Book review - Real Jews by Noah Efron
Real Jews: Secular Versus Ultra-Orthodox: The Struggle for Jewish Identity in Israel: by Noah Efron
When trying to analyze current societal trends, one of the most difficult aspects of this analysis is the ability to be objective. Noah Efron presents a work dealing with the perceptions and realities of the situation facing the Secular and Ultra-Orthodox in Israel, predominately from the perspective of the secular. Throughout his book, there is a tension between objectivity and his own personal feelings. This tension helps create the impression that even when one wants to favorably judge the Ultra-Orthodox, it is quite difficult.
In general, the work is a series of chapters showing the Haredi community at its worst in the realms of draft-dodging, economics, social intolerance, politics... To further exacerbate the book's negative attitude to the Haredim, each chapter has a "cute" title. My favorite was the chapter called Rabbis and Ayatollahs, though Shylock at the Mall also ranks highly. Efron's supposed goal is to see if the Secular complaints about the Haredim are justified. He is attempting to reconcile his views of Bnei Brak from his youth, when he spent time there with his grandparents and the Israeli view of the same people and places. Efron does fulfill his quest, for he does find much justification for the hatred of the Ultra-Orthodox.
However, the one thing he clearly ignores is any in-depth analysis of how Haredim view the Secular. He does begin to explain some of the issues, such as explaining the haredi reasoning for embezzlement as the embezzlement was for the furtherance of Torah study. On the other hand, he never interviews leading members of even the non-Haredi Orthodox communities in Israel. It is as if his pre-conceived understandings are still legitimate enough to use as evidence and if it is enough to rely on fellow members of the Secular community to explain the situation.
For those interested in trying to understand some of the issues in the conflict in Israel today between the secular and the Ultra-Orthodox, Real Jews is a good read to get a Secular perspective.
When trying to analyze current societal trends, one of the most difficult aspects of this analysis is the ability to be objective. Noah Efron presents a work dealing with the perceptions and realities of the situation facing the Secular and Ultra-Orthodox in Israel, predominately from the perspective of the secular. Throughout his book, there is a tension between objectivity and his own personal feelings. This tension helps create the impression that even when one wants to favorably judge the Ultra-Orthodox, it is quite difficult.
In general, the work is a series of chapters showing the Haredi community at its worst in the realms of draft-dodging, economics, social intolerance, politics... To further exacerbate the book's negative attitude to the Haredim, each chapter has a "cute" title. My favorite was the chapter called Rabbis and Ayatollahs, though Shylock at the Mall also ranks highly. Efron's supposed goal is to see if the Secular complaints about the Haredim are justified. He is attempting to reconcile his views of Bnei Brak from his youth, when he spent time there with his grandparents and the Israeli view of the same people and places. Efron does fulfill his quest, for he does find much justification for the hatred of the Ultra-Orthodox.
However, the one thing he clearly ignores is any in-depth analysis of how Haredim view the Secular. He does begin to explain some of the issues, such as explaining the haredi reasoning for embezzlement as the embezzlement was for the furtherance of Torah study. On the other hand, he never interviews leading members of even the non-Haredi Orthodox communities in Israel. It is as if his pre-conceived understandings are still legitimate enough to use as evidence and if it is enough to rely on fellow members of the Secular community to explain the situation.
For those interested in trying to understand some of the issues in the conflict in Israel today between the secular and the Ultra-Orthodox, Real Jews is a good read to get a Secular perspective.
Labels: reviews
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home