Vernacular Dialectics: Spiritual Practices of Tsaddik Veneration by Secular Israelis

Vernacular dialectic reasoning reconciles contradictions in people’s lives. It involves an amalgam of emotion, belief, and intuition, as well as structures and intentions similar to formal dialectics and scientific thinking. In contemporary Israel, many self-proclaimed secular Jews use vernacular dialectics to avoid confronting stark contradictions between their pilgrimages to the graves of Jewish saints (tsaddikim), their virtual practices of tsaddik veneration, and prevailing rational assumptions in their secular daily lives.