Young Men in Israeli Haredi Yeshiva Education

Young Men in Israeli Haredi Yeshiva Education
Author: Yohai Hakak
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2012-09-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004235760

By looking at the case of Lithuanian yeshivas in Israel, Yohai Hakak’s book explores the internal tensions and dynamics of religious orders during a stage of a relative ‘loss of charisma’, in which the enthusiasm of the founding generation has diminished. It is the first study to include participant observations conducted within these institutions, which are the sacred heart of this segregated and highly religious community. The book highlights the current crisis these fundamentalist institutions are going through marked by a dramatic growth in yeshiva dropout rates. It examines the new and innovative ways the rabbis are trying to respond to the crisis. As part of these attempts the rabbinical discourse portrays a unique utopian and egalitarian world governed by supernatural forces and unlimited spiritual resources and incorporates Western psychological and democratic ideas. "Hakak's book is a great scholarly achievement." Motti Inbari, University of North Carolina at Pembroke "In sum, the book manages to elaborate on important developments and changes in the Haredi world: The emergence of cautious deviance, questioning of old ideals, or the rise of individuality. At the same time Hakak explains how these changes inflict strains upon the social structure of the Haredi world. The book can be therefore recommended particularly to scholars dealing with the development within the Haredi society." Peter Lintl, Institut ür Politische Wissenschaft, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Young Men in Israeli Haredi Yeshiva Education

Young Men in Israeli Haredi Yeshiva Education
Author: Yohai Hakak
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2012-09-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004234691

The internal tensions and conflicts central to Haredi Lithuanian yeshivas in contemporary Israel are described with a focus on the rabinical authorities' attempts to respond to these difficulties and the changes the Haredi community is experiencing as a result

Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics

Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics
Author: Yohai Hakak
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2016-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004319344

In Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics: The Sage, the Warrior and the Entrepreneur, Hakak takes us on a fascinating journey into the world of young Haredi men who dare to leave Jewish Haredi religious seminaries (Yeshivas and Kollels) and explore new territories. Through extensive participant observations in a Haredi army basic training course, an occupational training program in Hi-Tech professions and the Haredi Headquarter of the Likud Party, Hakak explores the interactions between young Haredi men and the cultural and masculine models they meet in these new sites. Hakak’s observations expose the varying ways in which Haredi masculinities are being re-shaped through such interactions, and how this is impacting the Haredi minority and Israeli society more broadly.

The Concept of ›Ruach Ra‘ah‹ in Contemporary Rabbinic Responsa (1945–2000)

The Concept of ›Ruach Ra‘ah‹ in Contemporary Rabbinic Responsa (1945–2000)
Author: Leon Mock
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2021-10-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110699885

The concept of ‘Ruakh Ra‘ah’ (Evil Spirit), is extremely rare in the Tanach, but is found much more frequently in post-Biblical rabbinic literature and even more in publications by rabbis of the last two centuries. This study focuses on the quite neglected period of responsa literature after the Second World War until the present. This literature consist fo answers given to questions about religious rules. The notion of the 'evil spirit' is strongly connected to the ritual of washing hands in the morning, but also before a meal, in connection with sexual relations and with visiting a graveyard. The washing of hands is supposed to be necessary to ward off bad influences. This ritual can be understood in between mysticism, gender studies, magic and embodied religion. This book analyses the meaning and role of the ‘Ruakh Ra‘ah’ in a corpus of almost 200 rabbinic orthodox response from 1945-2000. What happens to the term Ruakh Ra‘ah in these modern responsa? Does the ritual persist without being associated with the Ruakh Ra‘ah, or does the term continue to be linked to the ritual, but reinterpreted in cause of the possible tension between the traditional rabbinic paradigm and the modern scientific knowledge paradigm. The connection between this ritual and the stratification of the (ultra) orthodox society and cosmological representations offers a clue to the rationale of this practice. Questions of identity, gender and community boundaries that divide insiders from outsiders (Jewish and non-Jewish) seem to be related to the discourse in the corpus on this ritual. As the Ruakh Ra‘ah stands at the intersection between magical perceptions, religion (ritual), and premodern science (medicine) it is suitable as a possible test case for the way in which modern rabbinic responsa deal with other archaic terms and concepts that are related or comparable to the Ruakh Raah. This book is relevant to the debate on the relation of religion to the modern world as it provides insights into the ways contemporary believers deal with the modern world, and the various mechanisms to deal with potential discrepancies.

Directed by God

Directed by God
Author: Yaron Peleg
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2016-09-13
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1477309519

As part of its effort to forge a new secular Jewish nation, the nascent Israeli state tried to limit Jewish religiosity. However, with the steady growth of the ultraorthodox community and the expansion of the settler community, Israeli society is becoming increasingly religious. Although the arrival of religious discourse in Israeli politics has long been noticed, its cultural development has rarely been addressed. Directed by God explores how the country’s popular media, principally film and television, reflect this transformation. In doing so, it examines the changing nature of Zionism and the place of Judaism within it. Once the purview of secular culture, Israel’s media initially promoted alternatives to traditional religious expression; however, using films such as Kadosh, Waltz with Bashir, and Eyes Wide Open, Yaron Peleg shows how Israel’s contemporary film and television programs have been shaped by new religious trends and how secular Israeli culture has processed and reflected on its religious heritage. He investigates how shifting cinematic visions of Jewish masculinity and gender track transformations in the nation’s religious discourse. Moving beyond the secular/religious divide, Directed by God explores changing film and television representations of different Jewish religious groups, assessing what these representations may mean for the future of Israeli society.

Gender, Families and Transmission in the Contemporary Jewish Context

Gender, Families and Transmission in the Contemporary Jewish Context
Author: Martine Gross
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2017-05-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1443892327

Bringing together social science researchers from France, Israel, the United States, Belgium and Switzerland, this book analyses contemporary Jewishness within the constant dialectic between faithfulness to Jewish tradition and culture and adherence to the values of modernity and democracy. Systems of family and gender normativity have durably influenced the traditional Jewish universe, but the norms and the institutions that embody them are today shaky. Individualization – the essence of modernity – is at work in the Jewish world, as it is elsewhere, and new identities are emerging and question the transmission of Jewish identities and traditions. The contributions here highlight the contrasting experiences of societies in the Diaspora and in Israeli society – societies that are different, yet sometimes very close because of tensions around religious and identity boundaries. As such, this book revisits the relationship to the “other” and the conditions for an “alliance” among people, a notion dear to Judaism.

Israeli Judaism

Israeli Judaism
Author: Šelomo A. Dešen
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Total Pages: 412
Release: 1995-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781412826747

This is an unusual and extremely timely collective effort. It appears at a moment inwhich Israelis not only must confront their Arab neighbors, but must deal with one another as Jews possessing radically different views on the present and future of the Jewish tradition. With this seventh volume of the series, the Israeli Sociological Society has turned its attention to religion, an area that for many years has been of high importance, but low profile in Israeli affairs and in the wider Middle Eastern context. Chapters and contributors include: "Jewish Civilization: Approaches to Problems of Israeli Society" by Shmuel N. Eisenstadt; "Life Tradition and Book Tradition in the Development of Ultraorthodox Judaism" by Menachem Friedman; "Religious Kibbutzim: Judaism and Modernization" by Aryei Fishman; "The Religion of Elderly Oriental Jewish Women" by Susan Sered; and "Hanukkah and the Myth of the Maccabees in Ideology and in Society" by Eliezer Don-Yehiya. The increasing presence of religious activism in contemporary Israel, side by side with subtle changes in the religion of Israeli Sephardim, makes the topic of religion essential for an understanding of Israel—and much of the Middle East generally. Israeli Judaism is a significant work, and will be of interest to theologians, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, and political theorists.

Routledge Handbook on Contemporary Israel

Routledge Handbook on Contemporary Israel
Author: Guy Ben-Porat
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 662
Release: 2022-07-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000591190

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Israel, accounting for changes, developments and contemporary debates. The different chapters offer both a historical background and an updated analysis of politics, economy, society and culture. Across five sections, a multidisciplinary group of experts, including sociologists, political scientists, historians and social scientists, engage in a wide variety of topics through different perspectives and insights. The book opens with a historical section outlining the formation of Israel and Jewish nationalism. The second section examines contemporary institutions in Israel, their developments and the contemporary challenges they face in light of social, economic, political and cultural changes. The third section explores geopolitics and Israel’s foreign relations, exploring conflicts, alliances and foreign policy with neighbors and powers. The fourth section engages with Israel’s internal divisions and schisms, highlighting questions of identity and inequality while also outlining processes of integration and marginalization between groups. The final section explores matters of culture, through the social and demographic shifts in contemporary music, poetry and cuisine, along with the struggles for inclusion and the impact of globalization on Israeli culture. The Routledge Handbook on Contemporary Israel is designed for academics along with undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on Israel, Israeli politics, and culture and society in modern Israel.

The State of Desire

The State of Desire
Author: Lea Taragin-Zeller
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2023-08-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1479817376

An intimate account of Orthodox family planning amid shifting state policies in Israel In recent years, Israeli state policies have attempted to dissuade Orthodox Jews from creating large families, an objective that flies in the face of traditional practices in their community. As state desires to cultivate a high-income, tech-centered nation come into greater conflict with common Orthodox familial practices, Jewish couples are finding it increasingly difficult to actualize their reproductive aims and communal expectations. In The State of Desire, Lea Taragin-Zeller provides an intimate examination of the often devastating effects of Israel’s steep cutbacks in child benefits, which are aimed at limiting the rapid increase in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population. Taragin-Zeller takes the reader beyond Orthodox taboos, capturing how cracks in religious convictions engender a painful process of re-orientating desires to reproduce amidst shrinking public support, feminism, and new ideals of romance, intimacy and parenting. Paying close attention to ethical dilemmas, the book explores not just pro-ceptive but also contraceptive desires around family formation: when to have children, how many, and at what cost. The volume offers a rare look at issues of contraception in the Orthodox context, and notably includes interviews with men, making the case that we cannot continue to study reproductive choice solely through the perspectives of women. The State of Desire is a groundbreaking anthropological approach to the study of religion and reproduction, and a remarkably intimate account of the delicate balance between personal desires and those of the state.

Contemporary Israeli Haredi Society

Contemporary Israeli Haredi Society
Author: Kimmy Caplan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2023-09-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000877574

This edited volume offers profiles of contemporary Israeli Haredi (i.e., Jewish Ultra-Orthodox) society from several disciplinary points of view, resisting a generalized approach and examining the different, sometimes competing currents, that define it. It is argued that Haredi society has undergone a process of rejuvenation in recent history: demographically, it has experienced steady and consistent growth; on the Israeli political stage, Haredi parties have become increasingly influential; and culturally, the Haredi presence is increasingly felt in Israeli news media, popular movies, and TV series. Each of the chapters in the book focuses on a particular topic and combines research findings with an assessment of the current state of the field. These topics encompass Haredi ideology, politics, military service, education, geography, the media, and healthcare – together, they paint a complex picture of Haredi society as one of contradictory layers, dimensions, and aspects. Making sense of contemporary Haredi society is critical for anyone interested in understanding Israeli society as a whole, but the book will also appeal to historians of religion, scholars of contemporary conservative enclave religious societies and cultures, and those who focus on Jewish studies in the modern era.