Modern Haredi Identity in Israel through Perceptions of American-Jewish Philanthropy

In this paper, we explore modern Haredi identity by focusing on the views of the new Haredi civic leadership in Israel (the homeland) on Jewish-American philanthropy (the diaspora). Drawing on ethnographic data, collected through interviews with 10 Haredi civic leaders and participant observation in a workshop that joined representatives of the two groups, we uncover the tensions which seem to constitute the symbolic boundaries of modern Haredi identity. One boundary relates to the dialectics of preservation and transformation: maintaining Haredi culture while pursuing a change in Haredi society in order to set it back on the right path. Another boundary refers to the dialectics of integration and distinction: the new Haredi civic leadership believes that Haredim can contribute to Israeli society as a whole but they should be able to do so while maintaining their Haredi values and Haredi way of life. The third boundary consists of the dialectics of differentiation and cooperation: The rejection of liberal Judaism (which Israeli Jews associate with American Jewry) alongside the willingness to cooperate with Jewish-American philanthropy. This study sheds new light on the issue of modern Haredi identity as it looks at how Haredi views of the diaspora serve identity construction processes in the Haredi society.