{"id":1564,"date":"2014-06-06T20:24:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T20:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=1564"},"modified":"2014-06-06T20:24:38","modified_gmt":"2014-06-06T20:24:38","slug":"orthodox-and-ultra-orthodox-jews-who-are-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/orthodox-and-ultra-orthodox-jews-who-are-they\/","title":{"rendered":"Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews: Who are they?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom Brennan<\/p>\n

Judaism worships One God<\/a> but can show that worship in various ways. Today modern Israel is a secular state with an official faith, Orthodox Judaism. Judaism has other branches including Ultra-Orthodox, which despite living in separatist communities within the Land barely admits to its existence in some cases. Even in Jesus\u2019 time there were groups within Israel that looked to interpret the Scriptures from several perspectives. The Samaritans and Sadducees recognized only the Torah as ordained Scripture. The Pharisees and Essenes observed the Torah and commentaries, The Herodians were more casual and adopted many Greek and Roman social conventions and still maintained their status within their Jewish roots. The Zealots were extreme activists and literally the assassins of those who they viewed as traitors and pawns of the Romans.<\/p>\n

\"Haredi<\/a>

Haredi on Shabbat – Photo by Ian Norton<\/p><\/div>\n

Today\u2019s Judaism is as varied as ever and travelers will most likely encounter a variety and depth of commitment. A good number of Jews are a mix of secular and observant at the same time. Reformed congregations have seen women as rabbis, especially in the United States, and a more liberal interpretation of Scripture. Conservatives will add such traditions as separating men and women in synagogues and observe more traditions than reformed congregations.<\/p>\n

Venturing into the more strictly observing movements will be the Lubavitcher Chabad, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox, the Hasidim. Here is where seeking purity of worship and righteous behavior as persons and people seems to be the common denominator. Jewish congregations that follow a particular lifestyle of observance are termed movements rather than denominations or sects. The difference is more easily described as being branches of a huge tree\u00a0 and some of which seem to observe the Scriptures more strictly than others.<\/p>\n

With Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox come social conventions that sometimes place them at odds within Israel. Some do not even recognize the political State itself. There has been an ongoing debate as to whether Ultra-Orthodox Jews should do IDF service. They had been exempted from 1948 onwards and this has caused considerable resentment. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men dedicate their lives to Torah study and prayer and often do not have jobs in order to devote themselves to study. They feel that their prayers of entreaty for the people do a great service and this is should be considered a legitimate substitute. Their close knit communities care for the families basic needs. A new political coalition had formed in the Knesset to move the bill to include Ultra-Orthodox men in the military. There were protests<\/a> in several other countries over this legislation.
\nUltra-Orthodox communities hold that the true Israel will only be here when the Messiah comes and re-establishes the Kingdoms of David and Solomon under Himself. Orthodox Judaism is the officially re<\/p>\n

\"Shabbat<\/a>

Shabbat in Jerusalem – Photo by Ian Norton<\/p><\/div>\n

cognized religion of the State of Israel. The Chief Rabbi is an Orthodox Rabbi and all referrals to Torah are through him.
\nOrthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews view secular Israel in different ways. The Orthodox engage in a working relationship within the social and political framework and the Ultra-Orthodox have withdrawn from a world they view as a hindrance to their relationship with The Almighty. They share a common desire for a purity of their relationship with their Creator through persistence in holding to His Commandments. It is in how these Commandments are interpreted that makes the most dramatic differences noticeable. The Ultra-Orthodox add to their interpretation of the Torah more from the various commentaries in order to live a pure religious lifestyle.\u00a0 To the Western way of viewing society the Ultra-Orthodox seem the most extreme in their views. Perhaps they can teach Christians the most because of their thinking.<\/p>\n

They are the most extreme example of the 1st century way of life. The relationship with the Creator was the focal point of existence and all else began there. They conformed to a secular government, the Roman appointees, only to a point and when they imposed injunctions that the Jews were theologically opposed to, they resisted and revolted. Even when the odds were so obvious, their faith drove them to protest and resist rather than compromise. They rendered to Caesar only what was legitimately correct and things like sacrifice to a human deity or deities was anathema. The savviest of the Roman governors understood this and succeeded. But when poor administrators and Procurators erred, catastrophe followed and careers were ruined by the riots and revolts that followed.<\/p>\n

Modern day Christians can learn much about the early\u00a0 martyr\u2019s mind by observing with respect the way the Orthodox live within a largely secular minded Israel and how and Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox population lives within that state and the ways they accommodate the relationship. The questions of how far to go along and how far to withdraw are the real differences.<\/p>\n

Israel is a land of constant development. It is a learning laboratory of how a secular state can function in a hostile world and still maintain its unique identity without forcing a religious identity on a diverse population. Observing the lifestyles of Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel will help us probe deeper into how to deepen our first loyalty, that to our Creator.<\/p>\n

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By Tom Brennan Judaism worships One God but can show that worship in various ways. Today modern Israel is a secular state with an official faith, Orthodox Judaism. Judaism has other branches including Ultra-Orthodox, which despite living in separatist communities within the Land barely admits to its existence in some cases. Even in Jesus\u2019 time more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[75,625,631,243,240,125,241,242],"class_list":{"0":"post-1564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israeli-culture","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-israeli-news","10":"tag-israeli-life","11":"tag-jew","12":"tag-judaism","13":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","14":"tag-orthodox-jews","15":"tag-ultra-orthodox-jews","16":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1565,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions\/1565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}