This fundamental and encompassing article (about 12000 words, in Hebrew) surveys and maps the various ways in which New Age and Judaism meet and mix together, in Israel.
It presents ten “types” of these meeting places, accompanied by many examples, while presenting a relevant theoretical background, and discussing the characteristics and trends of this emergent multifaceted space, one of them being the exotization of Judaism process in the New Age realm.
A parallel research in English also presented this field, while addressing other aspects of the interchange of Judaism and New Age in Israel (see here).
I’ve coined the term Jew Age to describe those Jewish New Age phenomena, and used it also in other researches. See links to further items below.
The ten “types” indicated in the article are:
1. Contemporary Kabbalah (from the Ashlag School)
2. Neo-Hassidism and Jewish Renewal
3. Alternative Calendar and Commentaries
4. Channeling
5. Shamanism, Paganism, and Eco-Feminism
6. Syncretism
7. Theoretical Systems
8. Body/Soul Practices
9. Spiritual Counseling
10. Art and Religious Artifacts
The article takes part in an anthology that was peer-reviewed and edited as a special issue of the journal Iyunim (which is dedicated to Israel studies, and is published by Ben Gurion University), under the title “Beyond Halakha (Jewish Law): Traditionality, Secularism and New Age Culture in Israel”.
Abstract
The emerging alliances between New Age spirituality and Judaism take many forms: channeling with Dvorah the Old Testament prophetess, shofar healing, Jewish coaching, Ari-inspired (sixteenth century Jewish mystic) tantra, Hebrew shamanism, and so forth. This new trend is contributing to the renewal of roadmaps to Judaism in Israel.
The article surveys New Age’s encounter with Judaism, and analyzes its allure for Jewish Israelis, its potential impact on broader sections of the population, and the erosion of borders separating Jewish New Age from Israeli mainstream.
The article argues that, paradoxically, the more these phenomena are perceived as alternatives to conventional Judaism, the more they create an authentic emotional link to it. Only after New Age spirituality passes through the exoticization stage,are New Age Israelis able to connect to more traditional Judaism and find in it their natural, authentic, and welcome habitat.
Author
Marianna Ruah-Midbar
Links
For the anthology’s (Hebrew) page on the publication house site, click here.
For a file of all the anthology’s abstracts (in English), click here.
For a (Hebrew) review by Tomer Persico on the anthology in which this article featured, click here (his blog) or here (Ha’aretz newspaper).
For a (Hebrew) review by Yuval Dror on the anthology in which this article featured, click here.
For the page describing the article within the Sapir Center for Jewish Culture and Education, that holds article on Jewish renewal – click here.
Year
2014
Language
Hebrew
Academic/Non-academic
Academic item
Bibliographical citation
Ruah-Midbar, Marianna, “A Channeler, a Healer, and a Shaman Meet at the Rabbi’s: The Roadmap of Israeli Judaism(s) in the New Age”, in Iyunim: Multidisciplinary Studies in Israeli and Modern Jewish Society (Thematic series) 7 (Special issue, edited by Gideon Katz, Shalom Ratzabi, Yaacov Yadgar: Beyond Halacha: Secularism, Traditionalism and ’New Age’ Culture in Israel). Sde Boker: Ben-Gurion Institute for the study of Israel and Zionism, 2014. pp. 498-528. [Hebrew]
