Tradition, Innovation, Conflict: Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Israel

8. Judaism and the New Religions in Israel: 1970-1990

8 judaism and the New Religions in Israel: 1970-1990 BENJAMIN BEIT-HALLAHMI The new religions that have appeared in Israel since the early 1970s, and have grown more forcefully after 1973, are the same ones that have appeared in the West since the 1950s. Their message, when they come to Israel, is the same as it is elsewhere. Only their audience is radically different, and so is the reception they are likely to get. New religions are belief minorities, in constant opposition to the world around them, which challenges the plausibility of their beliefs. The challenge, and the opposition, are going to be particularlyfierce in the case of Israel. In February 1982, an interdepartmental government commission was appointed by the Education Minister to investigate and report on "Eastern cults." The appointment of this commission is in itself an indication ofthe growth ofthe new religions in Israel. It was a result of pressure from parents' groups, orthodox religious groups, and the media. Active membership in all these groups was estimated at 3,000. The appearance and growth of new religious movements in Israel since 1973 has included not onlywell-known new religions that appeared in the West since 1950, but also older movements, such as Anthroposophy, Theosophy, and Jehovah's Witnesses, dating to the late nineteenth century. New religions only partly fit the "ideal type" of religious sect, as formulated by Troeltsch (1961). Voluntariness, selectness, egalitarianism , cooperativeness, intimacy, and opposition to the world characterize this "ideal type." Sectarian religion means a total personal 204 New Religions in Israel: 1970-1990 commitment, a frequent emotional expression of ecstacy, a total departure from the rest ofsociety. Everyreligious sect, bydefinition, is in open rebellion against the ways ofthe world, and against the views of the majority. Every religious sect oversteps the boundaries of the area assigned to religion in secular society, and this is what is annoying and threatening. The sectarian rebellion against the majority is invisible in most cases because sects tend to withdrawfrom the wider society or keep to their original environment. A few sects are visible and annoying, and attract much attention when their members perform deviant acts, but the more remarkable fact is that most of the time sect membership leads to very conventional behavior. Still, sect membership itself, which involves a total commitment and a total personal involvement (living with other sect members, donating income ), is deviant. Glock and Stark (1965) define cults as "religious movements which draw their inspiration from other than the primary religion of the culture," whereas sects are "schismatic movements ... whose concern is with preserving a purer form ofthe traditional faith" (p. 24). By this definition, all new religions in Israel are cults because they draw their inspiration from non-Jewish traditions. Within their own frame of reference, some of the new religions can be regarded as sects because they proclaim their own goal of preserving a purer form of Hinduism (ISKCON) or ofChristianity (The Unification Church). One reason in favor of using the term new religions is its affective neutrality . Unlike "sects" or "cults," which are often used to derogate, "new religions" is neutral. The concept of new religions can be traeed back to Needleman (1970), who first made it popular. Following Needleman, we can define the new religions through three main characteristics: 1. They were founded after 1950. 2. Theydisplaymodern, often businesslike methods oforganization and recruitment. 3. They all have a conscious psychotherapeutic component in their belief systems and practices. We are looking at groups whose formal organization, ifnot their belief system, is of relatively recent origin. Some of the groups promote beliefs and practices that seem beyond the traditional scope of religion, especially in two areas: occultism and self-improvement. This might be one ofthe characteristics ofthe new religions, as opposed to the old ones. Nevertheless, what the old and new religious movements always Jewishness and Judaism in Contemparary Israel 205 share is the supernaturalpremise, the beliefin the invisibleworld, the world of spirits, or a "spiritual world," that believers must relate to (Wallace 1966). The existence and centrality of occult practices and beliefs and ofvarious psychotherapy techniques indeed vary among the new religions, but what unites them are traditional religious beliefs about the immortal soul and about gods and other unseen cosmic forces. There are organizational differences, related as well to the newness ofthe new religions. Theyare young in terms oforganizational life cycle, and they are also very much...