Searching for Jewish spirituality: the narrative identity of new age Jews in Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the identity narratives of three former members of New Age Judaism (NAJ) communities. By conducting an ethnographic study of the communities, the paper shows that these life stories are based on an intensive search for spirituality. This search prompted the narrators to experiment with disparate forms of Jewish and non-Jewish beliefs and practices and, consequently, to negotiate, challenge, and subvert the categories of the religious and the secular. By emphasizing their choice of a Jewish spiritual identity over a secular or religious one, the narratives illustrate the gradual inward turn taking place in Israeli Jewish society over the last two decades among non-observant Jews and the creation of a new hybrid category of Jewish identity.