Suburbia may not seem like much of a place to pioneer, but for
young, religiously committed Jewish families, it's open territory."
This sentiment--expressed in the early 1970s by an Orthodox Jew in
suburban Toronto--captures the essence of the suburban Orthodox
Jewish experience of the late twentieth century. Although rarely
associated with postwar suburbia, Orthodox Jews in metropolitan
areas across the United States and Canada have successfully
combined suburban lifestyles and the culture of consumerism with a
strong sense of religious traditionalism and community cohesion. By
their very existence in suburbia, argues Etan Diamond, Orthodox
Jewish communities challenge dominant assumptions about society and
religious culture in the twentieth century.
Using the history of Orthodox Jewish suburbanization in Toronto,
Diamond explores the different components of the North American
suburban Orthodox Jewish community: sacred spaces, synagogues,
schools, kosher homes, and social networks. In a larger sense,
though, his book tells a story of how traditionalist religious
communities have thrived in the most secular of environments. In so
doing, it pushes our current understanding of cities and suburbs
and their religious communities in new directions.