Comparing Haredim and Secular Jews in the Middle East - Essay Example

Haredim and Secular Jews Haredim and Secular Jews Israel is a Jewish in the Middle East. It is characterized by an animosity between two rival Jewish religious groups. So when the whole outside world is thinking about Israeli Arab conflict, there is another internal religious misunderstanding among the Jewish population. The antagonistic religious groups being the secular Israelis, who make up the majority of Israel’s population and the Haredim Jews also called the ultra- orthodox Jews who make up only 10% of Israelis population. To understand clearly these two different groups of the Jews it is necessary to appreciate their history and how the differences come about. Israel’s contemporary ultra-orthodox are free descendants of the Jews who moved and lived in Eastern Europe during the nineteenth century. At this time Jewish people sparsely populated the regions of the continent for centuries, but Eastern Europe was relatively densely populated by the Jews and was actually the largest area populated by Jews in the world. In spite of being a large population, the Jews did not assimilate within non-Jewish communities. They lived in isolated and legally independent communities which were distant from other non-Jewish population. These communities were known as shtetls. Their main occupation and lifestyle in the shtetls was studying the Law of Moses (Torah), living according to its word, and practicing the Jewish faith. At this time of history also there was a strong anti-Semitic sentiment throughout Europe, therefore, shtetls protected the Jewish religion and lifestyle in addition to protecting the Jews themselves. However, life in the shtetl was very not very easy due to its poor economy and poor educational systems. The only thing holding the Jewish people together was their heritage and religion. Their survival in the shtetl was motivated by the belief that God was with them and would lead them. Beginning in the early nineteenth century a wave of modernization and industrialization went across all Europe. This wave opened social and economic opportunities that were new to the Jews in the shtetls. This wave of modernization mainly affected the Jews who lived in Germany and Austria, as this Jews were outside the shtetls and were therefore not protected from the rest of the world. When modernization’s first effects started being felt in Europe, Christian communities outside the shtetl started approaching Jews for their potential to contribute to European economic and social revitalization. Europeans therefore played a role in the converting the Jews since some of them thought that embracing them would help them behave normally and become good citizens of the modern world. Jews gained a lot from the modernization because it came with new opportunities for the Jews and therefore brought about the “Jewish Enlightenment,” or the Haskalah (Wald & Shye, 2012). The enlightenment of the Jews was first reported in Germany and Austria. In these countries many Jews were assimilated into the nations’ economic and social life rather than live under constraints in the shtetl. The assimilation allowed the Jews the ideas that come with modernization, for instance philosophy and science which never existed in the shtetl. This changes in lifestyle resulted in a change in Judaism itself because of the liberation (Wald & Shye, 2012). Jewish daily lives were exclusively religious. Assimilating Jews made them learn to question the universe’s limits. They were also given an opportunity to question religious doctrine, and to change the universe as mankind. This new knowledge was revolutionary; all the Jews knew was that God is the only being who controls their destinies as they had been taught by the Rabbis (Eliezer, 2008). Many German and Austrian Jews wanted to blend modernity and their religion, often meaning Judaism had to do away with its restrictive and parochial tendencies and present itself as more in tune with the times. Different Jewish communities began to reform their Jewish religious lifestyle so as to make it match with modernity. Examples of the things foregone by the Jews include their Yiddish language so as to adopt German. They also became lenient on the observance of the Sabbath and kosher dietary laws. A good number of Jews however, did not accept modernization and its influence on shtetl. This group decided to shun modernization and live according to their religious traditions and lifestyle. This group together with natives who did not leave Israel are the founders of the Haredi Jews. The group that was assimilated and were willing to change their lifestyle to embrace modernization founded the secular Jews. The name “secular Israelis,” is actually an unsuitable name for them because like all the other Jews they celebrate and observe the Jewish religion. However, compared to other Jews in Israel, their observance of Judaism is not as strict as it should be (Wald & Shye, 2012). The secular Jews represent Israel’s modern Jew. The Jews that have assimilated modern economics, social and technological culture into their religious life. Their antagonists the ultra-Orthodox Jews or Haredim, meaning “those who tremble at His [God’s] word,” on the other hand represent Israel’s strongest Jewish religious presence. Their lifestyle is completely opposite compared to the secular Israelis. For the Haredim, Jewish law also known as halakhah, which is a legal system derived from the Law of Moses, controls their lives and how they see the world (Lewis & Yosseph, 1991). They do not try to compromise the religion to embrace any of the modern ideas and technology. Anything that contradicts to the Jewish law for them is sin and cannot be condoned. Due to this visible conflict in believe they oppose the way the secular Jews view religion in Israel. Whereas secular Israelis feel religion should not take the whole lifestyle of a person, rather it should just take the least presence, the Haredim believe that religion should be a complete lifestyle of day to day life. The Haredim have an extraordinary amount of control over the Israeli population and Israeli government even though they make up just a very small percentage of Israel’s population. They have successfully influenced Israeli domestic policies in their favor over areas such as education, issues of personal status, and national military service, much to the disappointment of many Israelis. Marriage is a religious rite rather than a civic institution in Israel because the Haredim have sole control over determining whether an Israeli’s marriage is legal or not. The Haredim couples marry at a very young age and expect government support to a rather large extend. Secular Jews on the other hand are enlightened and their marriages take a rather institutionalized form rather than religious. Their couples marry at a slightly older age, the age that can be said to be an average for marriage. At the age of marriage they are basically able to support themselves and do not rely on the government like their counterparts. The ultra orthodox Jews believe the Land of Israel (Palestine) is the most sacred land for all Jews because it is the land that was given by God to the ancient Israelites, but that the reestablishment of a Jewish political presence can only take place through religious means, for example following the coming of the Messiah. Historically, Haredim Jews have expressed anti-Zionist opinions because of the Three Oaths that binds the Jews; 1) Not to ascend to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) as a group using force 2) Not to rebel against the nations of the world 3) That the nations of the world would not persecute the nation of Israel excessively (Samuel & Menachem, 1991). Haredim Jews believe that the establishment of Israel in to state will be going against the above oaths (Lewis & Yosseph, 1991). This is contrasted to the believe of the secular Jews who believe that the land of Israel is holy but they have control over settling the citizens or the Jews in the land and must not necessarily wait for the messiah to come so as to settle down. Their approaches to this believe is through embracing nationalism through modernization, this believed enabled them to settle the Jews suffering in foreign European countries in Israel as ‘new Jew’. As a way of strengthening religion, Haredi Israeli males are expected to spend most of their young adulthood lives to studying ancient rabbinic Jewish writings. This leads to their exemptions from the military. However, initially this exemption and exemption from uniform conscription in the military was a designed for few elite religious students. Leaders of Haredi communities encourage their young men to apply for exemptions from service, in an aim to protect them from the modernized environment of the Israel Defense Forces. The secular Israelis oppose the system saying that it takes away a good percentage of manpower. Due to their conservative nature, the Haredim Jews have a low social economic standing, compared to the secular Israelis, however they are an important market sector. The haredi Israeli also spends a lot of time in formal study compared to other people not only Israelis. This has resulted in economic effects with approximately half of the Haredi population living under the poverty level compared to the 15% of the rest of Israelis population. Their families are also larger, usually having six or seven children this could be due to the belief that God asked mankind to fill the earth (Lewis & Yosseph, 1991). Despite the many differences depicted above in the two Jewish religious groups, their faith is ideally the same with only difference in the way the religion is strictly followed. Both the two groups’ beliefs are founded on the Torah or the Law of Moses. They both observe the Sabbath and have strict ways of life between men and women with each group having a specific place in the society. The dressing code of the two is also merely the same especially when visiting the place of worship. However the difference might come from the material chosen, the secular Jews being liberal could have their garment from any material while the ultra-orthodox Jew will have with the specific traditional garment. Their respect appreciation of the existence of god is also common to both groups but their understanding of god and how to worship is where they differ. Reference List Eliezer, B.-R. (2008). The Face of Religiosity in Israel: Cleavages or Continuum?”. Israel Studies, 13(3), 89-113. Lewis, G., & Yosseph, S. (1991). Holy Land, Holy Language: A Study of an Ultraorthodox Jewish Ideology,. ”Language in Society 20, no. 1 (March 1991), 20(1). Samuel, C. H., & Menachem, F. (1991). . Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Jews:The Case of the Haredim. Vol. 1 of The Fundamentalism Project. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wald, K. D., & Shye, S. (2012). Interreligious Conflict in Israel: The Group Basis of Conflicting Visions. Journal of theology, 16(1), 154-178. Read More