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American Charedi Attitudes Towards Israel

Mon, December 17, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Waterfront 3 Ballroom

Abstract

Though anti-Zionist chassidim often make headlines for their protests against the State of Israel, the reality is that many American ultra-Orthodox (or charedi) communities are functionally indistinguishable from mainstream Zionists. This paper will demonstrate that of the two major branches of charedim, yeshivish and chassidic, American yeshivish communities are more closely aligned with traditional Zionism, but that chassidic communities are also pro Israel in a variety of important ways.

Using data from thirty semi-structured interviews with leaders, educators, publishers, and ordinary community members in American charedi communities, this paper complicates our understanding of charedim as anti-Zionist. While yeshivish community members remain superficially non-Zionist, most community members’ political views are best described as ardently Zionist, if only implicitly rather than ideologically. Moreover, Israel as a place (to live, to study, to visit) is central to the fabric of American yeshivish life. In interviews, chassidic respondents were generally less positive about Israel and in some cases expressed explicit anti-Zionism, but even so, there was tremendous variability, with many expressing unambiguous support.

The key differences between yeshivish and chassidic attitudes towards Israel are representative of broader fault lines that run between two communities that scholars and popular opinion alike often group together indiscriminately. Yet to the extent that that they share commonalities when it comes to Israel, it is in their tacit, and sometimes explicit, acceptance of, and concern for, the Jewish state.

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