Each Amish community (or “district”) develops its own, unwritten rules of conduct, called the Ordnung.Representatives from several dozen families meet twice a year to discuss possible changes ...

We tend to think of the Amish as one united people, but there are many different ways of being Amish. Each community, and there are dozens throughout the U.S. and the world, has its own Ordnung ...

The Amish Ordnung, the code that governs life together, turns out to be not a cage but a pathway, leading to a distinct kind of freedom. But the older world still speaks powerfully.

While Amish rules (called the Ordnung) differ among settlements--some of the strictest ban all motors--Amish leaders allow changes that make shops more competitive if they don't threaten basic values.

Torah Bontrager, the founder and director of the nonprofit Amish Heritage Foundation, speaks about a scene from "Ordnung, An Amish Ballet" during a performance at The HÜG Place in Akron on Friday ...

Torah Bontrager, the founder and director of the nonprofit Amish Heritage Foundation, (left) and Joan Van Dyke, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania dance professor who created and choreographed ...

Torah Bontrager, the founder and director of the nonprofit Amish Heritage Foundation, speaks about a scene from "Ordnung, An Amish Ballet" during a performance at The HÜG Place in Akron on Friday ...