Torah against the Virus, Rabbis against the Government: Ultra-Orthodoxy Facing the Pandemic
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2021-39-1-101-122
EDN: KIGQOW
Abstract
The paper discusses a number of the most remarkable responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the social isolation measures coming from several, mostly ultra-Orthodox, Jewish communities in Israel, the United States, and Russia. It examines major elements of the crisis discourse, i.e., the hermeneutics of the causes and meanings of the pandemic; the affirmation of group borders and hierarchies as a result of the search for culprits; the relations between the religious community and the state; as well as the possible transformations of social behavior and ritual practices resulting from the crisis.
About the Author
Galina Zelenina
Russian State University for the Humanities; The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Zelenina G. Torah against the Virus, Rabbis against the Government: Ultra-Orthodoxy Facing the Pandemic. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2021;39(1):101-122. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2021-39-1-101-122. EDN: KIGQOW
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