Journal of Social Researches Historicity, Continuity and Neo-Orthodoxy in Contemporary Judaism Historicidad, Continuidad Y Neoor

34 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

Historicity, continuity and neo-orthodoxy in contemporary judaism

Historicidad, continuidad y neoortodoxia en el judaísmo actual

SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José´ & VILLEGAS-SÁNCHEZ, María José´´

´Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Mexico ´´Universidad Iberoamericana, Campus Léon, Gto., Mexico

ID 1st Author: María José, Sánchez-Usón / ORC ID: 0000-0002-3409-4055, Researcher ID Thomson: S-7908-2018, CVU CONACYT ID: 432522

ID 1st Co-author: María José, Villegas-Sánchez

DOI: 10.35429/JSR.2020.18.6.34.47 Received July 25, 2020; Accepted December 30, 2020

Abstract Resumen

Judaism is not a uniform religion. In it, different El judaísmo no es una religión uniforme. En ella se groups are differentiated, among which stand out, for diferencian distintos grupos, entre los que destacan, their fundamentalism, the orthodox and the ultra- por su fundamentalismo, los ortodoxos y los orthodox. The first ones strictly comply with ultraortodoxos. Los primeros cumplen estrictamente religious precepts, although they coexist with con los preceptos religiosos, aunque conviven con "gentiles" and even lay people, adapting to certain “gentiles” e incluso laicos, adaptándose a cierto "modern" social behavior. On the contrary, the comportamiento social “moderno”. Por el contrario, second ones, called haredi jews or "God-fearing", los segundos, llamados judíos jaredíes o “temerosos follow extreme judaism in their interpretation and de Dios”, siguen un judaísmo extremo en su practice. These groups are today affected by interpretación y práctica. Estos colectivos se ven hoy heterodox and secular overmodern influences to such afectados por influencias heterodoxas y seculares an extent that in the jewish media there is already talk sobremodernas hasta tal punto que en los medios of the emergence of a "new orthodoxy". judaicos se habla ya del surgimiento de una “nueva ortodoxia”.

History, Judaism, Neo-orthodoxy Historia, judaísmo, neoortodoxia

Citation: SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS-SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo-orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020. 6-18:34-47.

* Correspondence to Author (Email: [email protected]) † Researcher contributing as first author.

©ECORFAN Republic of Nicaragua www.ecorfan.org/republicofnicaragua

35 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

Introduction These groups are today affected by heterodox and secular overmodern influences, to On a souvent reproché aux juifs de faire bloc such an extent that in the Jewish media there is pour se couper des autres tradictions already talk of the emergence of a “new religieuses. Pourtant, le judaïsme n’est pas orthodoxy”. This work deals with these two monolithique. Il a même toujours été traversé great religious branches of Judaism, its par diverses mouvances, parfois en conflict. normative and practical conservatism, its

resistance to change and its vulnerability to the Jean-Christophe Attias (Attias, 2014)4. advances of a globalized, intercultural and Judaism is not a uniform religion. In it, rapidly transforming world. and depending on their level of compliance with Halakha or Halajá, a set of rules derived from the Many are the theorists of the Hebrew Torah, different groups are differentiated, field who in their investigations deal with among which the orthodox and ultra-orthodox distinctive aspects such as Hebraism, Judaism, stand out, due to their fundamentalism. The Semitism or Zionism of their societies. former strictly comply with religious precepts, Specialists of their ethnicity, culture and religion although they coexist with "gentiles" and even have spoken of this people since there is lay people, adapting to certain "modern" social historiography and religious, philosophical and behavior. On the contrary, the latter, called anthropological thought, either as a description Haredi Jews or "God-fearing", follow extreme of their communities, an attack on their Judaism in their interpretation and practice. idiosyncrasy or defense of it. In particular, and These, in turn, are made up of other collectives with regard to Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox (Hasidim and Misnagdim, etc.), but the Judaism, and by way of example, we highlight variations between them are few, as they all the following authors: respect the same basic principles. Nicholas De Lange, professor of Ultra-Orthodox Jews are refractory to the Hebrew studies at the University of Cambridge, cultural changes that modernity has imposed in in his book Judaism carries out a complete industrialized and post-industrialized societies, synthesis of this religion (what is the Judaic much more in those that belong to a neoliberal religion, characteristics that define it, internal economic system. Keeping their social customs, organization, traditional rites ...), building a traditions and religiosity unchanged, they fight rigorous information for the unfamiliar. In this to prevent today's novelties, technologies and text stands out a section dedicated to the way in advances from contaminating them; for this, which Judaism conceives the future. they live grouped in colonies and neighborhoods, abiding by the authority of their Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the respective rabbis. They not only reject the ideas Commonwealth United Hebrew Congregations and innovations of the non-Semitic worlds in and a professor at several international which they are inserted, but even the modern universities, represents the Orthodox view of ways of life of the State of Israel and, seeing positive elements in non-Orthodox ways specifically, Zionism, an ideology on which it is of life. This academic advocate establishing a built, thus establishing itself as the center of common modus vivendi, which synthesizes the Judaism (Stofenmacher, 2005, p. 236). different interpretations of the Halakha, to avoid divisions, guarantee unity and, with it, religious survival. In his extensive work, specifically in One people?

4 “Jews have often been criticized for forming a unit to isolate themselves from other religious traditions. However, Judaism is not monolithic. It has even always been crossed by various movements, sometimes in conflict”. Jean-Christophe Attias is a French historian and philosopher, specialized in studies on Judaism; is Director of Studies at L'École Pratique des Hautes Études Université de la Sorbonne, Paris. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 36 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

Tradition, Modernity and Jewish Unity In this sense, and before delving into any (1993), addresses the challenge of Judaism in subject that this ethnic-religious collective modernity and the relationships between complex has as its object of study, we must ask Halakha and the norms implanted in ourselves if, to refer to those who make it up, we contemporary societies. should speak of "Jews", "Hebrews" or "Israelites". Consensus seems almost impossible Damian Setton, an Argentine Jew and requires, at least, a first conceptual researcher at the National Council for Scientific approach: and Technical Research (CONICET), works in the field of orthodoxy and its opening to new The term Jew is properly applied to those dimensions. In "The emotional dimension of the born of a Jewish mother; that is, this category is return to sources in orthodox Judaism", chapter acquired by blood. However, those who accept included in the section Emotion, modernity and or convert to Judaism are named in the same religions of the book Modernity, Religion and way, thus expanding the circle of the so-called Memory, compiled by Fortunato Mallimaci “Jews”. Historically, this term was used for the (Mallimaci, 2008), as well as in his article " first time in the 1st century AD. C. (Ariel, 1995), Hasidism, Kabbalah and Rock in Atzmus's referring to the inhabitants of southern Palestine musical project ”, raises the difficult situation of (tribes of Judah and Benjamin), settled there the Orthodox Jewish branch that is between since the division of the twelve tribes of Israel in resistance and acceptance of the new innovative the times of the biblical King Solomon5. Despite currents, which extend, above all, among the these different explanations, David Ariel, youth. This last work focuses on the project of a professor of Jewish Studies at Cleveland musical band that wants to be integrated into the College, relying on Tradition and Laws, group of Argentine rock music and in which, provides the following clarification: “There is no however, two of its members define themselves word in the Bible for what we call Judaism; the as Orthodox Jews. religion is variously referred to as the ‘teachings’ (Torah), ‘commandments’ (mitzvot), and ‘laws’ Developing (hukkim or mishpatim)” (Ariel, 1995, p. 110)6.

Jews, Hebrews and Israelites: theoretical- According to Ariel, "Jew" and "Judaism" conceptual divergences are words that are gestated in Palestine during the conquest and occupation of Rome, later Elaborating a historiographical synthesis of the spreading to the West, which is why, in his Jewish People is not an easy task; first, by the opinion, there are no previous uses of them. antiquity of its existence, which requires the researcher to go back in history thousands of It is possible that the feeling of difference years; later, due to its lack of continuity and its with respect to other peoples, which from its dispersion, which run parallel to the numerous origins has always and with such certainty united lived processes of diaspora and exile throughout the Jews, made them never consider the need to the evolution of humanity; but also - and no less call themselves to mark a distinction and make a important - by the debate established between personality evident. specialists, and the final disagreement, regarding its nomenclature and classification, always confusing and ambiguous.

5 Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel declared in rebellion led 6 There is no word in the Bible called "Judaism"; religion by Rehoboam, son of Solomon, while the tribes of Judah is referred to as teaching (Torah), (mitzvot), and "laws" and Benjamin remained in the south of the territory. This (hukkim or mishpatim). division would later mark the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 37 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

In turn, by Hebrew a more arcane Historical background of the "Chosen historical concept is understood, which dates People" back to the time of the Patriarchs (ca. 17th century BC), applying, specifically, to Abraham The history of the Jewish people is, in short, that and his descendants (Ibrim). According to other of the Hebrew people, of whom, by roots, the hypotheses, this word would name those who Jews feel descended and whose beginning is lost were originally a nomadic Semitic7 people from in the night of biblical times. It refers to the Mesopotamia and Ur de Chaldea, Abraham's future of a minority, diverse and geohistorically homeland, who moved to Canaan, land that very divided people. Taking the terms "Jews" Yahveh had promised for him and his lineage. and "Hebrews" as synonyms, we note their The Hebrews would therefore be the ancestors of appearance in Genesis with Abraham, Isaac, and the Jews and the Israelites. Jacob. As already mentioned, Jacob identifies with Israel and with the Promised Land. From For its part, Israelite derives from him, the history of the Jewish people will be that "Israel", a name given by God to Jacob. In of the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel). The Bible Genesis this designation is related: records the first thousand years of its evolution, giving an account of its bond with God, its God appeared again to Jacob when he migrations to settle in richer and more was returning from Paddan-Aram and prosperous places, the conflictive relations with blessed him saying: "Your name is neighboring peoples and the formation of its Jacob, but from now on you will no identity, both religious and cultural, attached to longer be called Jacob, but your name the maintenance of the Law and Tradition. will be Israel." So, he named it Israel. Chilean professor Miguel Saidel rightly And he added: << I am the God of the Heights; be fruitful and multiply. A synthesizes his complex historical trajectory: nation, or better, a group of nations will be born from you, and kings will come The commented history that we are out of your lineage. I will give you the going to sketch in broad strokes is that land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, of a physically very small oriental and I will give it to your descendants people, whose greatness is not traced in after you >>. Then God moved away geography, whose victories are not (Genesis, 35, 9-13). military, whose material power was always reduced, to which the great empires of antiquity over and over This quote shows that from the sons of again, plunging him into destruction, Jacob the “Biblical State” of Israel was born, so slavery, or captivity; a people later that henceforth they, their children, and their scattered by the adverse winds of children's children were Israelites. Understood history, whose communities and in this way, "Israelite" would be a concept that individuals - lacking a national will - would indicate a nationality and not a religion. were harassed and bitterly persecuted, first, in order to attract them and, after a In short, the term "Jew" would refer to a century of legal emancipation, to religious affiliation, "Hebrew" to an ethnic exterminate them ( Saidel, 1968, p. 8). origin and "Israelite" to a nationality. These three circumstances can coincide in an A brief chronological summary individual in all or only in part: there are Jews distinguishes several stages in the history of this who are not Hebrews or citizens of present-day controversial town: Israel; in turn, Hebrews living in different countries of the world, with varying degrees of Judaism, and Israelites who may not be Hebrews or Jews, living together, in the same state, quickly and improvisedly built after the Second World War, with Muslims and Christians of various ethnic origins.

7 "Semites" are understood to be all peoples originating from Shem, Noah's son. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 38 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

The first, and already mentioned, is At this time, it is noteworthy that in the known as the Biblical Stage, between the 7th century the Caliph Abd el-Malik ordered the seventeenth and sixth centuries BC. From this construction of the Muslim mosque of the Dome chronology dates the establishment of the Jews of the Rock in the place where the successive in the Promised Land, the migration to Egypt and temples of Jerusalem were located before, and their long captivity, the Exodus led by Moses that the medieval crusaders constitute the and the arrival to the land "flowing with milk and Regnum Hierosolymitanum or Kingdom of Acre honey", in which the community receives his in 1099. laws (Ten Commandments), inaugurates his monarchy (Saul, David, Solomon…), and fixes Already in the contemporaneity of the his capital in Jerusalem, where he erects his first 19th century, the First World Zionist Congress Temple. was opened in Basel (Switzerland), convened by Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), an Austro- Around 930 a. C. arises the division Hungarian Jewish activist, and the Zionist between the descendant tribes of Jacob, giving Organization was founded. rise to the kingdom of Israel, which will be subdued by the Assyrians, and that of Judah, In the early 20th century, the British will conquered by the Babylonians, which will lead end Ottoman rule. The Arab-Israeli conflicts will to the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple then begin with the formation of Transjordan8. and the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. The Second World War and the Nazi genocide, better known to posterity as the Holocaust, will A third historical stage is distinguished make the world turn its eyes towards the from the 6th to the 1st century BC. In it, known massacred Jewish people, so that, at the end of as The Second Temple, the Jews return from the war, the UN will propose the creation of the Babylon, the Temple is rebuilt again, and now State of Israel. the arrival of the Macedonians of Alexander the Great is suffered. This time will not be exempt In all this long time, the Jews suffered from internal rebellions against foreign invasions, exterminations, captivity and occupation and a brief independence, which will diasporas; but “during the long years of conclude with the taking of Jerusalem by dispersion, the Jewish people never cut or forgot General Pompey in 63 BC. C. their bond with the Earth. [Finally] with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, From here, the period of Roman Jewish independence, lost two thousand years domination begins, which will span the 1st earlier, was regained” (Israel, 2020). century BC. C. to III d. C., in which the family of Herod, Jewish king ally of Rome, will reign, While all these conjunctures occurred, and the birth, public life, passion and death of one after another, throughout the centuries, the Jesus of Nazareth will be seen. The beginnings tradition and religious faith of this people of Christianity will now coincide with uprisings remained unharmed. This was possible because against Rome and with a new devastation of the Judaism is not only an atavistic and strong Jerusalem city. doctrinal system, embedded in the culture of the Hebrew people for millennia: From the 4th century of our era onwards, the history of the Jewish people will be that of If we take Judaism only as a religion, we subjugation to continuous foreign powers: can assure that it is certainly not a Byzantines (4th-6th centuries), Arabs (6th-11th religion of fixed doctrines or dogmas, centuries), European crusaders (11th-13th but a complex belief system that centuries), Mamluks (13th-16th centuries), evolves. Beyond diversity, there is above, like a rubric, an arch that unites Ottoman Turks (16th-20th centuries) and the (Jewish) individuals of each trend, British. from the most orthodox to the most liberal or secular (Barriuso and Laureiro, 2020).

8 It comprised the eastern fringe beyond the Jordan River. In time, it will give rise to the current country of Jordan. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 39 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

The Jewish religion: unity in diversity From a religious point of view, Abraham is therefore the first patriarch to recognize the Unlike Christianity and Islam, the other two existence of a unique God who must be honored great existing monotheistic religions, Judaism and obeyed, in exchange for the promise of a does not have a specific date on which to descendant as vast as the sands of the sea and a chronologically secure its beginning. As has land in which to settle and grow. This covenant already been indicated, being linked to a semi- with Yahveh will extend to his son Isaac and his nomadic people, which is forced, for one reason son's son, Jacob, from whom, as already noted, or another, to make multiple movements through the Jewish or Israelite people would come. the Middle Eastern geography, its beginnings are lost in remote antiquity. However, his most The sons of Jacob, founders of the twelve deeply-rooted convictions, his dogmas, are tribes of Israel, refugees in Egypt because of a based on a founding book: The Bible (Christian fierce famine, were enslaved by Pharaoh, until Old Testament), called by the Jews Tanakh, Moses, who had received a divine revelation in which recounts the epic of the Hebrews marked the burning bush, frees them and leads them to by their constant relationship with God. the land that God had claimed to grant Abraham. In the Exodus Yahveh gives Moses the Other fundamental religious texts are: the Decalogue of the Ten Commandments: “Cette Torah (Pentateuch), the Nevi’im (Book of loi visait à garder le contrôle sur le royaume par Prophets), the Ketuvim (Writings), The Mishnah l'imposition d'une culture commune à toutes ses (oral traditions and commentaries on the Torah9) parties”12 (Fellous, 2008, p. 3). and the Talmud (interpretations elaborated in the second century). Also, and derived from the Next, Moses orders to build the Ark of school of thought known as Kabbalah10, the Covenant, to keep the Tablets of the Law in highlights the mystical book Zohar ("Book of it. This will be the first seat of the later Jewish splendor")11. Temple. Later King David will establish the Israelite capital in Jerusalem, and his heir As already mentioned, according to the Solomon will actually build the aforementioned Bible, Abraham is the first Hebrew who, leaving first Temple. With this action, Judaism will now his Chaldean city of Ur, at the direction of be an official religion. Yahveh, will migrate to the land of Canaan. From his tribe, sedentarized around 1200 BC. C., In the V century a. C., the Torah the Hebrew people will be born, whose religion (instruction, teaching, doctrine) is reintroduced, is based on the Covenant with God and the Law the Law par excellence, which synthesizes the revealed by this to Moses. previous Jewish uses and rules, and corresponds to the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Neither the Jewish nor the Christian faith Bible13. The reading of the Torah, the festivals, question the existence of the first biblical the sacrifices and the prayers will be, from now characters and episodes, for example, Noah and on, the foundation of Jewish life. This tradition the Universal Flood; yes, instead, secular lasted with the conquest of Rome and was history, which attributes to them a legendary and preserved unchanged after the appearance of the fictitious origin. However, studies of biblical Messiah, the diaspora and the destruction of the criticism (without formal presence until the 18th second Temple in Jerusalem, continuing to this century) and historical archeology, have day. revealed the credibility of certain characters, such as the kings David and Solomon.

9 Compiled in the 2nd century by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi. 12 “This law aimed to maintain control over the kingdom 10 The origin of this hermeneutical school or current dates by imposing a common culture in all its parts”. back to the Essenes, although it became official in the 13 Esdras, a Hebrew priest and scribe, is the one who, upon Middle Ages. his return from the Babylonian captivity, reintroduces 11 Book supposedly written by Shimon bar Yojai in the the Torah as religious and legislative norm. second century, but whose authorship is probably due to Moses de León. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 40 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

This, then, in synthesis, is the foundation From this point of view, there would be of the Jewish religion, characterized by the no distinction regarding an “orthodoxy” (let us recognition of a unique and absolute God, who remember here that, in opposition to agrees an alliance of friendship with the man to Christianity, in Judaism there is hardly a whom he gives his Law, and the implementation dogmatic or an elaborate theology), only in of the Torah. These principles bring unity to the terms of a practice, which would be what would scattered Jewish people. However, contrary to make some currents differ from others. It should what one might think, Judaism is made up of a not be forgotten that Jesus of Nazareth was a great variety of currents, which present notable Jew, and he himself became involved in this differences among themselves and come from at controversy. In Professor Nathan's opinion: least the 6th century BC. C. Judaism as a religion has always been Since then, heterogeneous religious and defined as "having the correct practice" political groups are documented in the ancient rather than "having the correct belief" world, such as the Essenes, Baptists, Samaritans, (orthopraxis vs. orthodoxy). Uniformity of practice is the criterion. Zealots, Sadducees and Pharisees. The former Controversies and differences in made up a rigid priestly caste, which only practice separated the various Jewish recognized the written Torah. In turn, the religious groups in Jesus' time, whether Pharisees were considered spiritual leaders, they were Sadducees, Pharisees, or standing out for strictly applying and enforcing Essenes. This explains why Jesus the Torah. These last two groups constituted the disagreed with his practice of God's law. legal-religious institution of the Sanhedrin, in For him, they failed to the point where force at the time of Christ. they did not practice it correctly (Nathan, 2005). This diversity of ideologies, which continues to this day, causes astonishment in an The different forms of praxis have been extreme monotheistic religion like the Jewish imposed by famous rabbis in disparate territories one. The specialist in biblical studies Julio and historical moments, registering, in turn, Trebolle explains the reconciliation between this internal fragmentations, making it very difficult monotheism and its different tendencies with the to sketch a first classification and a later following words: “The question that arises here typology of past and present tendencies of is precisely the relationship between Jewish Judaism. In summary, and following the order monotheism and its particularistic and proposed by the French researcher Martine universalistic derivations at the same time, that Berthelot (Berthelot, 2008, p. 89), the main is, between Jewish monotheism and Jewish current divisions can be summarized as: identity, universal and particular at the same time” (Trebolle, 2005, p. 11). The dispersion of Orthodox or Hasidic Judaism the Jewish people, the compartmentalization and isolation of their communities throughout Established by the Ukrainian Rabbi Israel Ben history would go further in the direction of Eliezer, it originated in the 18th century as a interpreting and living a Law in different ways. reaction against the demand for a life dedicated However, it could be said that religious entirely to the study of the Scriptures. Against alternatives do not imply basic dogmatic this, it is advisable to cultivate other values, such dissensions, but rather practical. In this sense, for as singing and religious dances, prayer and the understanding of Judaism, the American helping others. One division of Hasidism is the psychologist Peter Nathan proposes starting Habad movement, made up of those who believe from two previously contrasted concepts: in the coming of the Messiah. This other “orthodoxy” and “orthopraxis”. messianic line was founded in 1775 in Russia by Rabbi Shneour Zalman of Liadi.

ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 41 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

Ultra-Orthodox Judaism or Haredi Secular Judaism

(the "God-fearing"). As an Orthodox split, it was Known as humanistic or secular, it is more born in the 19th century in Eastern Europe, geared towards displaying a plural Jewish within the Ashkenazi communities 14, although cultural identity than religious practice. This certain precedents were already registered in type of Judaism, very critical of the most Ukraine in the 18th century. Haredi Jews fully fundamentalist and closed tendencies, which it uphold the ancient traditions of Judaism, defines as sectarian, is of an intellectual, remaining isolated from the other social groups humanistic, civic-social and universalist sign, with which they live, rejecting any contact with betting on open and cooperative dialogue with them, and speaking a distinctive common all kinds of religions and beliefs, considered language: Yiddish 15. forms of cultural and civilizing expression.

Neo-Orthodox or Modern Judaism All these variants within Judaism present internal divergences, which are well understood It is instituted in Germany in the 19th century by from the explanation of Martine Berthelot: Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch, who advocated that Jews can adapt to modern life, while […] In the case of Judaism, plurality, respecting Halakha. The neo-Orthodox differ variability, openness prevail, as well as from the liberal Jews in that, despite being the complexity derived from the very adapted - and integrated - to the Western life of essence of Judaism, which is not only religion, but also culture and other denominations, the practices of the civilization, tradition and practices, synagogues continue to be in Hebrew and with history and memory, values, feelings separation between men and women. and attitudes, etc. To all of which is added the complexity induced by the Liberal Judaism multidimensional aspect of individual identity, which in turn is the result of the It was organized in the city of Hamburg, family trajectory and the civil and social Germany, in the 19th century as an adaptation of options of each individual (Berthelot, Judaism to modern liberalism, rapidly spreading 2008, pp. 105 and 106). to France and the rest of Western Europe, from where it passed to the United States, constituting Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Judaism: the majority current of Judaism there. For his Characteristics, Similarities and Differences followers, essential Jewish values are more important than Halakha. The main changes in In the previous section, it has been pointed out this line are the admission of women-rabbi how from the margins of Judaism it is difficult (1935), the use of mixed spaces in synagogues, to delimit the scope of the different currents that the use of vernacular languages in rites and coexist within the same religion. Something prayers, etc. similar happened in Christianity when, as a result of the Lutheran Reformation, the Masorti Judaism “Christian churches” proliferated, having, as in the Jewish religion, a great development and a Initiated, in the same way, in Germany in the complex diversification between the 18th and 19th century by Rabbi Zacharias Frankel, it 19th centuries, on the occasion of the Anglo- arises in opposition to the liberal Jews and the Saxon migrations to North American lands. Orthodox regarding the interpretation of the However, the similarities and differences Halakha, which must remain unchanged and between Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews are modernize as long as the Talmud authorizes it. detectable. Also, it allows women to be rabbis. This branch later developed, especially in the United States. Orthodox Judaism, like ultra-Orthodox, advocates a rigid religious practice, but without falling into isolation and total separation from civil society.

14 Ashkenazis are the Jewish collectives settled mainly in 15 Yiddish is a dialect of German spoken only by Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Hungary, Ashkenazi Jews. Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and part of Russia. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 42 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

Their integration into the socio- The Spanish theologian Antonio professional secular world is total, although their Rodríguez Carmona highlights the followers are signified by a series of signs, such aforementioned German Rabbi Samson Rafael as the dress (kippa -species of skullcap- and the Hirsch as one of the promoters of this new men's black suit and white shirt; the women orthodoxy, perhaps his most outstanding dress decently, but without the rigor of the ultra- theorist, who defended, with respect, for Orthodox). example, to education, that “you have to learn subjects both religious and secular, without For its part, ultra-Orthodox Judaism seeing opposition between the two” (Rodríguez orders a total behavior of the mitzvot or Carmona, 2001, p. 275). Rodríguez Carmona prescriptions that appear in the Bible, and an goes on to explain that for this "enlightened absolute compliance with the set of legal norms orthodoxy" many of the interpretations of the that constitute the Halakha. In this sense, ultra- Torah are mere formalities, which: Orthodox men and women strictly observe the Shabbat (Saturday feast), the rest of the Jewish Reason can and should help religious holidays, the cleanliness of food, conjugal life, but we must avoid uses that deviate morality and traditional dress, as the bourgeois from the Torah, as in fact happened with of Eastern Europe dressed. in the 19th century: the Science of Judaism, which served only, according to him [Hirsch], to men with white shirts, shorts, stockings and reason violations of the Torah. The buckle shoes, long black coats, borsalino hat or foundation of his religious vision is the shtreimel, grew long beards and ringlets or payot Law of God, revealed in nature and at 16 on their temples ; women wear long skirts, Sinai. The Torah, both written and oral, blouses buttoned up to the neck, wig 17 and cap is divine and therein lies its value, but it or hat. needs an explanation. The point of view of traditional orthodoxy that enforces Men dedicate themselves, preferably, to the observance of the commandments the study of religious texts (Bible, Talmud and just because they are commanded and, Kabbalah) and to prayer, while women take care therefore, are a means of uniting with of a large number of children at home, children the will of God, is not enough. Hirsch offers an explanation of a symbolic who hardly receive any other education than in type, taken from the Jewish world itself, the yeshiva or school run by a rabbi. The criticizing the explanation of a rational economic conditions in which ultra-Orthodox type that Maimonides gave, making use families live are currently very precarious; of philosophy, something foreign to grouped in neighborhoods, as in the case of Mea Jewish thought, which is self-sufficient Shearim in Jerusalem, separated from the spaces (Rodríguez Carmona, 2001, pp. 275- of civil society, they find themselves in dire need 276). to request economic aid from the State in order to survive. The above serves to clarify that the transformations of Jewish orthodoxy begin Modern Orthodoxy and the Neocommunities: within itself. However, at the same time, and A Progressive Alteration of the Jewish already in post-Enlightenment times, the Religious Tradition pressure that ultra-Orthodox communities have received, and do receive, from secular societies Modern orthodoxy or neo-orthodoxy is not a has been, and is, very strong. recent construction. Coinciding with the spread of the Enlightenment, it was born in Europe in Despite the isolation in which they try to the 19th century, within the orthodox trend, by live, modern life, with its technological, assuming enlightened and romantic values, such consumerist and globalizing characteristics, the as the rescue of the past, which will serve as a mass media, the advances in science and the spur for the youth by defending respect for the general influences of the ways of life abroad are religious heritage-cultural. little by little undermining the steadfastness of these religious groups.

16 Following what is prescribed in Leviticus 19:27. 17 They cover their hair or shave it on the day of their marriage, so that no one can see it anymore. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 43 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

The English specialist in Hebrew studies Trades such as a doctor, archaeologist, Nicholas De Lange, in his extensive work musician or military are work fantasies that Judaism, ventures to chart the future of this haunt the heads of youth, making them think and religion, threatened by external anti-Semitic conceive ways of reconciling them with laws pressures, its declining demographic trends, and religious practices. It is even known, for which have not yet been able to recover from the example, of ultra-Orthodox members of political Holocaust, the conflicts Arab-Israeli politicians parties, in order to contribute with their votes to and, within the current State of Israel, social support various proposals of these, and thus be transformations, confessional pluralism, able to receive, in return, the promise of interreligious dialogue with Christianity and respecting and defending their customs in Islam and Jewish “theology” that, to this day, government institutions and beliefs18. seems to be paralyzed and lacking dynamism (De Lange, 2011, pp. 351-372). These aspirations then pose the problem of equality between men and women, since Thus, the obstacles for the Jews to many young women want to have a profession, preserve orthodoxy and the severe way of life or the opportunity to develop innate skills in that it entails are many. The main one is their them, such as those related to the arts, location and the role they play in the social fabric questioning the fulfillment of ancestral practices of the countries they inhabit, where they try to that they are forced to dedicate themselves to reconcile secular civil laws with religious faith. household chores, when they could work and Taking the State of Israel as an example, it is contribute with their own income to the family known that in it the Haredi or ultra-Orthodox economy; raising a large number of children, or Jews suffer political pressures that urge them to shaving hair or hiding it under a wig when they contribute to the payment of taxes or to fulfill marry are other feminine obligations that tend to military service like any other Israeli citizen, to be refuted and modified over time. which they resist, exterminating an evident rejection of all secular partisanship and Zionist As regards the Orthodox or Hasidic manifestation. Paradoxically, as has already communities, the opening towards a new been anticipated, the precarious economic orthodoxy occurs unstoppably, but almost situation in which the Haredi live pushes them, imperceptibly. Music has been a determining on many occasions, to ask for financial support factor in its flexibility. Hasidi Jews, who admit from the State itself, which they despise. music as a religious-spiritual practice, go beyond the limits of ritual to join, with their musical The harsh, almost permanent conditions competence, other artistic and cultural spheres of they suffer also make them dependent on aid or secular orientation. This is the case of the remittances from relatives or other foreign Argentine-Jewish rock band Atzmus, which, Jewish communities, although, on the other positioning itself in a new social space, that of hand, they necessarily belong to economic rock and roll, systems that are "abominable" from the point of view ultra-orthodox. These contradictions have amalgamates a universalizing and a a dissolving effect on the fundamental principles communitarian-ethnicizing way of of this current, constituting a gateway to another projection of the Kabbalah and type of society and world: "a modern world." Hasidism, a process that is related to the construction of meaning about their practices […] Atzmus's music is not This influence is recognized to a greater exclusively intended for extent in young people, who no longer agree to communitarized orthodox Jews nor receive only the instruction offered by schools or does it seek to strengthen a community yeshivas, nor to dedicate themselves to the in particular, which accounts for the de- exclusive study of the Scriptures, having as their ethnicization of Hasidism (Setton, only professional horizon to become rabbis, and 2015). this in the men.

18 In 2013, an Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox Jew and another Sephardic Jew were elected to preside over the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, a council that has jurisdiction over many aspects of Jewish life in the State. ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 44 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

Contrary to what it might seem, this band Apart from the influence that the does not completely break with Jewish governments of the countries in which they are orthodoxy: two of its members declare inserted have on Jewish groups, the pressure of themselves to be orthodox Jews, the lyrics of a neoliberal, consumerist and technologized their songs have clear Hasidic and Kabbalistic system to the extreme, the always biased and references, and, in general, they conduct often sensationalist information of the media, themselves while maintaining rigid principles of and the weight of the novelties, fashions and Halakha, such as the absence of female singers, types of behavior, increasingly secularized and in response to the ancient rule that prohibits men highly attractive, especially for the youth (all this from listening to a woman sing. All this makes also added to internal divergences), act as Damian Setton think that in this artistic disruptive elements of the old orthodoxy, and as manifestation Jewish orthodoxy is not lost, but accelerators of the implantation of a “new rather expands. Judaism” or “new Judaisms”.

Like any other religion, Judaism, in its In the case of current Spanish strictest versions, is forced today to "coexist" communities, for example, the discrepancies with all kinds of secular and liberal sectors, originate around the idea that the Jews which sparks debate and controversy over themselves have of Judaism, which is a serious whether or not it needs progressive adaptability. disintegrating element. According to the current reality, or its defense not only as religion, sociologist Julia Martínez Ariño: but as a differentiating identity element: […] It is in the different degree of The relationship between morality, compliance with the precepts, but above Jewish religious truths, and social role all in the justification that is made of it, in a progressively more complex society where the greatest differences emerge. in the modern state takes on various More specifically, the differences aspects within Jewish understanding appear both in the severity or flexibility itself, particularly in light of discussions with which the prescriptions of the law of liberal assimilation, the new are followed, and above all in the orthodoxy, and the increasingly existence or absence of reflexivity common manifestations of atheism or around this observance. In fact, it is in agnosticism (Fonti, 2011, p. 46). the justification offered by people of their own practice where greater To this his previous reflection, the Argentine variability can be observed (Martínez researcher Diego Fonti adds the tendency, Ariño, 2011, pp. 452-453). followed since the Enlightenment by theorists of Judaism, to admit the possibility of a kind of Decision-making on aspects such as consensus or "normalization" between the burial places, breaking up old communities to Jewish religious discipline and the advance of create new ones or positions to be taken on the secularization: request for greater visibility and female participation, claims contemplated in the First of all, Judaism has to be problem of gender equality, are a frequent reason understood qua religion, but in addition for splits and claims before the corresponding to Judaism as culture a science can be rabbinical authorities. elaborated. Modes of religious services and liturgies emerge, and of symbolic The issue of gender equality, together representation of the “leaders” of these with the change in family orientation, is a thorny communities, which would lead all of issue and difficult to deal with - if not impossible them to think of Judaism as one more - within the Orthodox, but mainly among the confession in a progressively more Haredis or ultra-Orthodox, since “From their tolerant State that admits freedom of worship […] In a framework of point of view, the more children a couple has, the progressive secularization, religion is more confident they feel of having demonstrated no longer the founding element of their superiority over the secular world and of Jewish identity (Fonti, 2011, p. 40). having followed the biblical recommendation to multiply” (Álvarez, 2007, p. 40).

ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 45 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

The Spanish researcher Ana Álvarez For Johann Meier, a German expert in assumes, in the same way, the opinion of Talmudic studies, "The emergence of other Richard Baehr, political correspondent for the movements within Judaism, non-religious American Thinker, when she affirms that "In Zionists, socialist internationalists, neo- addition, the ultra-Orthodox believe that they are Orthodox, etc., shows the impossibility of called to repopulate the Jewish community after reducing the modern Jewish experience to a the loss suffered by the Holocaust." (Cf., confessional definition" (Meier, 1988). In this Álvarez, 2007, p. 40; Baehr, 2006). Their sense, it would be in the conception of "Jew", differences with those who make up non- built from the complexity of history, the denominational groups are great; In the opinion diaspora, the different interpretations of the Law, of New York sociologist Samuel Heilman, “in schools, guidelines and consequent secular societies, young people aspire to get a disagreements, controversies and college degree, go out into the world of work, fragmentations, where the explanation of the and succeed. The Haredim [or Haredis], on the advance of the religious lassitude and current other hand, have set their goal to have as many secularization. children as possible. This is how they interpret success” (Cf. Wattenberg, 2005; Cf., Álvarez, Likewise, let us not forget that, despite 2007, p. 40). their rejection "of the exterior", the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities live in The aforementioned cases, although they the realm of modernity, which is why their do not have much social impact, are symptoms members enter into controversy with the of something more important: the existence of consciousness of being a modern subject, marked internal dissensions in the Orthodox and characterized by, among many other ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities and the singularities, the death of the sacred, the appearance of a gradual trend aimed at blurring progressive dissolution of the religious and the the borders of the ethnic, the cultural - affirmation above all of the subjective and community and the religious that is their own secular reason of man. and distinctive. Thus, there is a de-ethnicizing and de-communitarianizing process among Jews Product of the previous trend, today, as (Setton, 2015), a process that, in higher in all our belief systems, heterodoxy rises among instances, even manifests itself in new socio- Jews, challenging their ability to maintain their political currents. Orthodox unity in the face of growing heterodox diversity. Only the depth and richness of a Conclusions millennial message can find forms of dialogue and consensus that prevent the new currents From the above, could it be said that we are from ending up being elements of the facing an imminent fragmentation of Judaism? If extermination of a religion and a culture more so, would the responsibility for this rupture or than arcane. danger of rupture fall almost exclusively on the generalized advance of secularization in all Faced with this imminence, Christians religious systems? should take due precautions, since, in some way, we are indebted to Judaism and inheritors of its These and other questions have been tradition collected in the Old Testament, a set of raised and answered since the late twentieth precursor texts of our faith. However, remember century by historians and philosophers, such as that “What unites the Jews is not a belief, but a British Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who, in his history: the deep sense of a common origin, and abundant research production, addresses the a shared past and destiny” (De Lange, 2011, p. main problems that Jews will have to face in the 55), which, As has been demonstrated several future that, in our millennium, it is already a times, it conspires, and will always conspire, any present (Sacks, 1993). To do this, Sacks extermination of this group with a definitive conducts a survey of the anthropological notion character. of "being Jewish", a difficult task.

ISSN: 2414-4835 ECORFAN® All rights reserved. SÁNCHEZ-USÓN, María José & VILLEGAS- SÁNCHEZ, María José. Historicity, continuity and neo- orthodoxy in contemporary judaism. Journal of Social Researches. 2020 46 Article Journal of Social Researches December 2020 Vol.6 No.18 34-47

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STOFENMACHER, M. (2005). “El judaísmo conservador”, El judaísmo uno y diverso (Coords. Macías Kapón, U. y R. Izquierdo Benito). Cuenca: Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, pp. 233-244.

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