Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T04:28:33.194Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holy land, holy language: A study of an Ultraorthodox Jewish ideology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Lewis Glinert  and
Yosseph Shilhav
Lewis Glinert
Affiliation:
Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
Yosseph Shilhav
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Bar Ilan University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study explores the correlation between notions of language and territory in the ideology of a present-day Ultraorthodox Jewish group, the Hasidim of Satmar, in the context of Jewish Ultraorthodoxy (Haredism) in general. This involves the present-day role of Yiddish vis-à-vis Hebrew, particularly in Israel. We first address the relative sanctity of a space that accommodates a closed Haredi lifestyle and of a language in which it is expressed, then contrast this with the absolute sanctity of the land of Israel and the language of Scripture both in their intensional (positive) and in their extensional (negative) dimensions, and finally examine the quasi-absolute sanctity with which the Yiddish language and Jewish habitat of Eastern Europe have been invested. Our conclusion is that three such cases of a parallel between linguistic and territorial ideology point to an intrinsic link. Indeed, the correlation of language and territory on the plane of quasi-absolute sanctity betokens an ongoing, active ideological tie, rather than a set of worn, petrified values evoking mere lip-service. These notions of quasi-sanctity find many echoes in reality: in the use of Yiddish and in the creation of a surrogate Eastern European lifestyle in the Haredi “ghettos.” (Cultural geography, sociolinguistics, Judaism, Hasidism, religion, Israel, sociology of language, Yiddish, sacred land, Hebrew, territory)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 59 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boal, F. W. (1978). Ethnic residential separation. In Herbert, D. & Johnston, R. J. (eds.), Social areas in cities. New York: John Wiley. 57–95.Google Scholar
Danziger, M. H. (1989). Returning to tradition: The contemporary revival of Orthodox Judaism. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. (ed.) (1984). Linguistic minorities, policies, and pluralism. London: Academic.Google Scholar
Edwards, J., & Chisholm, J. (1987). Language, multiculturalism, and identity: A Canadian study. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 8 (5):391–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, C. (1971). Language structure and language use. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. A. (1965). Yiddish in America: Sociolinguistic description and analysis. Bloomington: Indiana University Center for Anthropology. Folklore, and Linguistics.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. A. (ed.) (1981). The sociology of Jewish languages. The Internationa Journal of the Sociology of Language 30.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. A. (1986). Nathan Birnbaum's third phase: The activization of Jewish sanctity. In Fishman, J. A. et al. (eds.), The Fergusonian impact, Vol. 2. Berlin: Moutoe de Gruyter. 325–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishman, J. A., & Fishman, D. E. (1977). Yiddish in Israel: A case study of efforts to revise a moncentric language policy. In Fishman, J. A. (ed.), Advances in the study of societal rnultilingualism. The Hague: Mouton. 185–262.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1978). Society and religion: Non-Zionist orthodoxy in Erez-Israel, 1918–1936. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1981). From the traumas of erosion to a sense of security and superiority. Migvan 63: 9–14. [in Hebrew].Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1986). Haredim confront the modern city. In Medding, Peter Y. (ed.), Studies in contemporary Jewry, II. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 74–96.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1987). Life tradition and book tradition in the development of Ultraorthodox Judaism. In Goldberg, Harvey E. (ed.), Judaism viewed from within and without. Albany: State University of New York Press. 235–55.Google Scholar
Glinert, L. H. (1985). Aspects of British Judaism (Occasional Papers, XL) London: University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.Google Scholar
Glinert, L. H. (1987a). Hebrew. In Cohen, Arthur A. & Mendes-Flohr, Paul (eds.), Contemporary Jewish religious thought. New York: Scribners. 325–30.Google Scholar
Glinert, L. H. (1987b). Hebrew-Yiddish diglossia: Type and stereotype. Implications of the language of Ganzfried's “Kitzur”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 67: 39–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilman, S. (1973). Synagogue life: A study in symbolic interaction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Heilman, S. (1983). The people of the hook: Drama, fellowship, and religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Heilman, S. (1988). Jews and Judaica: Who owns and buys what? In Zenner, Walter P. (ed.), Persistence and flexibility: Anthropological perspectives on the American Jewish experience. Albany: State University of New York Press. 260–79.Google Scholar
Helmreich, W. (1982). The world of the Yeshiva: An intimate portrait of Orthodox Jewry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (1966). Two types of linguistic relativity. In Bright, W. (ed.), Sociolinguistics. The Hague: Mouton. 114–67.Google Scholar
Isaacs, M. (1988, Winter). Yiddish in Orthodox communities of Jerusalem. Paper delivered at the Oxford Conference on the Politics of Yiddish,Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Jochnowitz, G. ([1968] 1981). Billingualism and dialect mixture among Lubavitcher Hasidic children.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
In Fishman, (1981). 721–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, R. J. (1971). Urban residential patterns. London: Bell & Sons.Google Scholar
Lamm, N. (1971). The ideology of the Neturei Karta according to the Satmarer version. Tradition 13 (1). 38–53.Google Scholar
Liebman, C. S. (1965). Orthodoxy in American Jewish life. American Jewish Year Book 1965: 21–98.Google Scholar
Liebman, C. S., & Don-Yehiya, E. (1983). Civil religion in Israel. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luz, E. (1985). Meeting of parallels. Tel Aviv: Am Oved. [in Hebrew].Google Scholar
Miron, D. (1973). A traveler disguised: A study in the rise of modern Yiddish fiction in the nineteenth century. New York: Schocken.Google Scholar
Morag, S. (1959). Planned and unplanned development in Modern Hebrew. Lingua 8: 247–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moskovich, W. (1987). Demographic and institutional indicators of Yiddish language maintenance in the Soviet Union, 1959–1986. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 67: 135–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peltz, R. (1987). Who's speaking Yiddish in South Philadelphia today? Jewish language in Urban America. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 67: 145–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poll, S. ([1955] 1981) The role of Yiddish in American Ultraorthodox and Hasidic communities.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
In Fishman, (1981). 197–218.Google Scholar
Poll, S. (1980). The sacred-secular conflict in the use of Hebrew and Yiddish among the ultraorthodox Jews of Jerusalem. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 24: 109–25.Google Scholar
Rabin, C. (1973). A short history of the Hebrew language, Jerusalem: Jewish Agency.Google Scholar
Reinharz, J., & Mendes-Flohr, P. (1980). The Jew in the modern world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Roter, A. (1982). Essay on a Torah environment. In Shaarei Aharon, Beei Braq. [in Hebrew].Google Scholar
Sack, R. (1981). Territorial bases of power. In Burnett, A. D. & Taylor, P. J. (eds.), Political studies from spatial perspectives. New York: John Wiley. 53–71.Google Scholar
Schmelz, U. O. (1987). The population of reunited Jerusalem 1967–1985. American Jewish Year Book 1987: 39–113.Google Scholar
Schneller, R. (1980). Continuity and change in Ultraorthodox education. Jewish Journal of Sociology 22: 35–45.Google Scholar
Shaffir, W. (1985). Some reflections on approaches to fieldwork in Hassidic communities. Jewish Journal of Sociology, 27: 115–34.Google Scholar
Shaffir, W. (1987). Separation from the mainstream in Canada: The Hassidic community of Tash. Jewish Journal of Sociology 29: 19–35.Google Scholar
Shilhav, Y. (1983). Communal conflict in Jerusalem - The spread of Ultraorthodox neighbourhoods. In Kliot, N. & Waterman, S. (eds.), Pluralism and political geography: People, territory, and state. London: Groom-Helm. 100–13.Google Scholar
Shilhav, Y. (1984a). The confrontation between religious and secular - A study in political geography. Ofakim he-geografya 9–10: 143–56.Google Scholar
Shilhav, Y. (1984b). Spatial strategies of the "Haredi” population in Jerusalem. Socio-economic planning science 18 (6). 411–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shilhav, Y., & Friedman, M. (1985). Expansion cum self-isolation - The Haredi community in Jerusalem. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Institute for the Study of Israel, [ in Hebrew].Google Scholar
Spero, So (1978). Orthodox Judaism. In Martin, B. (ed.), Movements and issues in American Judaism. Westport, CT: Greenwood. 83–102.Google Scholar
Teitelbaum, Joel Moshe. (1959–1961). Vayo'el mosheh. New York.Google Scholar
Trunk, Israel Joshua. (1891). Yeshuot malkos Yoreh De'ah.Google Scholar
Urbach, E. (1969). The Sages: Their opinions and beliefs. Jerusalem: Magnes. [in Hebrew].Google Scholar
Weinberger, B. (1978). Satmar and Lubavitch: The dynamics of disagreement. Jewish Life Winter 1977/1978: 54–65.Google Scholar
Wertheimer, J. (1989). Recent trends in American Judaism. American Jewish Year Book 1989: 63–162.Google Scholar
Wolfram, W. (1986). Good data in a bad situation: Eliciting vernacular structures. In Fishman, J. A. et al. (eds.), The Fergusonian impact, vol. 2. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 3–22.Google Scholar