Yeshiva Fundamentalism: Piety, Gender, and Resistance in the Ultra-Orthodox World

212 Pages·2009·3.931 MB·English

by  Nurit Stadler

Yeshiva Fundamentalism
Yeshiva
Fundamentalism
Piety, Gender, and Resistance in
the Ultra-Orthodox World
Nurit Stadler
a
New York UNiverSitY PreSS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
New York UNiverSitY PreSS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2009 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stadler, Nurit.
Yeshiva fundamentalism : piety, gender, and
resistance in the ultra-orthodox world / Nurit Stadler.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBN-13: 978–0–8147–4049–1 (cl : alk. paper)
iSBN-10: 0–8147–4049–9 (cl : alk. paper)
1. Ultra-orthodox Jews—israel. 2. orthodox Judaism—israel.
3. Jewish fundamentalism—israel. 4. Jewish men—religious life.
5. Yeshivas—israel. 6. Jewish religious education of adults—israel.
7. Spiritual life—Judaism. i. title.
BM390.S727 2008
296.8’320954694—dc22 2008031657
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and
their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. we
strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to
the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xiii
1 introduction: 1
redefining Male Piety and Fundamentalism
2 Yeshiva Fundamentalism in israel’s Haredi Community 35
3 on the edge of transgression: 52
The Study of the talmud and the “evil inclination”
4 Challenges to the Fundamentalist 74
Denunciation of work
5 The idealization of Soldiers’ Masculinity 96
6 The Domestication of Masculine Piety 117
7 A Case Study: terror, ZAkA, and the “Soldiers of Piety” 135
8 Conclusion: 158
A reconstruction of Fundamentalism and Piety
Notes 165
References 173
Index 189
About the Author 197
v

Las manos de mi madre
llegan al patio desde temprano
todo se vuelve fiesta
cuando elle juega junto a otros pájaros.
Junto a los pájaros que aman la vida
y la construyen con el trabajo
arde la leña, harina y barro
lo cotidiano se vuelve mágico
se vuelve mágico
—Peteco Carabajal
The writing of this book was possible with
the care and love of my mother, rachel, and
it is to her that i dedicate this book.
Acknowledgments
Many people helped me while i was writing this book, and i
would like to thank them. First i thank my late teacher, reuven kahane,
with whom i was privileged to work and who first shaped my thoughts
and aspirations. His guidance, intellectualism, and encouragement en-
hanced my thinking and understanding of theory. i miss him very much.
The idea of writing a book about the changing yeshiva fundamentalism
from the point of view of male piety came during a friendly lunch with
Lynn Davidman at the Hebrew University campus in the summer of 2005.
Both of us were talking about our books, and we together sketched out
the framework of this book. i am grateful to Lynn for these moments and
all her encouragement and help throughout these years. to eyal Ben-Ari,
i am indebted for guiding and collaborating with me on my research on
various aspects of the Haredi culture. eyal encouraged me to learn more
about military aspects of yeshiva piety and joined me in my fieldwork
with the Zaka Haredi teams. i thank him for his support and friendship.
My dear friend oren Golan read the first draft of this book and com-
mented on each of the chapters. with him i have experienced the joy of
intellectual inspiration and conversation.
Through their friendship and intellectual insight, my colleagues and
friends at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sustained me while i was
writing. i would like to thank tamar rapoport for her helpful suggestions
about religion and gender and for her friendship. i thank edna Lomsky-
Feder for discussions about the challenges of ethnography in male frater-
nities; her experience contributed immensely to my work. i am grateful
as well to tamar el-or, Gideon Aran, Yoram Bilu, Harvey Goldberg, and
Yehuda Goodman for their helpful comments and suggestions.
i could not have completed this book without the help of my friends,
colleagues, and teachers. i am grateful to Batia Siehbzehner, whose friend-
ship and wise comments i greatly value. i thank David Lehmann for our
conversations about aspects of comparative religion and the resurgence
ix
x Acknowledgments
of religion around the world. My thanks are due too to kimmy Caplan
for our many discussions of contemporary issues in the Haredi world in
israel and to Samuel Heilman, whose work on the ultra-orthodox com-
munities in israel and the United States has inspired my thinking and
writing. i thank my friend and colleague Nimrod Luz, who always was
able to explain contemporary and historical aspects of Muslim piety and
fundamentalism, and Michal Biran for her nurturing friendship and cof-
fee breaks when the reading room became too intense.
i also wish to thank einat Mesterman, Sagi Ginossar, and Jonathan ven-
tura for their research assistance. i am grateful to Liron Bar who helped
me with the bibliography, Peggy Brill for editing preliminary drafts of this
book, and Doron Narkiss for his willingness to edit the manuscript. His
insightful comments and suggestions influenced my work enormously.
two places hosted me and made me feel welcome. First, the Depart-
ment of Sociology and Anthropology at Hebrew University has sup-
ported my work through the years, and i greatly appreciate the constant
help, warmth, and friendliness of osnat Ben-Shachar, revi kamma, ilana
Amiad, Agnes Arbeli, and Hedva Danieli.
Second, the National Library at Jerusalem is a true sanctuary for read-
ing, writing, and discussing ideas, and i wish to emphasize the importance
of supporting this rare and important house of knowledge, especially be-
cause of the constant threat of financial crisis hanging over it. i thank,
particularly, elone Avinezer, Aliza Alon, ruth Flint, and Zipora Ben Abu,
who help and encourage me every day.
My fieldwork benefited from the generous support of various institu-
tions during my research. Special thanks are due to the israel Foundation
trustees, the Jewish Memorial Foundation, the israel Science Foundation,
the Shaine Center for research in Social Sciences, the Harvey L. Silbert
Centre for israel Studies, and the van Leer institute for their financial as-
sistance. i also would like thank the Faculty of Social Sciences of Hebrew
University for a grant for editing the manuscript. i thank the Ginsberg,
the Golda Meir, and the Lady Davis fellowships at Hebrew University for
supporting my research.
i also would like to thank the Macahnaim Library for permission to
use pictures from their books and Avi Greenberg from Greentec Market-
ing Ltd., Bnei Brak, for permission to use covers of their films.
Some of the ideas presented in chapter 4 appeared in a different form
in my article “is Profane work an obstacle to Salvation? The Case of Ul-
tra-orthodox (Haredi) Jews in Contemporary israel,” Sociology of Religion
Acknowledgments xi
63(4):455–74. Likewise, some of the ideas in chapter 5 appeared in “Play-
ing with Sacred/Corporeal identities: Yeshiva Students’ Fantasies of the
Military Participation,” Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society
13(2):155–78; and some of the ideas presented in chapter 7 appeared previ-
ously in different form in “terror, Corpse Symbolism and taboo viola-
tion: The ‘Haredi Disaster victim identification team in israel’ (ZAkA),”
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 12(4):837–58.
i greatly appreciate the interest, support, and encouragement of Jenni-
fer Hammer at New York University Press, and i also would like to thank
the three anonymous reviewers whose suggestions for revisions were both
insightful and inspiring.
to vicky izhaki, my dear friend, i owe a special debt for her inspiring
and artful counsel. vicky helped me with the photos, the book’s cover,
and many other aspects of the book. i wish to thank her for her infinite
creativity and care for my daughters, and numerous hours of good com-
pany and mutual work.
Finally, i would like to express my enduring gratitude to my family:
my mother rachel and my father Asher for their patient and unflagging
support; my two wonderful brothers, Giora and Shahar, whose shared
memories of childhood and constant encouragement inspired me along
my journey; and my husband, Jacob, for his good advice, flexibility, and
love while taking care of everyday life as i was writing this book. Finally,
my love and gratitude go to my daughters, Shira and Sivan, who have ac-
companied me and accepted my long absence. The writing of this book
would not have been possible without their constant support and extraor-
dinary capacity for pointing out the most amusing possibilities of looking
at the world.
Preface
when the Zionist state was created, a new form of ultra-or-
thodox (Haredi) fundamentalism developed as well, a postwar variation
of fundamentalism invigorated by devotees struggling to defend a Jewish
lifestyle destroyed in the Holocaust. in this rejuvenated religiosity, all men
are confined to a life of studious devotion, in contrast to the traditional
Jewish system in prewar eastern europe, in which only a few were cho-
sen for full-time study. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, however, Jewish
scholars—in Hebrew, bnei Torah—were regarded as the last bulwark de-
fending traditional, learned Judaism.
in israel, the talmudic seminar, or the eastern european yeshiva style,
has become the center for male worship and fellowship. At the yeshiva,
devoted men reinterpret sacred codes, revive talmudic wisdom, and strive
to set themselves apart and protect the community from the temptations
and distractions of modernity and secularism. These yeshiva men are
considered virtuosos of texts, a collective elite of the Haredi world who
hold enormous sacred power. Because they consider the Haredi world the
only body able to regenerate Judaism and a Jewish way of life according
to the scriptures, they and their wives have been encouraged to produce
large families and reestablish the studious ideal of piety in the Holy Land.
Although this postwar Jewish fundamentalism has now become institu-
tionalized, its basic religious orientations are currently being transformed
by a new generation. Accordingly, in this book i examine these shifts in
yeshiva piety, particularly its effects on the israeli Haredim and generally
the meanings of piety and resistance in fundamentalist culture.
over the last three decades, scholars of fundamentalism have focused
mainly on the first stages of these groups’ creation and establishment in
the modern state. in this book, however, i examine an entirely different
stage and context. That is, my analysis is of the experiences and nar-
ratives of a new generation of fundamentalist yeshiva men as they re-
flect on their own history and reconsider the outcomes of the governing
xiii