15 July 2008
Tour guide: Nir Ortal
Report submitted by Emily Forrest
Our tour began with a walk around the Haredi community. Haredi is derived from the Hebrew word for fear or anxiety, and in this context, one who trembles in awe of God. Israel is home to the largest concentration of Haredi Jews in the world, and they number some 600,000-800,000 out of a total Jewish Israeli population of 5.4 million. In Jerusalem their relative presence is even more pronounced and they comprise a third of the city's population. We were able to observe people walking the streets and interacting with one another. The average family size is 10 or more children. This high number can be attributed to tradition but also to the Israeli government's child allowance. This child allowance resembles a welfare system and families receive according to the amount of children they have. Within the Haredi society women and men are separated on the streets and also in synagogue to limit distraction from the Torah and also physical temptations. Not only are women and men separated in social situations but also in schools, receiving different types of education. Men are educated with the purpose of studying the Torah and strictly following Jewish law (the halakhah). While men beginning at the age of 13-18 are in the yeshivot (singular: yeshiva—an institute for advanced study of Jewish tradition), women may be educated in different subjects such as literature, math, and science. The need for differing educations is embedded in the expectations of males and females later in life.
A male role in Haredi society is to focus solely on studying the Torah. After marriage, typically the result of a shidukh (match), many continue their studies in an institution know as the kolel. Women play the role as breadwinners, going to work and also taking care of the household duties, including the children.The call to dress in modest clothing was very apparent walking around in the community. All women who were married had their hair covered and did not expose any skin other than their faces. Our tour guide mentioned some women even shave their heads in order to remain as modest as possible.
Men also were dressed extremely modestly, wearing tzitizt (ritual knotted fringes), black jackets and pants, and black hats. We also learned it was tradition that after a first son is born, husbands begin growing out their beards. Our tour guide mentioned this tradition showed the importance of a male child and carrying on the family name. Other customs such as men and women walking separately, having separate institutions, and having their own taxi services became apparent just from walking around the community.
On Shabbat the clothing changes. Both men and women change into their more fancy attire. Men of different sects of the Haredim will put on their gold threaded jackets instead of wearing their regular black. Others will change out of their everyday hat into something more special. It is custom that the wife’s family presents the husband with a special Shabbat hat, running somewhere between $600-$1500.
As mentioned, yeshiva, where boys go to school for the Torah, only teaches the religious curriculum. Girls attend schools that educate them on subjects such as math, science, and literature. This ideal of teaching girls a wide array of studies is to prepare them from the “working world.” The idea of a “working world” is still being debated within the Ultra-Orthodox community because of the risk of exposure to the perceived excesses of modern culture. Our tour guide mentioned the debate over modesty is constantly being discussed. In some communities the Internet is seen as a tool to help advance Judaism and education, while other rabbis see the Internet as tools that expose the public to immodest ways of the world. Some Haredi communities allow Internet and television; while others don’t believe either have any educational value.
We walked past the Geula Taxi station. This taxi service respects Jewish law and is seen as a way to restrict the amount of contact Haredim have with the outside world. Taxicabs from the Haredi society only play religious music, news or rabbinic sermons, allowing the people to stay focused on God without being distracted. Other institutions are also kept separate for the Haredim, such as the court systems. People are tried according to Jewish law rather than Israeli laws. The crime rate within Haredi communities is extremely low given the intensity of the court systems. This idea of separate institutions enables the Haredim to continue to exist within their bubble.
The distinct customs according to which the Haredim live go back over 200 years, giving the community a rich sense of where they came from. The different types of jackets and hats worn by the men represent the different Rabbi’s (or "courts"—as in the sense of royal court) the family follows as their leader led by a rabbi referred to in the Ashkenazi Yiddish pronunciation as "rebbe." Other traditions followed by the Haredim include speaking in Yiddish. The community believes Hebrew is a sacred religious language that should not be used in everyday context. This is why when Eliezer Ben Yehudah was not highly regarded within the ultra-orthodox community because of his efforts to revive Hebrew as a spoken language. Often Hebrew isn’t even taught in Haredi schools. This again, continues the separation of Haredim and other people of Israel.
Concluding our journey we went to the grave of the Gur rebbe, an extremely influential rabbi within Haredi society—some even claim he was the messiah. Men and women were separated in order to enter the synagogue and visit the grave. This separation within religious places is in order for people to concentrate more on God and their relationship with Him, rather than on their relationships with others of the opposite sex. This trip within the Haredi society opened a lot of people’s eyes to a different way of life and also created more questions. We received answers to why people dress in specific ways, but questions remained as to whether if the restrictions on women were for religious reasons of if they were holding women back.
For more information on the Haredim, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredi_Judaism