“[T]his deeper dive into this community gives us a picture of not just Orthodox Judaism, but American Judaism as a whole.”
— Andrew Lillien, AJL News & Reviews
“The Cleveland Orthodox community is privileged that Professor Ira Robinson brought his abundant talents as a researcher, comfortable with multiple Jewish languages, and willing to wade through dusty archival documents and synagogue records that were ignored by others to bring to life the development over a century of an intriguing Jewish group. In focusing on a mid-size Jewish community—whose story is very different from that of Orthodoxy’s New York epicenter—the field of American Jewish history is privileged by an outstanding work that broadens the geographical scope of our discipline. Scholars will embrace his important labors. General audiences will find that his accessible prose makes for enjoyable reading.”
— Jeffrey Gurock, Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University
“With precision and perspicaciousness, Dr. Ira Robinson has produced a case study of Orthodox Judaism in Cleveland that’s much more than a local history. In Cleveland, Ohio, Robinson has found a dynamic religious history that deepens our understanding of migration; denominational fluidity and rigidity; and the role of rabbinic authority in dictating the contours of religious change in the United States. This book is a model for how to negotiate the ‘micro’ and the ‘macro’ of Jewish history, full of new material and ideas that will engage scholars and all interested readers.”
— Zev Eleff, President of Gratz College and Professor of American Jewish History
“Scholarly interest in North American Orthodox Judaism has grown considerably in the past few decades and Ira Robinson has made a seminal contribution to this field. His work, which is predicated on deep erudition and meticulous archival research, stands out for introducing figures and local communities outside the massive concentrations in the greater New York region to the overall story. Indeed, in his examination of the trajectory of Cleveland Orthodoxy, not only does he bring to light fascinating episodes and personalities, each chapter offers a point of departure for identifying how this smaller but significant collective colors the broader narrative of the dynamic and increasingly influential Orthodox religious stream.”
— Adam S. Ferziger, Professor and holder of the Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Chair for the Study of the Torah and Derekh Erez Movement, Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Bar-Ilan University
