Media Practices of Russian-Speaking Orthodox Jews: Women’s Groups and Rabbis’ Blogs on Facebook and Instagram
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Abstract
This article focuses on the media practices of Russian-speaking Orthodox Jews seeking patterns of observance relevant to secular modernity. The author applies the conceptual framework of “communicative figurations” to describe the process of everyday Torah observance in post-Soviet countries, Israel, the United States, and Western Europe. Empirical research on media repertoires reveals that members of post-Soviet Orthodox communities use Facebook and Instagram to maintain closed women’s groups and rabbis’ blogs focused on observance. Women’s groups frame everyday observance in terms of modesty, family purity, the kosher home, and the like. Personal rabbis’ blogs introduce practices of “digital Judaism” that include Torah lessons, the daily page of the Talmud, question and answer exchanges, and so forth. Content-based textual analyses uncover thematic intersections, the circulation of stories, and reciprocal hyperlinks between both types of groups. The media practices of women’s groups and rabbis’ blogs link the local Russian-speaking Jewish communities with a transnational Orthodox constellation.
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8(1)
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44–69
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Download can be found on page, Media Practices of Russian-Speaking Orthodox Jews: Women’s Groups and Rabbis’ Blogs on Facebook and Instagram
Bibliographic Information
Media Practices of Russian-Speaking Orthodox Jews: Women’s Groups and Rabbis’ Blogs on Facebook and Instagram. 2021: 44–69. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.22394/2311-3448-2020-7-2-4-23
