Jewish Orthodoxy and Its Discontents

Religious Dissidence in Contemporary Israel

By (author) Marta F. Topel

Publication date:

06 July 2012

Length of book:

170 pages

Publisher

University Press of America

Dimensions:

229x152mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780761859178

In this book, Marta T. Topel utilizes anthropological research to analyze both macro and micro social processes among secular and Orthodox Jews in Israel. She covers such complex issues as the tensions between the two groups and the radicalization of Israeli Jewish Orthodoxy in the last thirty years. The book also delves into micro social processes such as the long and tortured journey of Israeli religious dissidents and the role of non-governmental organizations in helping these dissidents adapt to secular society. In addition, she discusses the symbolic and ritual paraphernalia that dissidents must become familiar with in order to be successful in their new lives as secular Jews. Jewish Orthodoxy and Its Discontents approaches the phenomenon of religious dissidence within the Jewish Israeli Orthodoxy through the lens of the inverse phenomenon: religious conversion to Jewish Orthodoxy. This outlook is based on theoretical ground as both events constitute a radical change of the ideology of both the social actors and the social structures they have abandoned.

Introduction
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Disenchantment of the World and the Dismantlement of Rabbinical Judaism
Chapter 2: Religion and Religious Coercion in the State of Israel
Chapter 3: Religious Dissidents, the New Marranos and the Discontented; or, Of a Certain Unrest in the Orthodox Universe
Chapter 4: Separation: In Search of Questions
Chapter 5: In the Margin of the Margins
Chapter 6: Incorporation: A Limited Number of Answers to a Great Many Questions
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

This is an accessible and engaging study of ultra-orthodox Jewish dissidents in contemporary Israel. The relationship between the ultra-orthodox and secular enclaves of society rarely leaves Israeli media and has not made international headlines. For example, there is a raging debate about the conscription of ultra-orthodox Jews into the army. Yet, despite the importance of this issue, there is a lack of sociological research and little data on the issue of dissent; Marta Topel’s book is an important work that helps to fill this gap in the literature. . . .Given its wide lens of analysis, Jewish Orthodoxy and its Discontents is useful for anyone who wants to learn about the ultra-orthodox or the relationship between the different enclaves of Israeli society by approaching them through the issue of religious dissidents; the book will be helpful to both academics and non specialists with an interest in the issue. This is a fascinating book which I recommend highly.