outright distortions". The article examined a number of obvious mis-translations, the resulting mistaken conclusions that Heilman adopts, and accuses him of "extremely negative and often false statements..." Heilman is also accused of demonstrating "extreme bias against the subjects of his work."^[17]

Works

Heilman is the author of a number of articles and reviews as well as ten books: Synagogue Life, The People of the Book, The Gate Behind the Wall, A Walker in Jerusalem, Cosmopolitans and Parochials: Modern Orthodox Jews in America (co-authored with Steven M. Cohen), Defenders of the Faith: Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewry, Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 20th Century, When a Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son, Sliding to the Right: The Contest for the Future of American Jewish Orthodoxy, and The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (co-authored with Menachem Friedman). Heilman is also editor of the Death, Bereavement, and Mourning (Transaction Books, 2005), and is a frequent contributor to a number of magazines and newspapers. For a time, he was a regular columnist for The Jewish Week, and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Jewry.^[18]

External links

• Prof. Samuel Heilman's webpage at Queens College/CUNY
• Books by Samuel Heilman on Amazon.com
• Articles by Samuel Heilman on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
• Debate between Chaim Rapoport and Samuel Heilman

References