Who are the Haredim?
BY BRIAN CRAWFORD
Haredim is a term that refers to the ultra-
Orthodox, the most obviously religious within
the Jewish community. On the streets of Brooklyn,
when we ask Haredim to describe themselves,
they often say they practice “Torah Judaism.” This
positive definition asserts that the Haredim practice
a form of Judaism that tries to remain separate from
the influences of modern and secular life. Sometimes
the Haredim appear to be living in a time capsule
of nineteenth-century Europe of “bygone” past, but
for this community, the past was a time when Jewish
people cherished faith, kept the Jewish law (Torah),
and honored traditional values.
The modern era, starting with the
Enlightenment in the early eighteenth century,
transformed Jewish life in dramatic ways. In the
mid-1700s, most European Jews had been living in
ghettos for centuries, either forcibly restricted to live
in the Jewish quarter of cities or in the vast Russian/
Polish countryside ghetto known as the Pale of
Settlement (and depicted in the film Fiddler on the
Roof). As the Enlightenment swept through Europe,
governments started emancipating their Jewish
populations, freeing them from the ghettos, and
enabling them to enter professions, universities, and
general society like never before. With this newfound
freedom and social mobility, many Jews began to see
acculturation and involvement in Gentile society at
large as the means to move up the social ladder and
have a better quality of life. Maintaining traditional
Jewish religion and customs posed many practical
obstacles in achieving this goal. Thus, there radiated
from Germany and Western Europe a new way of
Jewish life: Reform Judaism, which attempted to
modernize Judaism by denying or changing aspects
of the old ways to fit modern sensibilities.
The Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment, which
comes from the Hebrew word sekhel or sense, reason,
or intellect) swept through European Jewish society throughout the eighteenth
century. The examples of Jewish “progress” in Western Europe posed a cautionary
tale for traditional Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe, serving as prime examples of
forbidden assimilation into Gentile society, and the abandonment of Torah.
In response, the Yiddish-speaking Jewish people of Eastern Europe began
denouncing Reform Judaism for its rationalism and departure from Torah. In
addition, to protect their communities from the spread of the Enlightenment, the
Eastern European rabbis forbade innovations or changes to religious practice and
lifestyle. By freezing their practice into pre-Haskalah forms, the Haredim were
born. They described themselves with a Hebrew word that announces that they
“tremble at the word of God,” as opposed to (and in their estimation) Reform
Jews, who neglected the Judaism of their fathers. We often use the terms, “ultra-
Orthodox” or “religious” Jews to describe this group as well.
Today, the major population centers of Haredi Jews are Israel (one million) and
the greater New York City area (more than three hundred thousand). The freedom
and large numbers of like-minded Jewish people in these areas allow the Haredim
to rebuild what had been destroyed in the Holocaust. The Haredim see it as their
moral duty to have large families in honor of those who perished. Therefore, the
fertility rate for Haredi women in Israel is 6.9 children and 5.5 in New York. 1
The ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is distinguished by their dress. Although
each subgroup has its own conventions, in general, the men wear yarmulke (head
covering) and tzitzit (the corner fringes mentioned in Deuteronomy 12:12 and
Numbers 15:38 meant to evoke observance of the commandments). The Haredi
men wear long black coats and hats year-round while the women wear long sleeves
and long skirts, as they believe women should dress modestly. The men usually let
their peyot (sidecurls) grow long according to their interpretation of not cutting the
corners of one’s beard, although some tuck them behind their ears (Leviticus19:27).
The men can often be seen briskly walking to the shul (synagogue) for the thricedaily
prayers, which last for roughly forty-five minutes. The women stay home and
care for the children who are sent to Jewish private schools to learn the Hebrew
Bible and the Talmud. Many Haredim speak Yiddish at home. 2
Very few Haredim have televisions in the home, and some do not use smart
phones because of the temptations they pose to worldly and foreign thought. Many
may use computers for business, far less for pleasure, and most install Haredi-produced
Internet blockers to protect from outside influences. Very few attend secular
universities since non-Jewish studies are modern distractions from Jewish practice
and are potentially dangerous. More than anything, Haredim want to focus on
rebuilding a flourishing Jewish society centered on religious study and practice.
Haredi Jews are among the most unreached people groups in the entire world.
Many Jewish people have emotional and spiritual barriers set up against the message
of Yeshua, but with the Haredim, the barriers are multiplied. With the Haredim, we
have linguistic barriers, dress barriers, barriers of mysticism, in-grown communities,
and barriers of education and modernity. If a Haredi Jew comes to faith in Yeshua,
JULY 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 4