Join us on February 19 for an in-person-only talk at UCLA by Professor Kimmy Caplan from Bar Ilan University, who will be discussing the increasing movement toward "integration without assimilation" observed in Israel's Ultra-Orthodox community, the Haredi.
Thursday, February 19, 20266:00 PM - 7:00 PMBunche Hall, Rm 10383
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Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.
About the Event
Israel's Ultra-Orthodox community, the Haredi, make up approximately 12% of Israeli society. They community consists of numerous factions and sub-factions, which share a common overall reluctance or ambivalence toward Zionism and the State of Israel and largely segregate themselves from the surrounding society. This seclusion manifests in several ways, including distinct educational institutions, norms and ways of life, and a strive to live in Haredi cities or neighborhoods. Nevertheless, in the last few decades, there has been evidence of increasing "Israelization" within this religiously conservative society, which can be described as "integration without assimilation." This new direction has stemmed from the grassroots level of Israel's Haredim society, and sheds new light on this community's place in Israel. Since the beginning of the October 2023 War, the Haredim's relationship with Israeli society has been subject to extensive and heated discourse in Israel, with a focal point being that the Haredim are not subject to Israel's military conscription. These recent developments challenge existing scholarship on the trends of this Ultra-Orthodox community and present a need to re-evaluate various scholarly observations and projections about Israel's Haredim.
About the Speaker
Professor Kimmy Caplan teaches at the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Bar-Ilan University. His field of scholarly interest is Jewish Religious History in the 19th and 20th centuries, and his primary research topics include religious streams, popular religion, sermons, and homiletics. Professor Caplan's current focus is on Israeli Haredi society in Palestine during the British Mandate period and in the State of Israel.
DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.