Joining Their Betters Rather than Their Own: The Modern/Postmodern Rhetoric of Jewish Fundamentalist Preachers

Abstract

Although fundamentalism would like to portray itself as devoted to the monologic voice of past tradition, it is the modern-laden rhetoric that reconstructs its traditional image, and through this stance constitutes its identity. In this study, while analyzing speeches of ultra-orthodox Jewish preachers, the authors present the dialogical notion of fundamentalism. More specifically, the article aims to show that although the fundamentalist preachers portray themselves as embedded in a fixed cherished past, it is the modern/postmodern dialogue that constitutes their identity.