UM Lectures identify orthodox welfare influencers

Ayala Fader will present the University of Michigan Bellin Lecture exploring Orthodox Jewish welfare influencers and their role in social media and politics.

The University of Michigan’s Frankel Center for Jewish Studies has announced that Fordham University professor Ayala Fader will present the 36th David W. Belin Lecture titled “Influencers of Orthodox Jewish Welfare in the Age of Viral Politics.”

This free public event will be held on Thursday, March 26 in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union, beginning with a pre-letter reception at 5:30 p.m.

Fader is a professor of anthropology and Jewish studies at Fordham University. She is the author of award-winning books Mu’tazila girls (2009) and hidden bastards (2020). We caught up with Professor Fader to get a sneak peek at the topics and questions he’ll be exploring – and why you won’t want to miss this event.

Q: Your next Belen lecture will detail the health implications of Orthodox Jewish women to the world. What prompted you to choose this topic, and why is it currently being discussed?

of the: I just posted Hidden Heretics: Jewish Skepticism in the Digital Agewhich examined religious skepticism and the Internet, when I began research for a new book about Orthodox Jewish responses to the pandemic during the pandemic. In 2022, Orthodox rabbis in New York and New Jersey held a mass rally urging women to leave Instagram, which had become a hot spot for women during the pandemic. The rise of firm welfare influencers on Instagram has made all kinds of surprising connections, especially between Orthodox Jewish and conservative Christian women influencers, who share beliefs around traditional families, bodily sovereignty and religious freedom. As a longtime ethnographer of Orthodox Jews in New York, I couldn’t resist exploring these themes, which led to unexpected—and perhaps unintended—religious connections.

Beyond the concerns of Jewish studies, the health industry has become a growing economic, political, and social phenomenon in our increasingly politically polarized world. Religious welfare influencers, especially women, play a major role in the growing challenges to scientific and religious expertise and authority. We should pay attention to their effects because they affect us all.

Q: Without spoiling the main discoveries, can you share some interesting questions or challenges that you will raise in the lecture?

of the: In the lecture I will analyze my findings of similarities and differences between Orthodox Jewish influencers and their conservative Christian counterparts. This leads to questions about how the firm’s influencers are inspired by Christian influencers, where they make religious distinctions, what the points of connection are and where it breaks down.

More generally, I will show the importance of examining what I call the “interethnic clashes” between Jewish and Christian women. These are sites where Jewish and Christian women encounter each other, always mediated by social media platforms such as Instagram or YouTube. A major question I will raise is what Jewish women’s welfare influencers can tell us about the position of Jewish Orthodoxy in the development of contemporary illiberal politics in the United States and the world.

Q: For people unfamiliar with the firm’s health impact, why do you think their online presence is worth exploring both academically and personally?

of the: Firm welfare influencers are a new phenomenon, challenging many assumptions about the dynamics between Jewish Orthodoxy, gender and social media. In addition, my research shows that firm health influencers, along with Christian health influences, contribute to the gender aspect of a political project: redefining American religion as public, political, racial and biblical, including support for Israel. At the same time, growing antisemitism and race ambivalence among Orthodox Jews made firm influencers occupy an uneasy position in this political project.

I have studied Orthodox Jews, especially Orthodox women, for over 25 years. Orthodox Jewish women continue to appeal to me because they defy many secular expectations for religious femininity. At the same time, sharing space and history with Orthodox Jews continues to shape my own ethical reflection on what it means to be a Jewish woman and how to write about my research.

Q: For those interested in the impact of social media on religious communities, what new insights or perspectives do you hope your lecture will provide?

of the: Research on religion and the media has shown that the media, broadly conceived, can either support or challenge religious authority. The 2026 Beylin Lecture will show how social media creates spaces for interfaith encounters, where Jewish and Christian women share social and political goals. This can inadvertently create dialogue and exchange between religious groups with different histories, which openly reject each other’s views as truth. From a Jewish studies perspective, this insight points to the importance of studying Jewish Orthodoxy not as a closed, traditional community, but as a contemporary movement grappling with history and politics today.

Question: Finally, what do you hope people leave thinking or even asking after attending your lecture?

of the: After my lecture, I hope people will see health influencers as serious business, reminding us all that politics happens in unexpected places. We must ask how Orthodox Jews and Conservative Christians relate, as well as the ethics of how we study these processes. More broadly, I hope to raise questions about religion and the health industry.

International confrontations show us unexpected positions on health, including vaccine sensitivity, conspiracy theories and alternative medicine. Firm welfare influencers are an important way in which illiberal religion, gender, and media align in new and disruptive ways.

RSVP for Thursday, March 26, with a pre-lecture reception starting at 5:30 pm at https://myumi.ch/15PN8 .