School of Health Sciences and Social Work
New book published by Senior Lecturer in Social Work
Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:19:00 GMT
A new book has been written by senior lecturer in social work, Yohai Hakak.
The origins of the book "Young Men in Israeli Haradi Yeshiva Education: The scholars' enclave in unrest" (Brill, ISBN: 9789004234697), are in the early 90’s when Yohai studied for a BSc in social work. During those years he worked as a journalist for a weekly newspaper in Jerusalem where his role was to cover the Jewish Ultra Orthodox (Haredi) community for this newspaper. He quickly became became aware of the growing rate of youth drop-out from the religious seminaries for young men in this community.
This book, parts of which are based on Yohai’s Ph.D. research, was a journey to try and find explanations for these changes. Contrary to prevailing explanations of youth drop out, which mainly draw on psychological theories, this study takes a social and cultural perspective and is imbedded in and contributes to the sociology and anthropology of religion. These fields of knowledge provided new ways of understanding these changes.
The book explores the internal tensions and dynamics these religious seminaries are going through during a stage of a relative `loss of charisma’, in which the enthusiasm of the founding generation has diminished. It is the first study to include participant observations conducted within these institutions, which are the sacred heart of this segregated and highly religious community. The book highlights the current crisis these fundamentalist institutions are going through and analyses the causes for this dramatic growth in youth dropout rates. It examines also the new and innovative ways the rabbis are trying to respond to the crisis. As part of these attempts the rabbinical discourse portrays a unique utopian and egalitarian world governed by supernatural forces and unlimited spiritual resources and incorporates Western psychological and democratic ideas.
Further details can be found at: http://www.brill.com/young-men-israeli-haredi-yeshiva-education