Het orthodoxe jodendom : secularisering of religionisering?

Samenvatting

The phenomenon of increasing religious orthodoxy in secularizing societies is illustrated with examples drawn from Judaism, 17th century-present, emphasizing recent developments in the Netherlands. It is argued that secularization processes can be related to increasing dependency on the state, whereas religionization occurs when the absence of the state as primary caretaker impels people to depend on alternative communities. The success of the secular Haskala movement in western Europe after the French Revolution & the practical problems of combining Orthodoxy & social requirements in 18th- & 19th-century North America are interpreted as examples of the first; the success of Sabbatianism after the 1648-1658 Chmielnicki pogroms in Poland & the postwar growth of orthodox Hassidic movements in Western Europe & the US exemplify the latter. The recent establishment in the Netherlands of the ultraorthodox school Cheder, & the afiliated Talmudic school, Kolel, as well as growing numbers of kosher stores & Jewish centers, are also interpreted within the perspective of religionization & related to the deterioration of the welfare state. 16 References. Adapted from the source document.