1st Edition

Contemporary Israeli Haredi Society Profiles, Trends, and Challenges

Edited By Kimmy Caplan, Nissim Leon Copyright 2024
250 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

250 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

250 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

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... Read more

Introduction: Haredim and Israel, Haredim in Israel, Israeli Haredim

Kimmy Caplan and Nissim Leon

1. The Fundamental Components of Haredi Ideology (Hashkafah)

Benjamin Brown

2. The Haredim in Israeli Politics

Benyamin Neuberger

3. Haredim and Conscription to the IDF: Perspectives, Perceptions, Prospects

Elisheva Rosman

4. Haredi Education in Israel: Policies and Practices

Lotem Perry-Hazan

5. The Study of Haredi Space in Israel: Trends, Characteristics, Achievements, and Challenges

Lee Cahaner

6. Not Just Wall Posters: Mass Media in Israeli Haredi Society

Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar

7. Health and Medicine in Israeli Haredi Society

Chaya Gershoni, Netta Gilboa-Feldman and Ahuva Spitz

Afterword

Daniel Goldman

Biography

Kimmy Caplan teaches Modern Jewish History at the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Bar-Ilan University. His field of scholarly interest is Jewish Religious History in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and he focuses on American Jewish and Israeli societies.

Nissim Leon teaches in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University. His research interests include Contemporary Judaism, Haredi Communities, Religious Fundamentalism, Nationalism, the Emergence of Collective Memory, and the Politics of the Middle Classes.

"Contemporary Israeli Haredi Society is an invaluable resource for scholars, activists and policy makers keen to know more about the extraordinary currents reforming Israeli Haredi society and, by implication, Israeli society as a whole. It provides a productive framework and rich roadmap, illuminating the scholarly state of affairs across key disciplines and issues, including politics, space, education, and media. Comprehensive in scope and accessible in prose, this volume provides a timely, solid and essential addition to the study of Haredi Jewry in one of its critical moments."

Michal Kravel Tovi, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Tel-Aviv University

"The numerical and political visibility of Haredi Jews is increasing in various countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and, especially, Israel. Their increased numbers spurred an increasing need to understand them within the context of the societies in which they live. This is especially the case with respect to Haredim in Israel, where they now constitute approximately 13 precent of the country’s total population and approximately 17 percent of its Jewish population.

The editors of this volume assembled a group of scholars of Israeli Haredim specializing in a variety of significant areas, including ideology, politics, education, army service, mass media, health and medicine, to provide a comprehensive volume which lucidly introduces and analyzes contemporary Haredi society in Israel. This is a basic volume for anyone interested in gaining a deeper and more accurate understanding of Haredim, Haredi society in Israel and its interactions with the larger society."

Chaim I. Waxman, Professor of Sociology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem