Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
Jewish Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...
movements.
Personal
Heilman was born in May, 1946, to Henry and Lucia Heilman, both Polish survivors of the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
who were saved by
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ...
. After World War II, the family went to
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
with the encouragement of the American occupation forces, who wanted a Jewish presence there. Heilman is married to Ellin Marcia Heilman, a psychologist in private practice. Together, they live in New Rochelle, NY and have four children - Adam, Uriel, Avram, and Jonah.
Scholarship
Heilman holds the Harold Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies at the
CUNY Graduate Center
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the C ...
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
.
Heilman has been frequently quoted in, and written op-ed pieces for various publications that reflect his standing as a respected voice on issues relating to American Jewish life.
Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world founded in 1971.
Purpose
The ASSJ comprises primarily academics, but ...
. He also was awarded the highest university rank of Distinguished Professor of Sociology by the City University of New York.
Heilman is also the recipient of fellowships from the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitt ...
. He received a Distinguished Faculty Award from the City University of New York in 1985 and 1987. He has been a member of the board of the
Association for Jewish Studies
The Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) is a scholarly organization in the United States that promotes academic Jewish Studies. The AJS was founded in 1969 and held its first annual conference that year at Brandeis University. In 1976, the AJS ...
, the
YIVO
YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...
Annual and the Max Weinreich Center.
For his books
''The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson'', was declared a 2011
Outstanding Academic Title
Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). It includes the magazine ''Choice'' as well as other products including the ''Choice Reviews'' database. The magazine was established in 1964. It is cons ...
by
Choice Magazine
Choice consists of the mental process of thinking involved with the process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them for action.
Choice may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Binomial coefficient, a mathematical function des ...
and was winner of a 2010
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Present Tense Magazine Literary Award for the best book of 1984 in the "Religious Thought" category. ''A Walker in Jerusalem'' received a
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.irst
An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters.
IR ...
Gratz College
Gratz College is a private Jewish college in Melrose Park, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origins to 1856 when banker, philanthropist, and communal leader Hyman Gratz and the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia (established in 1849 ...
Tuttleman Library Centennial Award. ''When a Jew Dies'' won both the Koret Award in 2003 and a National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought in 2001.
Criticism
As a scholar who writes about different sectors of the Jewish community, Heilman's statements have been a target for both praise and criticism. Together with Menachem Friedman, Heilman authored "The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson".
Aside from the book's selection as a recipient of the 2012
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature."outstanding biography" as did th Library Journal Allan Nadler writing in the Forward called it "lively and provocative" and pointed to its "rich" chapters". In Moment, former poet laureate Robert Pinsk the book, as di Jewish_Ideas_Daily .html" ;"title="Jewish Ideas Daily">Jewish Ideas Daily ">Jewish Ideas Daily">Jewish Ideas Daily th Tablet th Jewish Post and Opinion and many others.
The book was also reviewed in th New York Times.
Despite these accolades, some of the author's conclusions, as well as their methodology and research, were later criticized by some, including Chaim Rapoport, in a book titled ''The Afterlife of Scholarship - A Critical Review of 'The Rebbe by Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman. (Friedman was also criticized for not disclosing that he had served as an
expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
against the rebbe in a lawsuit involving ownership of the
Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic grou ...
library, which may invite suspicion of an agenda-driven or biased opinion. Heilman responded that "we have no ax to grind".)
Shortly after publication Orthodox Rabbi
Shmuley Boteach
Jacob Shmuel Boteach ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, and television host. Boteach is the author of 31 books, including the best seller ''Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy'', and '' Kosher Jes ...
criticized the book, writing in ''
The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper ...
'' that the book's central thesis had a "fatal flaw", though he concluded that the book had "merit" and provided a "humanizing portrait." David Klinghoffer asserted that "there are peculiar omissions and contradictions. ... Readers of this biography may wonder if the authors have failed to grasp their subject", in his review for London's '' Jewish Chronicle''. Jonathan Mark of the ''New York Jewish Week'' derided the book in a review, including a section where he referred to a "spitball ather thanany substantiated academic conclusion, not what you'd expect from a pair of professors who demand to be taken seriously."
Controversy
In 1996, Heilman was quoted in the press as opposing the appointment of Thomas Bird as head of the Jewish Studies program at Queens College. Leon Wieseltier, literary editor for the New Republic, criticized Heilman for "behaving like a tribalist". Queens College President Allen Sessoms also criticized Heilman, though he subsequently appointed the late Dr. Benny Kraut, an Orthodox Jew, as head of the program.
The Jewish Week
''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish W ...
'', and is currently the editor-in-chief of ''
Contemporary Jewry
''Contemporary Jewry'' is a peer reviewed academic journal published by the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals w ...