During our day in Jerusalem we ventured
into Mea Sha’arim, the oldest ultra-orthodox Jewish neighbourhood outside the
walls of the old city. In “secular”
Jerusalem there is a mix of ultra-religious and secular Israelis. Mea Sha’arim is filled 100% by the
ultra-religious, or the “blacks” as they are sometimes derogatively called
here. Long black coats, hats that appear
ready to topple down, and wild beards characterize the orthodox men. The women and girls wear long black skirts
and “modest” necklines that don’t show any skin. Married women must cover their hair in public
so they wear headscarves, hats, or wigs.
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| Message Board in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City |
There are two major branches of
ultra-religious Judaism: Haredi and Hasidic Jews. Up until
around the middle of the 18th century there was only one type of
religious Jew, those whom we would now call Haredi. At this time, many Jews were poor and facing
religious oppression and persecution, and many didn’t have the time for the
intense focus on scholarly studies that were central to Haredi traditions. The poorer masses wanted to revolutionize and
revitalize the way they prayed and were led in this by charismatic spiritual
leaders like the Baal Shem Tov. They
wanted to democratize Judaism and make the spiritual aspects more important
than knowledge per se. The Hasidic movement focused on integrating
Jewish mysticism into everyday religion and the joy of praying. The Haredim
are the descendants of the people who disagreed with this movement.
In Hasidic
Judaism, different sects mostly identify themselves by which town their leader
originated from in Eastern Europe. Each
town had different traditions and dress codes, which are preserved in the
modern Hasidic dress. They wear long
period coats, different styles of knickers or pants, and characteristic
hats. Hasidic leadership is dynastic, stemming from the chief rabbi from
whichever town their sect originates.
The Haredim,
on the other hand, don’t typically trace their roots back to specific
towns. Consequently, they have less
specific dress codes that don’t relate to particular places of origins.
Traditionally, Haredi chose as their
leaders the wisest individuals who had studied in the yeshiva (torah schools).
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| Haredim Outside a Synagogue in Rehovot *1 |
Today, usually the term Haredi generically refers to the ultra-religious, with Hassidism classified as a subset of Haredi Judaism. However, since I think the differences between
the Haredi and Hassidic Jews are significant, I don’t think of Hassidism as a subset of the Haredim.
I try to be very clear as to whether I’m talking about Hassidic Jews, Haredim, or the ultra-orthodox more generally (which includes both Hassidism and Haredim).
When Ben Gurion was creating Israeli governmental
policy in 1948, he created “The Status Quo Act” stating that the ultra-orthodox
were not required to work or serve in the army.
The idea was that this policy would protect the yeshiva tradition that had
been nearly lost during the Holocaust. However,
when this policy was created, there were only 400 orthodox Jews in Israel. As of 2006, there were 700,000.
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| A Man Praying |
Now, this policy is untenable. Secular Israelis pay taxes to support ultra-religious
families with ten or 12 children. The father
often doesn’t work; he doesn’t need to, and instead studies torah in the yeshivas. Many of these families are on the Israeli
equivalent of welfare. When this support
system was established, it was set up to support a population that was 0.57% of the
current population of ultra-Orthodox. Many
secular Israelis resent that they pay taxes to support the ultra-orthodox
lifestyle and also that they need to defend that lifestyle by serving in the
army, which few ultra-orthodox do.
These issues have recently gained
international media attention. I am sure
you have read about the orthodox eight year-old girl in Bet Shemesh (a small
town outside of Jerusalem) who was called a prostitute because she wasn’t
dressed modestly enough. In Mea Sha’arim, a small group of ultra-religious
adults dressed young children in the striped garments mimicking concentration
camps clothing. They were making the comparison
that the Israeli government is like the Nazis, taking away religious
freedom. Later, other leaders and
members of the orthodox community more broadly expressed horror and strongly
condemned this protest.
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| Haredi Youth in Jerusalem *2 |
I learned recently from some Rabbi and Cantor friends why there are an
increasing number of significant conflicts between the secular and
ultra-religious worlds here. In the
past, religious leaders were chosen by intelligence or parentage. Now, the dynasties among Hassidism are being disputed as leaders die without leaving
heirs. Among the Haredi, community leaders used to be the most brilliant students
who would attend yeshivas to become even more intelligent. Now though, everyone is a devoted student who studies Torah his whole life—as
made possible by Ben Gurion’s Status Quo Act.
So now, the best and brightest individuals are less likely to rise to
prominence and leadership among the Haredi.
This leadership vacuum contributes to the
current conflicts. There is no longer an
ultimate authority among the ultra-religious to interpret Halakha (religious Jewish Law).
There is no one to control the fanatics spinning out of control or to
say, “enough”!
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| Jews in Krakow in 1931*3 |
For me, walking in Mea Sha’arim with my
aunt and uncle was like traveling into the past. I felt like I just entered a tiny shtetl in Poland. The streets were crooked and grimy, the sun
disappeared, and the normal city sounds of horns and laughter were muted. Here, people strode past wearing the same
styles of clothes that have been worn for 200 years. Women avoided eye contact, men stepped stared
straight ahead, and children looked like tiny adults with their long black
coats and skirts.
My aunt and I wore our long coats buttoned
completely and arranged our scarves to cover our necks. Not an inch of our skin was showing except on
our faces. Still, I felt exposed and I
worried I was violating the “dress modestly in our neighbourhood” signs. However, thankfully, we were completely
ignored. My uncle also wore his long
black coat and hat. Afterwards, he said
many men glanced curiously at him trying to figure out if he was orthodox or
not. One man even said hi. We laughed about this after because few
people are farther from the Haredi lifestyle than my uncle.
After we left Mea Sha’arim my aunt and I
went in search of a bathroom. While I
was waiting in line (of course), I started talking to an orthodox woman holding
her baby. She asked where I was from and
how long I was going to be in Israel—the same questions that “normal” people
ask. When it was her turn for the
bathroom, I offered to watch her baby for her.
She let me hold her adorable daughter and I
happily gazed into the toddler’s expressive eyes for several moments.
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| Ultra-Orthodox at the Wailing Wall |
This was a refreshing experience that
happened right after walking through Mea Sha’arim. I had felt alienated and wary of the
ultra-orthodox, but then back in downtown Jerusalem I had a normal conversation
with an orthodox Jew. It reminded me
that the religious community is not one entity that can be seen as a unified
“other”. “They” are comprised of families,
friends, and many normal people with whom I can empathize and sometimes find
common ground. There are definitely
extremists and fanatics among the ultra-orthodox Jews and there are also
conflicts from where the secular and orthodox worlds mingle. But there are also rational people who just
want to live their lives closer to God in ways that represent their
traditions. My slice of experience among
the Haredim reinforces my overall impression of Israeli culture and politics: life
here is really complicated and simple
generalizations are dismally inaccurate.
For more information on the different types
of Judaism, I would suggest perusing Wikipedia.
The articles there go into detail about the history of modern Judaism,
different sects, and it also examines some of the modern issues I have
discussed. For this article, I have done
extensive reading on Wikipedia and various other sites as well as talking to my
family and friends in Israel. This is a
fantastic article I found that expresses some of my thoughts perfectly on the
how we view ultra-religious society. http://gamesetmattsch.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/sectsandthecity/.
The images marked with an “ have been taken
from the following websites:
