Samuel C. Heilman is a professor of Sociology at Queens College, City University of New York, who focuses on social ethnography of contemporary Jewish Orthodox movements.
After World War II, the family went to West Germany with the encouragement of the American occupation forces, who wanted a Jewish presence there.
Heilman holds the Harold Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, and is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Queens College, City University of New York.
[3][4] 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.
The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was declared a 2011 Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine and was winner of a 2010 National Jewish Book Award.
(Friedman was also criticized for not disclosing that he had served as an expert witness against the rebbe in a lawsuit involving ownership of the Chabad library, which may invite suspicion of an agenda-driven or biased opinion.
[15] Jonathan Mark of the New York Jewish Week derided the book in a review, including a section where he referred to a "spitball [rather than] any substantiated academic conclusion, not what you'd expect from a pair of professors who demand to be taken seriously.
[18] 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.
[19] Heilman is the author of a number of articles and reviews, as well as ten books: Synagogue Life, The People of the Book, The Gate Behind the Wall, A Walker in Jerusalem, Cosmopolitans and Parochials: Modern Orthodox Jews in America (co-authored with Steven M. Cohen), Defenders of the Faith: Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewry, Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 20th Century, When a Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son, Sliding to the Right: The Contest for the Future of American Jewish Orthodoxy, and The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (co-authored with Menachem Friedman).