Doctoral Dissertation: The New Age Culture in Israel (A Methodological Introduction and the “Conceptual Network”)

The doctoral dissertation was written in the Program of Interdisciplinary Studies of Hermeneutics and Culture at Bar-Ilan University, with the supervision of Prof. Moshe Idel (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) and Prof. Adiel Schremer (Bar Ilan University). The work is written in Hebrew, but entails a long abstract and detailed contents in English. It holds over 450 pages, in two volumes, and was approved in 2006. It was a pioneer big work in the area of the Alternative Spirituality in Israel, and served many dozens of researches that followed. The work surveys the phenomena and trends of New Age culture in Israel, and deals with an array of methodological issues concerning the New Age studies. It offers a model of cultural interpratation - "the ideational/conceptual network". This work was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Moshe Idel (Department of Jewish Tought), Hebrew University, and the supervision of Prof. Adiel Schremer, (Department of Jewish History), Bar-Ilan University.

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Article: “Lilith’s Comeback from a Feministic Jungian Outlook: Contemporary Feminist Spirituality Gets into Bed with Lilith”

This prizewinner article is a feminist hermeneutical research of Lilith's myth, from a Jungian viewpoint. It was announced (January 2021) “the 2020 Honorable Mention Award Winner” by The Jewish Women's Caucus of the Association for Women in Psychology. In addition to this article, there are more items - an article and lectures that present the research project on Lilith.

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Research Article: “The Temptation of Legitimacy – Lilith’s Adoption and Adaption in Contemporary Feminist Spirituality”

This article surveys the many and various manifestations of Lilith's image in the femenist spirituality in the last decades, in the Jewish world and beyond. The article examines the values and messages embodies in the adoption and adaptation of this figure, and reveals their contradictory character - in many fields. Finally, the conclusion is that Lilith's figure constitutes an instrument to establish legitimation. The article is about 7,600 words, in English. In addition to this article, there are more items - an article and lectures that present the research project on Lilith. See links below. "I cannot remember now how I had even heard of Lilith, but I borrowed her tale because it fit my contemporary need." from: Judith Plaskow (ed. Donna Berman), The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-2003, p. 86.

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A lecture on New Age elements in mainstream advertisments in Israel, in a conference at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

The lecture took part in a conference titled "Political, Sociological and Historical Aspects of New Age in Israel", in a panel dedicated to "The New Age and the Israeli Arena: Education, Consumerism and Political Act", chaired by Boaz Huss, and with the participation of Dalit Simchai.

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Research article: “The Enchanted Benches” at Kursi National Park as Case Study for the Formation Processes of Alternative Sacred Geography

This article deals with the sanctification process of a (historically Christian) site in the Land of Israel, by the Alternative Spirituality, or Neo-Pagans/Shamans. The article analyses the factors that made Kursi a suitable candidate for a sactification process, and presents a model that examines various aspects and elements that contribute to an Alternative Spiritual sactification process of factors in the site. In addition to this (8,500 words, Hebrew) article, there is another (English) article that describes different aspects of the sanctification process of Kursi, and a lecture on a similar subject. See links below. The article takes a part in a research project that deals with the Alternative Sacred Geography of the Land of Israel, by Ruah-Midbar Shapiro. The article is part of a special issue of Horizons in Geography (edited by Anat Kidron) that was dedicated to the "Functional Places and Collective Memory" (how functional sites - such as a road signs, sports stadium or film theatre - are designed as to construct a collective memory and conciousness). Horizons in Geography ("Ofaqim bGeographia") is a journal published in Hebrew by the University of Haifa.

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Lecture: Thinking of the New Age as an “Ideational Network”

The (Hebrew, about 20 min.) lecture took place at the 8th Israeli Conference for the Study of Contemporary Spiritualities' plenum, at the University of Haifa (December 2015). The lecture presented the model of "the Ideational Network", that was Ruah-Midbar's doctoral dissertation's fruit (see link below). Ruah-Midbar Shapiro was also the co-chair of this conference, and actually the initiator and founder of the series of ICSCS. This lecture opened the final session of the conference, that was on "Spirituality Now - Israel 2016: Conceptualizations, Major Trends, and Central Issues". The session's chair was Boaz Huss.

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Research Article: The Hippie Colony of Rosh-Pina – Appropriation and Design of Buildings and Scenic Elements for Creating an Alternative Spiritual Milieu

An article describling an unknown chapter of the Sixties in Israel (some 10,000 words, in Hebrew). The article is part of a special issue of Horizons in Geography (edited by Anat Kidron) that was dedicated to the "Functional Places and Collective Memory" (how functional sites - such as a road signs, sports stadium or film theatre - are designed as to construct a collective memory and conciousness). Horizons in Geography is a journal published by the University of Haifa. See below links for a lecture on a similar subject as well as a research article on another site, that was also included in the same special issue.

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Lecture: From a Hippie to an Alternative Spiritual Identity: The History of the Hippie Colony at Old Rosh Pinna

The (Hebrew) lecture describes a reserch about an unknown chapter in the history of Israel, in which the Hippie Sixties values were embodied in the life of the co,,unity settled at the uphill of Rosh Pinna. The lecture took place in a conference organized by the Zefat center for the Study of Galilean Cultures and Communities, Zefat Academic College, that was dedicated to Galilean identities. The session's chair was Essica Marx.

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