2009/08/01 by David Lehmann, Batia Siebzehner · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Religion and Society Interactions #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies #Jewish Identity and Society #Orthodoxy #Judaism #Torah #Power (physics) #Pillar #Political science #Sociology #Gender studies #Theology #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1017/s0003975609990142
openalex publication_date 2009/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Abstract The growth in the numbers and influence of ultra-Orthodoxy – the haredim – since the Second World War has changed Judaism worldwide, even though it remains a minority culture. Growth has occurred through the maximization of family size and through the movement of t'shuva (“return”), and it has benefited from state and private subsidies to the institutions of Torah learning ( yeshivot and schooling generally), which have become one of the twin pillars of ultra-Orthodoxy. The other pillar is the shidduch , the system of concerted marriage which ensures that more or less everyone gets married, and strengthens the educational institutions which inculcate among prospective brides a preference for a learned husband engaged in full-time study, and for a life devoted to sustaining him.