Youthful bodies rebel

Abstract

One of the central aspects of the ideal model of the Haredi body is a hierarchical and dichotomous relation between the body as an aspect of the earthly reality, and the spiritual world. This dichotomy has also shaped the ‘division of labour’ between the Haredi and non-Haredi Jewish communities in Israel. The article examines the yeshiva students' responses to this ideal and hegemonic model. My claim is that as a result of a series of social processes, the notion of the ideal body is facing growing resistance and is being challenged by the students themselves. The students' resistance to the ideal male body is contributing to the destabilization of the traditional relations between the earthly and the spiritual and as a result, to the undermining of the ‘division of labour’ among the various parts of Israeli Jewish society.