Haredi Judaism

Haredi Judaism
Name	Haredi Judaism
Main classification	Judaism
Scripture	Torah, Talmud
Theology	Orthodox Judaism
Leader	Various rabbis and rebbes
Founded	18th–19th centuries
Founded place	Central and Eastern Europe
Area	Global; significant in Israel, United States, United Kingdom
Notable people	Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rabbi Elazar Shach, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Haredi Judaism is a stream within Orthodox Judaism characterized by strict adherence to Halakha, sustained commitment to traditional Jewish law and rabbinic authority, and resistance to secularizing trends associated with Enlightenment movements such as the Haskalah. Haredi communities maintain distinctive modes of dress, communal institutions, and internal leadership structures centered on prominent rebbes, yeshiva deans, and rabbinical courts. Their social and political behavior varies across diasporic contexts including Lithuanian-style yeshiva traditions, Hasidic dynasties from Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine, and Sephardic networks rooted in Iraq and North Africa.

Definition and Terminology

Scholars and commentators use terms such as "ultra-Orthodox," "yeshivish," "Litvish," and "Hasidic" to describe subgroups within the movement; related identifiers include Ashkenazi and Sephardi designations. Prominent Hasidic dynasties include Satmar, Bobov, Belz, Ger, Vizhnitz, Chabad-Lubavitch, Breslov, Skver, Pupa, and Sanz-Klausenberg. Litvish or yeshivish streams reference institutions such as Mir (Belarus) and figures like Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, and Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. Sephardic Haredi leadership features authorities such as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and institutions like Shas (political party). Terminological debates invoke discussions of Halachic authority, hashkafa differences, and organizational bodies like Agudath Israel of America and World Agudath Israel.

History and Origins

Roots trace to post-Pale of Settlement responses to the Industrial Revolution and the Haskalah in 18th–19th century Central Europe and Eastern Europe, where figures such as Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov) catalyzed the Hasidic revival while scholars like Rabbi Elijah of Vilna reacted with the Lithuanian yeshiva renaissance exemplified by Volozhin Yeshiva and leaders such as Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. The movement evolved through crises including the Pogroms, the Holocaust, and mass migrations to United States and Mandatory Palestine, producing transnational institutions like Yeshivat Torah Vodaath and Ponevezh Yeshiva. Postwar reconstitution involved activists such as Rabbi Aharon Kotler and organizations like Agudath Israel. In Israel, Haredi parties such as United Torah Judaism and Shas (political party) shaped communal politics alongside events including the 1950s mass immigration and the Six-Day War era social shifts.

Beliefs and Religious Practices

Central commitments include fidelity to the Torah and Talmud, observance of Shabbat, kashrut observance, ritual prayer in minyanim, and deference to rabbinic decisors such as Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv or Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman. Hasidic pietistic practices emphasize devekut and the role of a charismatic rebbe such as Menachem Mendel of Kotzk or Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, while Lithuanian yeshiva models highlight Talmudic study and analytical methods associated with the Brisker method developed by Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik. Lifecycle rituals involve rabbis, batei din like those led by Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, and institutions for marriage and conversion such as rabbinical courts in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. Sephardic Haredi practice often follows codifiers like Maimonides and communal poskim such as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Education and Institutions

Education centers on yeshivot, kollelim, chederim, and mosdos such as Yeshivas Mir, Ponovezh Yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha, Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, Kehot Publication Society, and seminaries tied to dynasties like Chabad and Satmar. Female education is organized in seminaries and schools influenced by leaders such as Sarah Schenirer and institutions like Bais Yaakov. Philanthropic and organizational networks include Agudath Israel, Vaad HaRabbanim, World Mizrachi—and funding sources involve foundations like Edah HaChareidis charities and organizations in New York City, London, and Jerusalem. Media outlets, publishing houses, and censorship mechanisms appear in community presses, and communal adjudication occurs through rabbinical courts such as those in Brooklyn and Bnei Brak.

Demographics and Geographic Distribution

Major concentrations exist in Israel (notably Jerusalem neighborhoods, Bnei Brak, Beitar Illit, Modi'in Illit), the United States (especially New York City boroughs such as Brooklyn—including Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Flatbush; and Monsey), the United Kingdom (notably Stamford Hill), Belgium, Canada (including Montreal), Australia (including Melbourne), and Argentina (notably Buenos Aires). Demographic trends show high birthrates and rapid urban growth mirrored by planning debates in municipal contexts like Jerusalem municipality and national censuses; migration waves involve populations from Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Morocco, Iraq, and Yemen.

Social and Cultural Life

Distinctive dress codes include black coats and hats among Litvish and kapotehs, and traditional garb among Hasidic groups such as the shtreimel and bekishe worn by Satmar and Belz adherents. Cultural life features yeshiva study cycles, Hasidic nigunim and tisch gatherings under leaders like Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum and Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, communal weddings, charity structures like Tzedakah committees, and publishing networks such as ArtScroll and Otzar HaHochma. Internal social governance employs community standards enforced by rabbis, neighborhood patrols exemplified by groups in Brooklyn and Jerusalem, and institutions addressing welfare, health, and kosher supervision often connected to agencies in Bnei Brak and Brooklyn.

Relationship with Modernity and Israeli Politics

Interaction with modernity ranges from selective engagement with secular institutions to active political participation through parties such as United Torah Judaism and Shas (political party), lobbying by organizations like Agudath Israel of America and debates over conscription involving Israel Defense Forces policy and the Israeli conscription law. Economic roles include entrepreneurship in sectors of New York City commerce and involvement in real estate, while tensions surface over secular curricula, state funding of religious schools, and legal disputes in courts such as the Supreme Court of Israel. International relationships involve diplomatic and communal contacts with governments in United States, United Kingdom, and Israel, interactions with non-Haredi Jewish movements like Modern Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism, and responses to global events from the Six-Day War to contemporary debates about religious pluralism.

Category:Judaism