Cover Story
Leaving the Fold: The OU’s new study provides insight into attrition
JA StaffThe study aims to develop a more robust and wide-ranging understanding of the different ways and reasons people leave Orthodoxy.
In This Section
Why Study Attrition? by Dr. Moshe Krakowski
Parenting on Different Pages by Merri Ukraincik
When School and Family Don’t Match by S. Schreiber
The OU’s Center for Communal Research study, “Attrition and Connection in American Orthodox Judaism,” can be read in full here: https://research.ou.org/research/.
Some names throughout the cover story have been changed to protect individuals’ privacy.
This article was featured in the Spring 2025 (5785)
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A group that hasn’t been selected for this research are Holocaust survivors and children of Holocaust survivors who tried to maintain traditional values. For economic reasons many Holocaust survivors needed to work on Shabbat but sent their kids to the Yeshiva. The cognitive dissonance for the kids- what they were taught and ehat their families did – and their interaction with children more observant families needs investigation. Many of these kids were ostracized by their peers. It’s not hard to see why many who left the fold gravitated towards Conservative Judaism or Reform Judaism, or simply identify as Traditional Jews… Read more »