$ The Journal of CESNUR $ Trance, Meditation and Brainwashing: The Israeli Use of Hypnosis Law and New Religious Movements Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro Zefat Academic College, Israel
[email protected] Sharon Warshawski Ashkelon Academic College, Israel
[email protected] ABSTRACT: The 1984 Israeli Use of Hypnosis Law is the first of its kind in the world. It permits hypnosis for therapeutic purposes alone, and only by a group of licensed professionals (physicians, dentists, and psychologists who acquired a special permit). The law’s vague definition of hypnosis, in fact, gives the criminal offense wide boundaries, in a way that might incorporate a wide range of practices into it, such as guided imagery. As a result, religious freedom is endangered, especially within the alternative-religious/spiritual sphere. The article presents the clear parallels between the law’s broad definition of hypnosis and the common understanding of the mind control thesis. The heart of the argument in this article is that two aspects create the link between hypnosis and new religious movements (NRMs). The first is the phenomenological-historical resemblance between various religious techniques and hypnosis, while the other is the fact that both fields (NRM and hypnosis) evoke the same kind of fear, concerning control and manipulation of the mind. Interestingly, preoccupation with the Hypnosis Law has peaked twice—during the early 1980s, and around 2010—and both times coincided with the rise of the moral panic surrounding “cults” in Israel. In order to present these discussions within the correct contexts, the article includes a survey of NRMs’ status in Israeli society, the government’s anti-cult activity, and the Hypnosis Law.