Menachem Friedman (; born 1936 – 16 March 2020) was an Israeli

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of sociology at

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

Ramat-Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exchanges), S ...

. His expertise was religion and the confrontations between religious and secular Judaism in modern history. He also studied the modern process of

Halachic ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mitz ...

decision making. Friedman was considered one of the leading researchers of

Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

Judaism.

Biography

Friedman was born and raised in Bnei Brak, British Mandate of Palestine to Jewish parents. Before entering the academic world, Menachem Friedman was a student at Yishuv Hehadash yeshiva in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. He studied for about a year at the Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem

Academic career

Friedman's interest in the Lubavicher rebbe led to the publication of a book co-authored with

Samuel Heilman Samuel C. Heilman is a professor of Sociology at Queens College, 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 ...

: "The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson". Many of their conclusions, as well as their methodology and research, were criticized by Chaim Rapoport - - in "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 Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

library, which invited suspicion of bias.,Patricia Cohen, NY Times, June 14, 2010. whereas Rapaport is a rabbi closely associated with the Lubavicher sect.

Published works

*''Society and Religion: The Non-Zionist Orthodoxy in Eretz-Israel, 1918–1936.'' Jerusalem, Yad Ben-Zvi, 1st edition, 1978; 2nd edition, 1982. (Hebrew). *''Growth and Segregation – The Ultra-Orthodox Community of Jerusalem,'' (with J. Shilhav), The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, Jerusalem 1986 (Hebrew). *''The Haredi Ultra-Orthodox Society: Sources Trends and Processes'', The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, Jerusalem 1991 (Hebrew). *''Society in a Crisis of Legitimization – The Ashkenazi Old Yishuv – 1900–1917'', Mosad Byalik & The Israeli Academy of Science 2001, (Hebrew). *''Haredi Violence in Contemporary Israeli Society'', P. Medding (ed.), Studies in Contemporary Jewry, Vol. 18, 2002, pp. 186–197. *''Haredim and Palestinians in Jerusalem'', M.J. Bereger and O. Ahimeir (eds.), Jerusalem, a City and its Future, Syracuse University Press, 2002, pp. 235–254. *''The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson'' (with S. Heilman), Princeton University Press, Princeton 2010 (English).

References

External links

Menachem Friedman's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Menachem Judaic scholars Israeli sociologists Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University 1936 births 2020 deaths People from Bnei Brak Hebron Yeshiva alumni