Introduction: redefining male piety and fundamentalism -- Yeshiva fundamentalism in Israel's Haredi community -- On the edge of transgression: the study of Talmud and the evil inclination -- Challenges to the fundamentalist denouncement of work -- The idealization of soldiers' masculinity -- The domestication of masculine piety -- A case study: terror, ZAKA, and the "soldiers of piety" -- Conclusion: a reconstruction of fundamentalism and piety
Summary
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title. The ultra-Orthodox yeshiva, or Jewish seminary, is a space reserved for men, and for a focus on religious ideals. Fundamentalist forms of piety are usually believed to be quite resistant to change. In Yeshiva Fundamentalism, Nurit Stadler uncovers surprising evidence that firmly religious and pious young men of this community are seeking to change their institutions to incorporate several key dimensions of the secular world: a redefinition of masculinity along with a transformation of the family, and participation in civic society through the labor mark
