Jewish Geographies: Spatial Narratives of Orthodox Jewish Leavetakers in Toronto

Through interviews with twenty self-described leavetakers from a wide range of Orthodox Jewish lifestyles in Toronto, Canada, this dissertation argues that leavetaking from normative Orthodox Judaism does not mean exiting Judaism or even stopping observance completely. Study data illustrates how leavetakers instead embark on individual journeys towards what they perceive as greater personal Jewish authenticity. They do so by restructuring their Jewishness from a perspective coloured anew by their leavetaking trajectories. Their experiences living in their old normatively Orthodox community, leaving these communities, and returning to Jewish Toronto post-disaffiliation to maintain contact with their families of origin all contribute to their new Jewish identities. Using a framework highlighting the effects of spatial and social Jewish Geography on disaffiliation and identity change, I adapt sociologist Wayne Brekhus’ typologies of gay identity disclosure in my investigation of Orthodox leavetaking trajectories. In addition, by expanding inclusion criteria to include both Haredi and other observant leavetakers towards a broader “Orthodox” participant sample, this research addresses a wider discourse on permeable religious boundaries than existing scholarship on leaving Judaism typically offers. My analysis uncovers a variety of local models for changing religiosity, from firm rejection of normative observance to break-taking and eventual return to an amended Orthodoxy and beyond. Leavetakers seek out and develop for themselves an adjacent “other Jewishness” sometimes still within observant Judaism but distinctly different from normative Orthodoxy, finding that established denominational categories do not correspond with their reconstituted Judaism. These narratives offer profound insights into what post-leavetaking Judaism looks like for disaffiliates who find themselves in indeterminate spaces still within Judaism—not outside of it.Ph.D