Folk Judaism: Variations of Religious Practices among the Jews of Ukraine and Moldova (Research Findings, 2004–11)
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Abstract
This article draws on analysis of interviews with Jews of Ukraine and Moldova who lived the first part of their lives following traditional Jewish ways, while the latter part occurred during the period of strong anti-religious pressure in the Soviet Union. As a result, several variations of what we can call “folk Judaism” emerged. One form consists of a coerced nonobservance of the laws of Judaism and entails the elaboration of various ways to observe Jewish traditions in the absence of the ability to follow the letter of the law. The second option involves conscious rejection of ancestral religious traditions, partial observance as “camouflage,” and minimal interaction with modern Orthodox Judaism. The third option is creating one’s own individual rules for observing selected religious commandments. Several key mechanisms of the formation of new Jewish “folk” religious practices can be identified. They are the transformation of the existing halakhic regulations with the help of a) ritual deception; b) changes in the status of the ritual object; and c) application of the laws of ritual purity to an object known to be unclean.
Topics
Folklore Main Topic: Other Communism Interviews Oral History and Biography Religious Observance and Practice Ritual
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Geographic Coverage
Original Language
Volume/Issue
3(1)
Page Number / Article Number
63-81
DOI
Link
Link to article including link to pdf, Folk Judaism: Variations of Religious Practices among the Jews of Ukraine and Moldova (Research Findings, 2004–11)
Bibliographic Information
Folk Judaism: Variations of Religious Practices among the Jews of Ukraine and Moldova (Research Findings, 2004–11). 2016: 63-81. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.22394/2311-3448-2016-3-1-63-81
