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Religion, it has been noted, speaks the language of violence as often as of peace. This article explores the pronounced role of military language and a martial outlook in one particularly intriguing and unlikely branch of Judaism, the Satmar Hasidic movement. Widely known for its posture of theological quietism, Satmar Hasidism, under the leadership of founding rabbi Joel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), has frequently engaged in combative struggle against its foes, especially Zionism. This article highlights this martial impulse by examining three episodes in which the Teitelbaum family and Satmar Hasidim were engaged in conflict, exemplified by the publication of a series of books under the title \"Commanded War.\" Ranging over a century, these episodes reveal the way in which the pervasive language of war emerged out of a sense of the grave perils posed by modernity. They also illustrate how the martial language of Satmar turns over time from a focus on external enemies to a focus on internal rivals.

Despite a well-documented connection between religion and mortality, the link between religion and obesityrelated outcomes and behaviors has not been adequately studied, particularly among adolescents. This study examines whether self-reported religious beliefs influence decisions about physical activity and diet in a sample of Jewish adolescents (n = 351). The results show that reporting a stronger influence of religious beliefs on health behaviors is associated with behaviors related to physical activity, but not diet. In adjusted regression models, individuals who report that their religious beliefs influence decisions about being physically active \"a lot\" have significantly more active days per week than those who say their religious beliefs do not influence such decisions. Similar effects are seen with regard to the students' overall amount of sedentary time. The results shed light on previously documented relationships between religion and health, provide practical implications for religious organizations and leaders, and suggest areas for future research.

We use a case study of individuals who leave ultra-Orthodox Judaism to illustrate that essential characteristics of the institutions they leave, such as their degree of encapsulation, shape both processes and narratives of identity change. Through examining the narratives of these exiters and comparing them to the literature on conversion into strict religious groups, we find that there is more institutional support for conversion into a group than for disaffiliating from a group. In conversion, recruits are provided with institutional scripts that shape their narratives; those who leave strict religious communities have no parallel ready-made accounts. Those that leave ultra-Orthodoxy state that they did not have a language to guide them in their transition into secular society. Nevertheless, despite their presentation of themselves as \"scriptless\" they also present themselves as brave individuals who are proud of their ability to leave a community that had encompassed all aspects of life.

This article analyzes the determinants of the earnings of American Jewish men using the 2000/2001 National Jewish Population Survey. Nonresponse to the question on earnings is analyzed. Earnings are related to conventional human capital variables, as well as Jewish-specific variables. Except for the size of place and region variables, the standard human capital variables have similar effects for Jewish men and the general male population. Jewish day schooling as a youth enhances earnings. Earnings vary by denomination, with Jewish men who identify their denomination as Conservative earning the most, with secular and Orthodox Jews earning less. The effect on earnings of religiosity (measured by synagogue attendance) is not monotonic. Earnings are highest for those who attend about once a week, are lower for those who attend daily, and are lowest for those who never attend.

In scholarly usage, the term \"religious radicalism\" has two somewhat conflicting definitions. In the context of the conflict between tradition and modernity, \"religious radicalism\" tends to refer to a hard-line traditionalist position opposed to innovation; that is, a forceful affirmation of the authority of traditional religious law (or dogma) and the struggle against those who would abrogate it. Some leaders of Orthodox Judaism in Hungary and Galicia--certain Hasidic masters among them--have been considered religious radicals in this sense of the term. When referring to heterodox movements, however, the term \"religious radicalism\" often refers to a bold, nonconformist, revolutionary religious position that tests the boundaries of religious law (or dogma) and, at times, goes beyond them. Here, Brown suggests a somewhat rough terminology in order to categorize the two types of religious radicalism.

The purpose of this article is to outline the ideological and theological controversy over the issue of conversion to Judaism in Israel that has remained on the agenda of the Israeli public discourse since its founding (1948). Through an analysis of the viewpoints of three central political and religious leaders on this issue, this article aims to demonstrate that beyond fierce political debate, the disagreement lies within what each leader views as adequate interpretations of Jewish history and religion in the modern State of Israel. This comprehensive dispute illustrates that the three sides cast the meaning of Israel's basic character differently—as either a Jewish secular nation-state, a Jewish religious state, or rather a combination of the two. Thus, the controversy over conversion highlights the fact that Israel has not yet succeeded in forming a consensual conception of its definition as a \"Jewish state.\"

This paper explores the manner in which Jewish community contexts relate to Jewish identity. We employ the Decade 2000 Data Set that contains almost 20,000 randomly selected Jewish households from 22 American Jewish communities interviewed from 2000 to 2010. Because of the large sample size, and its incorporation of community infrastructure data, this research also is able to examine various influences on Jewish identity that have not been definitively addressed in previous research, including the manner in which characteristics of Jewish community infrastructure are related to individuals' Jewish identity. The Decade 2000 Data Set used for the analysis is described and some of the methodological considerations involved in its use are presented. Jewish identity is conceptualized as multidimensional, and a factor analysis results in four Jewish identity factors: a communal religious factor, a private religious factor, a broader ethnic factor, and a local ethnic factor. Multiple regressions for each of the Jewish identity factors are related to Jewish community characteristics; more commonly researched individuallevel variables (Jewish background and connections, family status, socioeconomic status, demographic/geographic characteristics); and survey-level variables (such as size of sample and year of study) are also controlled. Surprisingly, except for the local ethnic factor, Jewish community characteristics have little relationship to individual Jewish identity. The contributions to a \"sociology of Jewish place\" and suggestions for further research are also discussed.