In this research project, we’ve discerned a new religious identity category emerging in Israel – Spiritual Secularity. The research focuses on the issue of glocalism (globalism + localism) of the New Age movement (global) among Israeli Jews (local).
The reseach presents Jewish Israeli New Agers’ attitude to Jewish Law (Halakha) and custome, and deals with the tension between alternative spiritual values and Jewish traditional ones, and its various solutions – ranging from indifference to Halakha on the one end, and rejecting New Age on the other. The most interesting attitudes have to do with the processing of Halakha in the spirit of New Age (New Ageization). See the axis of attitudes – below.
Two articles were published, in English and in Hebrew, as a product of this research project (see relecant items in the links below).
The lecture was included in the 1st Israeli Conference for the Study of Contemporary Spiritualities, held in University of Haifa, initiated and chaired by Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro (together with Ofra Mayseless). The conference became a continuous tradition (see links below).
ההרצאה המוקלטת
כרבע שעה, מתחילה ב-1:04:43 של הסרטון, התקיימה באוניברסיטת בר אילן.
Abstract
The following abstract is of the similar article; for the actual abstract of the lecture, please refer to the Hebrew page of this item:
We claim a new religious identity group has formed in Israel – religious secularity. After characterizing the “package deal” of Israeli secular identity, examples from the Israeli New Age are utilized to highlight its recent transformations.
Attitudes of New Agers to religious Jewish law (halacha) are placed along an axis: from indifference or opposition, through hybrids between tradition and New Age, to preservation of Orthodox halacha. While the extreme attitudes reproduce the accepted Israeli division between secular and religious groups, the religious nature of all of the attitudes undermines this division. We demonstrate how creative adaptations, combining New Age and tradition solve contradictions in the identity of secular Israelis and further the development of a new religious identity group: religious secularity.
Authors
Marianna Ruah-Midbar
Adam Klin Oron
Links
To download the primary sources mentioned in the article (English and Hebrew) – click here.
For the homepage of the conference series for the study of contemporary spiritualities (ICSCS) – click here.
For the 1st Israeli Conference for the Study of Contemporary Spiritualities’ (2009) site (in Hebrew) – click here.
– click here.
For the Conference’s Program (in Hebrew)- click here.
For the (Hebrew) abstracts booklet (this lecture’s abstract is on pages 61-63) – click here.
To filmed/recorded lectures and presentations of the conference – click here.
Date
May 23rd 2009
Language
Hebrew
Academic/Non-academic
Academic item
Bibliographical citation
For a citation, it’s best to refer to one of the articles published in the framework of this research project. Links to those items – below.
