Demographics

Modern orthodox

  • Modern Orthodox Jews lead successful professional lives, while maintaining an orthodox lifestyle and having large families.
    • Many hasidim paricipate in modern business lives - but observe shabbath etc religiously.
    • Eg. Robert Aumann the Nobel Laureate economist.
  • There is also a growing group of Orthodox Jews known as Hardalim. They are Religious Zionists who moved in their religious observances towards Haredi Judaism.
  • Modern orthodox jews conduct military-style camps which militarily prepare youth. This has led to the recent ascent of orthodox Jewish officers in the Israeli army.

Haredim

  • Aka Ultra Orthodox Jew.
  • strict adherence to halakha (Jewish law) and traditions. a historical continuum of Rabbinic Judaism.

Population share

  • Their estimated global population numbers over 1.8 million, and, due to a virtual absence of interfaith marriage and a high birth rate, the Haredi population is growing rapidly.

Israel

  • 12.6% of Israel’s population.
  • By 2030, the Haredi Jewish community is projected to make up 16% of the total population, and by 2065, a third of the Israeli population.
  • Haredi women having an average of 6.7 children, while the average Jewish Israeli woman has 3 children.
    • The percentage of people leaving the Haredi population has been estimated between 6% and 18%.
  • 20% of the Haredi population are thought to belong to the Sephardic Haredi stream.

USA

  • The United States has the second largest Haredi population, which has a growth rate on pace to double every 20 years.
  • In 2013, it has been estimated that there were 530,000 total Orthodox Jews in the United States, or 10% of all American Jews.

UK

  • In 1998, the Haredi population in the Jewish community of the United Kingdom was estimated at 27,000 (13% of affiliated Jews).
  • In comparison with the national average of 2.4 children per family, Haredi families have an average of 5.9 children

Proselytism

  • some Haredi groups, like Chabad-Lubavitch, encourage outreach to less-observant and unaffiliated Jews and hilonim. See also Baal teshuva movement.
  • Even Sephardic Haredi have adapted clothing and culture of the Lithuanian Haredi Judaism.

Hasidim

  • draws heavily on Lurianic Kabbalah. Teachings emphasize God’s immanence in the universe, the need to cleave and be one with him at all times, the devotional aspect of religious practice, and the spiritual dimension of corporeality and mundane acts.
  • organized in independent sects known as “courts” or dynasties, each headed by its own hereditary leader, a Rebbe.
  • As of 2016, there were over 130,000 Hasidic households worldwide, about 5% of the global Jewish population.

State power

  • From the founding of political Zionism in the 1890s, Haredi Jewish leaders voiced objections to its secular orientation, and before the establishment of the State of Israel, the vast majority of Haredi Jews were opposed to Zionism.
    • This was chiefly due to the concern that secular nationalism would replace the Jewish faith and the observance of religion, and the view that it was forbidden for the Jews to re-constitute Jewish rule in the Land of Israel before the arrival of the Messiah.
  • There are a number of Haredi groups which not only oppose Zionism, but also do not recognize the State of Israel.
    • The Haredi view Zionism as blasphemous sacrilege that is trying to establish a Jewish state without the sanction of Yahweh. Haredi believe the Jews have been cursed by Yahweh to be a stateless people until the Messiah comes.
  • Around 80% of European Haredim perished in the Holocaust.
  • Many Haredi males simply collect state money, study torah and breed - women may work to provide additional support, and they are socialized to value the best Torah scholar.

Participation in state

  • Generally speaking, most Sephardi Haredi authorities have never shared the anti-Zionism of their Ashkenazi counterparts
  • Post holocaust - more Haredi groups became pro-zionist.
  • During the past two decades a small but growing number of Haredi have volunteered to join the military, often going against their parents’ wishes, and in many cases being rejected by their families. G
  • According to a 2016 Pew survey, 33% of Israeli Haredim say that the term “Zionist” describes them accurately.

Family

  • In 2016, the divorce rate was 5% among the Haredi population, compared to the general population rate of 14%.

Modernity

  • Allow only curated videos, newspapers and internet - sometimes not even that.
  • Haredi women wear attractive wigs - follow fashion - while maintaining Halakha.
  • Follow Shabbat and family feasts religiously and joyfully.