From Ideology to Halakhah: Ultra-Orthodox Opposition to Modern Hebrew
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Iris Brown
Abstract
On the margins of Israeli society, in the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, there is a lively and fierce debate over the status of Modern Hebrew. At the beginning of the resistance, the reservations and opposition concerning Hebrew formed part of the reaction to the innovative activities of secular Zionists. Despite the fact that it was taken as a continuation of the beloved “Holy Tongue” of the Bible, the Ultra-Orthodox viewed it as a modernist innovation. This paradoxical situation produced an extensive literature rejecting Modern Hebrew on ideological and educational grounds. Later, during the second stage of the resistance, opposition to Hebrew also acquired a pseudo-halakhic tone. This article describes the various opinions of members of the Ultra-Orthodox community regarding Modern Hebrew, the different stages of their resistance to it, and the reasons given for this resistance. The changes that occurred in the attitude of Ultra-Orthodox society toward Hebrew are not only of interest in their own right but also provide an interesting case study on the emergence of a binding norm that quickly became phrased in halakhic terminology.
© 2018 by Academic Studies Press, Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Table of Contents
- From the Guest Editor
- ESSAYS
- Re-Presenting Judaic Law: Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg’s Popular Guides to Halakha and Their Significance
- Halakhic Guidance for Soldiers: The Emergence of a New Corpus
- Immodest Modesty: The Emergence of Halakhic Dress Codes
- From Ideology to Halakhah: Ultra-Orthodox Opposition to Modern Hebrew
- Preambles: An Insight into Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Haye Adam
- The Medical Cosmology of Halakha: The Expert, the Physician, and the Sick Person on Shabbat in the Shulchan Aruch
- The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and Its Impact in Hungary and Beyond
- A Matter of Life and Death: The Halakhic Discussion of Suicide as a Philosophical Battleground
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Adam Afterman, “And They Shall Be One Flesh”: On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism. Leiden: Brill, 2016
- Oded Porat, Sefer B’rit ha-Menuha (Book of Covenant of Serenity): Critical Edition and Prefaces [in Hebrew], Jerusalem: Magnes Press and Hotza’at ha-Kibbutz ha-me’uh ad, 2016
- Elisheva Baumgarten, Ruth Mazo Karras, and Katelyn Mesler, eds. Entangled Histories: Knowledge, Authority, and Jewish Culture in the Thirteenth Century. Jewish Culture and Contexts. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017
- Sara Davidson, The December Project. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2014
- Contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Table of Contents
- From the Guest Editor
- ESSAYS
- Re-Presenting Judaic Law: Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg’s Popular Guides to Halakha and Their Significance
- Halakhic Guidance for Soldiers: The Emergence of a New Corpus
- Immodest Modesty: The Emergence of Halakhic Dress Codes
- From Ideology to Halakhah: Ultra-Orthodox Opposition to Modern Hebrew
- Preambles: An Insight into Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Haye Adam
- The Medical Cosmology of Halakha: The Expert, the Physician, and the Sick Person on Shabbat in the Shulchan Aruch
- The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and Its Impact in Hungary and Beyond
- A Matter of Life and Death: The Halakhic Discussion of Suicide as a Philosophical Battleground
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Adam Afterman, “And They Shall Be One Flesh”: On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism. Leiden: Brill, 2016
- Oded Porat, Sefer B’rit ha-Menuha (Book of Covenant of Serenity): Critical Edition and Prefaces [in Hebrew], Jerusalem: Magnes Press and Hotza’at ha-Kibbutz ha-me’uh ad, 2016
- Elisheva Baumgarten, Ruth Mazo Karras, and Katelyn Mesler, eds. Entangled Histories: Knowledge, Authority, and Jewish Culture in the Thirteenth Century. Jewish Culture and Contexts. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017
- Sara Davidson, The December Project. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2014
- Contributors
