Defenders of the Faith

Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewry

Samuel C. Heilman

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9780520354494
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

In this first in-depth portrait of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel today, Samuel Heilman introduces a community that to many may seem to be the very embodiment of the Jewish past. To outsiders who stumble upon these neighborhoods and find bearded men in caftans, children with earlocks, and women in long dresses, black kerchiefs and stockings, it may appear that these people still hold fast to every tradition while turning their backs to the contemporary world. But rather than being a relic from the past, ultra-Orthodox Jews, or haredim, are very much part of the contemporary landscape and are playing an increasingly prominent role in the Jewish world and in Israeli politics. Defenders of the Faith takes us inside the world of this contemporary fundamentalist community, its lifestyle and mores, including education, religious practices and beliefs, sexual ethics, and marriage. Heilman explores the reasons why this group is more militant and extreme than its pre-Holocaust brethren, and provides insight into the worldview of this small but influential sector of modern Jewry. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 2000.
In this first in-depth portrait of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel today, Samuel Heilman introduces a community that to many may seem to be the very embodiment of the Jewish past. To outsiders who stumble upon these neighborhoods and find bearded men in caf

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• 1 Mikveh: Taking the Plunge
• 2 Who Are the Haredim?
• 3 Community
• 4 A Bar Mitzvah in Belz
• 5 Binding Ties
• 6 At the Rebbe’s Table
• 7 This Is Who We Are
• 8 Purim:
• 9 Mass Pilgrimage
• 10 Third Meal
• 11 Education
• 12 A School for Little Haredim
• 13 Primary School
• 14 Where Are We?
• 15 The Yeshwa: Mussar Shmues
• 16 The Yeshiva: Shiur and Chavruse
• 17 Rosh Yeshiva
• 18 Passages: Matchmaking, Betrothal, and Wedding
• 19 Passages: Funeral
• 20 Passing Signs: The Writing on the Wall
• 21 The Triumph of Sex
• 22 Scribal Apotheosis
• Epilogue: Ethnographie Afterwords
• Afterword to the New Edition
• Notes
• Index