In recent years, many formerly ultra-Orthodox Jews have documented leaving their communities in published stories, films, and memoirs. This movement is often identified as "off thederech" (OTD), or off the path, with the idea that the "path" is paved by Jewish law, rituals, and practices found within their birth communities. This volume tells the powerful stories of people abandoning their religious communities and embarking on uncertain journeys toward new lives and identities within mainstream society.Off the Derech is divided into two parts: stories and analysis. The first includes original selections from contemporary American and global authors writing about their OTD experiences. The second features chapters by scholars representing such diverse fields as literature, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, religion, and gender studies. The interdisciplinary lenses provide a range of methodologies by which readers can better understand this significant phenomenon within contemporary Jewish society.

Introduction
Jessica Lang

Part I: Stories

My Father, Myself
Naomi Seidman

That Long and Winding Road
Joshua Halberstam

The Law of Return
Morris Dickstein

Tuesdays with Facebook
Shulem Deen

Black Hat, Combat Helmet, Thinking Cap: A Mostly Philosophical Memoir
Mark Zelcer

How I Lost My Innocence
Frieda Vizel

The Trickster Bride
Leah Vincent

A Stranger among Familiar Faces: Navigating Complicated Familial Relationships When Leaving the Hasidic Community
Frimet Goldberger

Uncovered: An Interview with Leah Lax
Jessica Lang and Ezra Cappell

Excerpts fromUncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home (Chapter 18)
Leah Lax

Part II: Analysis

Between Us: Intimacy in Women's Off-the-Derech Memoirs
Jessica Lang

The Embodied Process ofHaredi Defection
Lynn Davidman

The Right to Education: Israeli OTD People and Their Struggle for a Fair Chance
Moshe Shenfeld

In Terms of OTD
Shira Schwartz

Notes from the Field: Footsteps' Evolution and Approach to Supporting Individuals Leaving the Ultra-Orthodox Community
Rachel Berger, Tsivia Finman, and Lani Santo

Educational Attainments among Disaffiliates from Ultra-Orthodoxy
Miriam R. Moster

Representation, Recognition and Institutionalization of a New Community: Reflection on the Mediatization of Former Ultra-Orthodox Jews
Jessica Roda

The Social Practices and Linguistic Spaces of Shababniks in Brooklyn
Gabi Abramac

The OTD Struggle: Telling a More Compelling Story
Naftuli Moster

Off the Derech and into the Wild: Navigating Jewish American Identity
Ezra Cappell

Contributors
Index