Innovative ordinariness and ritual change in a Jerusalem Minyan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7212977 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ofira Fuchs (0000-0001-5324-5077, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 397-415 |
| Publication date | 2017-11-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Modern Jewish Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1472-5886 • E-ISSN: 1472-5894 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14725886.2017.1403203 |
| OpenAlex | W2770166488 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 18 |
In this article, I present an ethnographic analysis of ritual change in the communal prayers of a Jerusalem congregation that promotes gender equality within the framework of Orthodox-oriented halakha. While scholars have examined how ritual change in Jewish communities develops through the reinterpretation and reutilization of religious texts, practices and objects, my fieldwork reveals how change is shaped by people’s habitus – their ways of being in the world. Communal prayers in this congregation exemplify what I call an “innovative ordinariness” of religious change. Members view and experience their communal rituals as “ordinary” due to their perception of their prayer hall as a familiar spatial and auditory environment. This ordinariness facilitates creative and innovative uses of religious practices. The data outlined here are based on field research during which I participated in the congregation’s services and communal activities, and held interviews and informal conversations with members. This case study depicts ways in which members of Israeli Orthodox society apply their cultural toolkit to create religious spaces that accommodate their gender-egalitarian values, beliefs and lifestyles and, at the same time, produce religiosity that is experienced and understood as legitimate. By doing so, I argue, they assign new meanings to traditional Orthodox categories
Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Ethnography · Habitus · Judaism · Media studies · Perception · Prayer · Reinterpretation · Religiosity · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of religion · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology
Birthing a Mother
Embodiment and experience
The Men's Section
Outline of a Theory of Practice
Religious Zionism
City on a Hilltop
Reproducing Jews
A Religious Orthodox Women's Revolution
Dynamic Belonging
The American Synagogue
Defining Judaism
Prayer and Community
Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology
Hang on to Your Self
Soundscapes
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |