Foto Friday – Holy Land

November 7, 2008 - 12:22 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, coexistence, Foto Friday, General, Religion 

Photographer Guy Raivitz recently announced a new work in progress, “Holy Land”, in which he explores the three major religions that put Jerusalem and the land of Israel at their center. Each one of these photos is part of a larger series.
Guy Raivitz - Coptic nun at Church of the Holy Sepulchre
A Coptic nun at the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. Photo: Guy Raivitz

Ravitz is interested in the internal process of worship and how it is exernalized.
Guy Raivitz - Lag Ba Omer - Mt. Meron
‘Lag Ba’omer’ celebrations, Mt. Meron northern Israel. Photo: Guy Raivitz

Guy Raivitz - Muslim man near Al Aksa
Muslim man praying near Temple mount, Jerusalem. Photo: Guy Raivitz

He is respectful of his subjects, always bearing in mind that what they are doing is not for show. To see more of “Holy Land”, visit Guy’s website.

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Flipping presence

August 31, 2008 - 7:21 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Life, Religion 

Flipping OutAs of today, the Jewish month of Elul has begun, which means that thousands of post-high school American yeshiva and seminary students are beginning to arrive in Jerusalem in droves. Just as the main international tourism season has wound down, and a few weeks before the autumn holidays bring a new batch of American family pilgrims, the influx of teenagers who have left their parents’ homes for the first time ever, here on a spiritual quest, can be felt everywhere. More English is spoken on buses and on streets, and the pubs are packed with young people getting sloshed in public for the first time.

The influx of yeshiva kids is a bona fide phenomenon when it comes to the Jerusalem leisure and urban atmospheric scenes, but it’s even more of an attention grabber when it comes to the sociological impact that such years of study have on the individual Jews involved as well as on the communities who spawn and send them.

Published by Yashar Books together with Yeshiva University, Modern Orthodoxy’s seminal institution, Flipping Out? Myth or Fact: The Impact of the ‘Year in Israel’ tackles these very issues. Named after a song by Blue Fringe that self-mockingly recounts the experience of becoming observant to the extreme in Jerusalem, the book meditates on the experience of yeshiva study as a rite of passage that changes the student’s outlook on religious life, and it also questions the impact of this phenomenon on American Orthodox Judaism, which is said to be moving steadily towards the Right.

In its review, The Observer, the YU student paper, asserts that “This book is a brave attempt to begin answering the plethora of questions that students, parents and observers raise about the seeming dramatic effects of the experience.”

But Miriam Shaviv over at The Forward disagrees, focusing on how the empirical backbone of the study betrays its moniker:

But you cannot properly discuss “flipping out” by looking at how many halachic stringencies students, on average, adopt. “Flipping out” is a minority sport that has as much to do with emotional and psychological factors as with halachic ones. Students who are affected may have trouble relating to their family; become obsessive and dogmatic about some aspects of religion, and shed central parts of their old personality. These are all harder to measure, but without addressing these issues substantially, the book cannot be said to be about “flipping out” at all.

So is the “year in Israel” experience essentially one of measurable spiritual acculturation or is it an ephemeral rite of passage? It doesn’t matter. They’re on their way regardless. Flipping aye.

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Juuuust behind the times

July 31, 2008 - 4:50 PM by · 6 Comments
Filed under: Pop Culture, Religion 

Haredim walk the streetsIsrael’s Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community values tradition over progress, believing that anything new is inherently suspect. With the community’s impoverished state, the internet age has opened many avenues of telecommuting income for Haredi families, so the rabbinical leadership has treated computers and telecommunications with kid gloves. The result is a grey area for a sector of Israel’s population not known for being allowed much room for individual thought.

Sure, many Haredim have secret TVs behind closed doors (even if they decide for themselves that it’s okay, their neighbors might not understand), and even more watch moving images on their computers. There’s a mega-earning Haredi film industry, with CD-ROMs containing movies that have zero actresses and Torah-friendly messages:

The plots are usually convoluted melodramas, most of them tear-jerkers that are loaded with edifying messages and Haredi cliches: There will always be a goy (or a secular Jew) who discovers his Judaism; and twins separated at birth, one of whom grew up with goyim (or secular Jews) and returns to his origins. And an ancient copy of Psalms will always find its way to its owner.

But even this scene is banned by many rabbis, its key players operating semi-secretly – even though it’s known that families often own computers just to watch these productions.

During a recent visit to a used cellphone retailer near Jerusalem’s Davidka Square, a corner that’s situated on the border between the super-black Makor Baruch neighborhood and the spaghetti-strapped downtown, I overheard a Haredi man asking the salesman which of the phones he offers are “kosher.” Puzzled, I asked him if he intended to eat his phone, whereupon it was explained to me that some phones allow for streaming video (which might be lewd) and some do not (rendering them kosher).

Video is clearly a point of contention. A recent Haredi ban differentiates between mp3 players (good, because they can be used for Torah study) and mp4 players (evil, because, they are capable of displaying video, which may lead to sin):

Even though MP4s are sold at several stores in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Geula neighborhood, the anger was directed at this particular store because it dared advertise its wares in a Haredi newspaper. Unsigned posters reading “Prepare for the great campaign to stop the corruption” have appeared throughout the neighborhood in recent weeks, denouncing the store for openly advertising “reviled devices that drag all who touch them toward danger.”

These types of verdicts are strangely almost keeping up with the times, only confirming their reactive grounding – simply not based on any guiding doctrines, but rather trying to maintain control over the ever-elusive buffer zone between mankind and our temptations.

The old adage that “guns don’t kill people; people do” comes to mind: Technology doesn’t unto itself cause people to enjoy sinful modes of entertainment, but it makes it a whole lot easier. In these parts of Israeli society, morality isn’t meant to be a matter of individual but rather what’s pronounced from above – in public anyway.

Flickr photo by whodisan215.

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