ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to shed light on the balance between religious community maintenance and new media production within the Jewish world and beyond. To examine the modes of legitimation, focus is placed on comparing select American Jewish communities, namely, that of the ultra-Orthodox, Chabad and the Reform movement. Community members and rabbis interviewed discussed at length the importance of and the ways in which the internet is rooted into their lives and how Jewish features of new media are integrated into their everyday lives. The chapter investigates the forms of legitimation that are manifest amongst three Jewish denominations and uncovered three corresponding schemes: The Dualist scheme discusses monitored legitimacy by Haredim; Purposeful draws on charismatic and traditional legitimacy entails an outward effort to disseminate Chabad-Chassidic teachings; and Inclusive Adoption is validated through popular-modernistic legitimacy. Past research on digital religion has offered a rich discussion of the introduction of new media into everyday lives of believers and clergy.
