Seeking Empowerment and Spirituality in the Secular Age: Secular and Traditionalist Israelis Consulting Rabbis

Abstract

This empirical study investigates the phenomenon of secular and traditionalist (masorti) Israeli Jews who consult orthodox rabbis on personal matters. The study was conducted using a combined methodology: analysis of data from a large survey (N = 6056) and conducting 50 in-depth semi-structured interviews. We found that of the 24 percent of the Israeli Jewish population who regularly consulted rabbis, 43 percent defined themselves as secular or traditionalist. People from all social strata regularly consult rabbis. Their socio-demographic characteristics and experiences are presented here. The phenomenon of secular and less religious Jews who consult orthodox rabbis on personal matters indicates the current relevance of religion and spirituality as resources for empowerment when dealing with various kinds of existential and personal difficulty. The study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the secular age and post-secular societies by examining the middle ground between traditional-religion and secular-modernity. It indicates a contemporary blurring of these categories.

Keywords

empowerment Jewish religion post-secular societies secular age spirituality

Introduction

This article explores the phenomenon of secular and traditional (masorti)¹ Israeli Jews who regularly consult Jewish clerics – orthodox rabbis who are the educational-authoritative figures of the religious Jewish world – on personal matters. This phenomenon is sociologically interesting as it raises the question of why these less observant sections tend to consult such ultra-religious authoritative figures. Empirical research that explores this singular phenomenon is likely to contribute to the field of sociology of religion by enriching the ongoing discourse on the secular age and post-secular societies.

Theoretical Background

Secularism is thought of as a constitutive part of modernity. The great narrative of secularization is bound up with the spread of modernization and the historical path of Euro-American progress (Taylor, 2007). It is generally accepted that modern societies have to be secular. The theory of secularization actually predicted the slow and steady death of religion. However, not only has religion failed to decline to the extent expected, but it is now clear that one cannot simply abolish so central a dimension of culture (Taylor, 2010). This realization has undermined the thesis of secularization and subjected it to growing criticism.

It has been suggested that the uncritical deployment of the categories of religious and secular severely limits the analysis of social change: ‘Secularism is defined in tandem with its twin concept, religion, and how we think about one of these paired concepts affects the way we think about the other’ (Calhoun et al., 2011: 6). The category of ‘secular’ was pasted onto the categories of modernity and progress. These categories were presented as dichotomous to the categories of religious and traditional. Social changes have led to a rethinking of this categorical dichotomy and prompted debate about whether we are currently witnessing a decline in secularism, or rather a reformulation of secular–religious distinctions (Calhoun et al., 2011).

The term post-secular has aroused increasing interest over the past two decades. Habermas lately (2008a) used the term post-secular societies to denote recent changes in people’s awareness of the relevance of religion in society. Although Habermas’s discussion of the post-secular is informed, in part, by the specific context of Islam in Europe, this concept may contribute to our understanding of the more general relevance of religion as a public cultural resource in modern democratic societies (Dillon, 2010). Taylor (2010) suggests that the secular age presents multiplying spiritual and anti-spiritual directions which call on us to follow them.

In our study we investigated a modern Israeli subpopulation that is neither fully religious nor completely secular, in which people retain some loyalty to tradition, albeit in a rather uncommitted way, exhibiting what has been termed as ‘vicarious religion’, or ‘believing without belonging’ (Davie, 2007), or ‘fuzzy fidelity’ (Voas, 2009). This renewed and uncommitted yet genuine interest in God and spiritual matters occupies a ‘middle ground’ between tradition, religion, spirituality and modernity.

The Israeli Context

The population of Israel is composed of a Jewish majority and Arabs who form the largest minority group (about 20%). The Jewish population comprises mainly immigrants who have arrived in several waves over the past 120 years from dozens of countries: Ashkenazi Jews from western countries (of European-American origin) and Sephardic Jews mostly from Arab and North African countries (of Asian-African origin). The most recent large group of immigrants arrived in Israel during the 1990s from the former Soviet Union.

The modernization and secularization theses have dominated Israeli Zionist political discourse, at least until the late 1990s. ‘Religious’ and ‘secular’ were constructed as two mutually exclusive categories of Jewish Israeli identity. This binary distinction creates the expectation that people should ‘choose sides’; that they should be either traditional-religious or modern-secular. Jews of Asian-African origin, most of whom immigrated to Israel in the 1950s, were viewed as traditional, ‘pre-modern’ Jewish communities. The underlying assumption was that this ‘pre-modern’ population would over time become secular-modern and support the secular project of nation building (Yadgar, 2011). Yet many of them (and their Israeli-born descendants, with a renewed and strengthened emphasis) identify themselves as ‘traditionalist’ (masorti). This identification is inconsistent with the binary distinction, appearing to constitute a kind of intermediate category between the completely secular and the ‘really’ religious. Traditionalist Jews of Asian-African origin can be regarded as inhabiting the boundary space or the middle ground between traditional-religion and secular-modernity. Their ‘soft’ religion and traditionalist lifestyle have remained confined to practice, while Jewish ideology or theology and institutional interpretations of Judaism are mainly in the hands of the dominant Ashkenazi orthodox rabbinate (Yadgar, 2006).

This situation had depleted the status of the eastern Jewish rabbinical authority. Alongside this depletion, new forces from the lower and peripheral classes have forced their way to the rabbinic leadership of the community (Leon, 2007). A process of consecration of rabbis of North African origin has emerged and grown stronger. They have gained fame as masters of Jewish mysticism – kabbalah.

Belief in the rabbi’s powers is grounded both in Jewish folk religion and in Moroccan tradition. Jews who migrated from Morocco to Israel during the 1950s and 1960s continue to practice their tradition of hagiolatry. It has been suggested that the proliferation of hagiolatry among Moroccan Jews can be traced to the influence of North African Moslem maraboutism (veneration of holy men thought to have supernatural powers) (Stillman, 1982). This trend was reinforced by the deep-seated concept of the saddiq (saint, or pious man) in the classic Jewish tradition. These saints are believed to possess unique spiritual power, the manifestations of which resemble those of the Moroccan Moslem Baraka. This spiritual power retains its vigor after the holy man’s death (Bilu, 1991).

This folk veneration of saints is a major constituent in the collective identity of the Jews in North Africa and has played an important role in raising the status of the eastern Jewish rabbinical authority. For Moroccan-born Israelis and their descendants, saint worship is viable, employed to articulate a wide range of experiences. The famous rabbis are believed to possess sanctity and divine grace (zekhut avot) that passes through the family’s genealogy for many generations. As a living descendant of a holy family, the rabbi provides a focus for the amorphous hagiolatric sentiments that were previously directed toward other Jewish Moroccan saints, whose tombs were left behind, and in a sense ‘deserted’, on emigration to Israel. Yet, in the case of some rabbis, such as Baba Sali, followers and believers include many people who are not first- or second-generation Moroccans living in Israel (Bilu and Ben-Ari, 1995). As our research has shown, believing in the special divine powers of the kabbalist rabbis and consulting them became a widespread phenomenon in Israel.

Previous research that addressed the phenomenon of consulting rabbis focused mainly on orthodox religious groups and on decision-making with regard to medical treatment. Scholars have examined how religious orthodox Israelis consult rabbis in the contexts of general healthcare services (Weingarten and Kitai, 1995), treating sick children (Shuper et al., 2000), mental health (Goodman and Witztum, 2002; Milstein et al., 2000), families in the pediatric hemato-oncology department (Nehari et al., 2006), breast cancer (Coleman-Brueckheimer et al., 2009), fertility treatments (Ivri, 2010) and spiritual healing (Coleman-Brueckheimer and Dein, 2011).

Our research explores the more general phenomenon of consulting orthodox rabbis on personal matters, focusing on the secular and traditional, less religious groups of Israeli Jews. The term ‘consult’ is generally used in research literature to denote the activity of people who approach rabbis for advice on medical issues. Since this is an accepted term, we use it here. It should, however, be made clear that this is not a regular consultation, since the people who approach rabbis believe in their supernatural powers and harbor diverse expectations of them.

The Research Questions

Who are the secular and less religious Israeli Jews that tend to consult rabbis on personal matters, and why do they do this?

The specific research questions were:

What characterizes the secular and less religious ‘traditionalist’ Israelis who consult rabbis on personal matters?

How do they differ from the religious and ultra-religious (known as haredim) orthodox sections?

What drives secular and traditional individuals to consult rabbis, and on which issues?

What do these people report about their consultation experiences and how did they feel during and after the consultations?

Methodology

A mixed methodology was used, combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods (Palinkas et al., 2011). The central premise of this design is that it provides a better understanding of the research concerns than either approach alone (Robins et al., 2008). To analyze the characteristics of the populations that regularly consult rabbis on personal issues, we used data gathered in a Social Survey (Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009) that represent the Israeli population. This survey included questions about socio-demographic and religious issues. The Jews were asked to define their religiosity level (secular, traditional-not all that religious, traditional-religious, religious, or ultra-orthodox religious), and were asked a direct question: ‘Do you tend to consult a rabbi on personal issues?’ They were not asked with whom they consult or about the rabbi’s origin (North African, Ashkenazi, etc.).

A representative sample of 7500 Israelis aged 20 and above, out of a total of 4.7 million, was surveyed. The survey was conducted by means of face-to-face interviews. They were conducted in Hebrew, Russian or Arabic and lasted for roughly an hour. The interviewers used a laptop computer to record the answers. We utilized only the data pertaining to Jewish participants (N = 6056), whose socio-demographic characteristics are summarized in Table 1. The presented data show lower numbers of participants owing to missing values. We analyzed the data using the Z test.

Table 1.

Descriptive statistics of Jewish participants in the survey (N = 6056).

Demographic variant		N	Percentage
Religiosity level	Secular	2546	42.2%
	Traditionalist-secular	1510	25.0%
	Traditionalist-religious	772	12.8%
	Religious	716	11.9%
	Ultra-religious	494	8.2%
Gender	Women	3129	51.7%
	Men	2927	48.3%
Age	20–39	2557	42.2%
	40+	3499	57.8%
Ethnicity (continent of father’s birth)	Israel	1292	35.8%
	Europe and America	920	25.5%
	Asia	654	18.1%
	Africa	739	20.5%
Average income per month per capita in the household	Less than 2000 NIS*	1428	27.9%
Average income per month per capita in the household	2000 NIS and more	3690	72.1%
Years of schooling	12 or less	1733	29.0%
	13+	4248	71.0%

Note: New Israeli Shekel

We used qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore the motives of secular and traditional individuals in consulting rabbis, the issues raised, and their experiences and feelings during and after the consultations. An interview guide was developed. The interviews began with broad questions, allowing the interviewees to use their own words, followed up with more specific questions. Fifty semi-structured interviews were conducted by the first author and other interviewers who are acquainted with the type of people who consult rabbis. Interviewees were recruited through personal contacts. The interviews were conducted between 2009 and 2011 in the western Galilee in northern Israel. The criteria for inclusion in the study were: Jews aged 20 and above who had consulted rabbis (of various origins: North African, Ashkenazi, etc.) on personal matters on at least two occasions, and who defined themselves as secular or traditionalist (masorti). We did not interview orthodox or ultra-orthodox Jews. Of the interviewees, 32 defined themselves as secular and 18 as traditionalist. We interviewed 35 women and 15 men. The majority (34) was aged 20–40 and the remainder (16) was aged 41–70. Forty-one respondents reported that they belonged to the middle class, and nine to the lower class. The characteristics of the interviewed population do not entirely match the characteristics found in the survey analysis, since our study was conducted only in northern Israel, and included more women and younger people.

Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Basic content analysis was used to identify key themes. We employed thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998; Braun and Clarke, 2006), which is widely used to identify, analyze and report patterns or themes within qualitative data, in order to detect recurring patterns of meaning. This analysis was conducted by reading through transcripts and field notes to develop a set of codes, according to which the data were structured. Codes were applied to common words and phrases and subsequently sorted in order to condense the interview data. The analysis involved moving back and forth between the entire data set and the coded extracts of data. The codes were then arranged according to frequencies and higher-level categories or themes, in a hierarchical order and analyzed to identify relationships between themes. Common and contrasting themes among participants’ responses were then identified.

Findings

Who Consults Rabbis? Socio-demographic Characteristics

The phenomenon of consulting rabbis on personal issues is fairly common in Israel, and is not confined to the more orthodox population groups. We found that around a quarter (23.7%) of Israel’s adult Jewish population tends to consult rabbis on personal issues. These people come from all population strata: religious and secular, young and old, men and women, well educated and less educated, rich and poor, people from diverse ethnic origins, and people who exhibit diverse degrees of psychological resilience or weakness. Among the general Israeli Jewish population, significantly higher rates of consultation were found among younger people, aged 20–39, than among those aged 40 and above (30.7% vs. 18.6%, p<0.001); among those of Israeli and Asian-African origin (first and second generations, 31.5% and 28.1% respectively) than those of European and American origin (20.4%, p<0.001); among members of households with a per capita income of less than 2000 NIS than among those belonging to households with a per capita income above 2000 NIS (41.1% vs. 16.3%, p<0.001); among those that do not have an academic degree than among those possessing a second or third degree (26.1% vs. 16.4%, p<0.001); and among those who never or seldom feel lonely than among those who usually or always feel lonely (24.6% vs. 21.4%, p<0.001, see Table 2).

Table 2.

Rates of those who regularly consult rabbis on personal issues by socio-demographic population group (N = 6038).

Variant		All the participants	Regularly consult	Percentage	Z test
Gender	Women	3124	718	23.0%
	Men	2914	716	24.6%	1.45
Age	20–39	2551	784	30.7%
	40+	3487	650	18.6%	10.73***
Ethnicity (continent of father’s birth)	Israel	1287	362	28.1%
	Europe and America	917	187	20.4%	4.23***
	Asia and Africa	1391	438	31.5%	6.09***
Average income per month per capita in the household	Less than 2000 NIS	1423	585	41.1%	17.23***
Average income per month per capita in the household	2000 NIS and more	3684	601	16.3%
Years of schooling	12 or less	1732	381	22.0%
	13+	4232	1037	24.5%	2.10***
Years of religious schooling (Yeshiva)	Less than 2	64	40	62.5%
Years of religious schooling (Yeshiva)	3–5	96	73	76.0%	1.82***
	6+	161	141	87.6%	2.27**
Academic degree	None	3427	896	26.1%
	2nd or 3rd	1710	281	16.4%	8.31***
Feeling lonely	Usually or often	1631	349	21.4%
	Never or seldom	4387	1080	24.6%	2.67***
Having someone to rely on	Do not have	467	110	23.6%
Having someone to rely on	Have	5519	1312	23.8%	0.11
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will not	5070	1159	22.9%
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will	968	275	28.4%	3.55***

Note: *p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001.

The rates of people who tend to consult rabbis are directly correlated to their level of religiosity: 68 percent of the religious and ultra-religious population and 12.6 percent of the seculars and traditionalists regularly consult rabbis. But since most Israelis identify themselves as seculars and traditionalists, 42.8 percent of those who reported that they consulted rabbis on personal matters defined themselves as secular or traditionalist (traditionalist = ‘not all that religious’, or ‘traditionalist-religious’) (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Self-identified religiosity level among those who regularly consult rabbis (N = 1434).

Among the secular and traditionalist sections of the population, significantly higher rates of consultation were found among younger people aged 20–39 than among those aged 40 and above (15.8% vs. 10.5%, p<0.001); among people of African-Asian origin (second generation) than among those whose fathers were born in Israel (20.3% vs. 11.4%, p<0.001) and in Europe or America (20.3% vs. 6.6%, p<0.001); among members of households earning less than 2000 NIS per person than among members of households with a per capita income of above 2000 NIS (18.0% vs. 10.4%, p<0.001); among those with 12 years of schooling or less, compared to those who studied more than 12 years (15.0% vs. 11.6%, p<0.001); and among those who do not have an academic degree than among those with second or third degrees (15.5% vs. 7.2%, p<0.001). People who usually or always feel lonely are significantly more likely to consult a rabbi than those who never or seldom feel lonely (14.7% vs. 11.8%, p<0.001) (Table 3).

Table 3.

Rates of secular and traditionalist people who regularly consult rabbis on personal issues, by socio-demographic population group (N = 4828).

Variant		All secular and traditional participants	Regularly consult	Percentage	Z test
Gender	Women	2544	339	13.3%
	Men	2284	270	11.8%	1.58
Age	20–39	1937	306	15.8%
	40+	2891	303	10.5%	5.29***
Ethnicity (continent of father’s birth)	Israel	945	108	11.4%
	Europe and America	724	48	6.6%	3.46***
	Asia and Africa	1091	222	20.3%	8.97***
Average income per month per capita in the household	Less than 2000 NIS	867	156	18.0%
Average income per month per capita in the household	2000 NIS and more	3239	336	10.4%	5.40***
Years of schooling	12 or less	1463	219	15.0%
	13+	3325	385	11.6%	3.12***
Academic degree	None	2770	430	15.5%
	2nd or 3rd	1437	103	7.2%	8.63***
Feeling lonely	Usually or often	1390	204	14.7%
	Never or seldom	3423	404	11.8%	2.62***
Having someone to rely on	Do not have	390	71	18.2%
Having someone to rely on	Have	4402	537	12.2%	2.98***
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will not	4127	549	13.3%
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will	701	60	8.6%	4.01***

Note: *p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001.

Respondents were asked in the survey if they would consult a professional therapist at times of depression or when they needed someone to talk to. When comparing the tendency of secular and traditionalist respondents to consult rabbis to their tendency to consult a professional therapist (such as a psychologist) at times of depression or when needing someone to talk to, similar numbers were found. Among the seculars and traditionalists who tend to consult someone, 43.9 percent regularly consult rabbis (and not a professional), while 51.2 percent tend to consult a professional (and not a rabbi), and 4.8 percent consult both.

Marked differences were found when comparing the characteristics of secular and traditionalist people who consulted rabbis to those of the religious and ultra-religious sections of the population (Tables 4, 5). Among secular and traditionalist consulters we found significantly higher rates of women (55.7% vs. 45.9%, p<0.001); of those of African-Asian origin (58.7% vs. 35.5%, p<0.001); of those with 12 years of schooling or less (36.3% vs. 19.9%, p<0.001); and of those who usually or always feel lonely (33.6% vs. 17.7%, p<0.001) than among the orthodox and ultra-orthodox.

Table 4.

Rates of religious and ultra-religious people who regularly consult rabbis on personal issues by socio-demographic population group (N = 1210).

Variant		All religious and ultra-religious participants	Regularly consult	Percentage	Z test
Gender	Women	580	379	65.3%
	Men	630	446	70.8%	2.03**
Age	20–39	614	478	77.9%
	40+	596	347	58.2%	7.48***
Ethnicity (continent of father’s birth)	Europe and America	193	139	72.0%	0.56
	Israel	342	254	74.3%	0.65
	Asia and Africa	300	216	72.0%
Average income per month per capita in the household	Less than 2000 NIS	556	429	77.2%
Average income per month per capita in the household	2000 NIS and more	445	265	59.6%	6.01***
Years of schooling	12 or less	269	162	60.2%
	13+	907	652	71.9%	3.50***
Years of religious schooling	2 or less	64	40	62.5%
Years of religious schooling	3, 4, 5	96	73	76.0%	1.82*
	6+	161	141	87.6%	2.27**
Academic degree	None	657	466	70.9%
	2nd or 3rd	273	178	65.2%	1.69*
Feeling lonely	Usually or often	241	145	60.2%
	Never or seldom	964	676	70.1%	2.86***
Having someone to rely on	Do not have	77	39	50.6%
Having someone to rely on	Have	1117	775	69.4%	3.20***
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will not	943	610	64.7%
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will	267	215	80.5%	5.50***

Note: *p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001.

Table 5.

Level of religiosity and rates among population who regularly consult rabbis on personal issues (N = 1434).

Variant		Secular and traditional people(N = 609)		Religious and ultra-religious(N = 825)		Z test
		Regularly consult (N)	Percentage who regularly consult	Regularly consult (N)	Percentage who regularly consult
Gender	Women	339	55.7%	379	45.9%
	Men	270	44.3%	446	54.1%	4.24***
Age	20–39	306	50.2%	478	57.9%
	40+	303	49.8%	347	42.1%	3.35***
Ethnicity (continent of father’s birth)	Israel	108	28.6%	254	41.7%	4.31***
Ethnicity (continent of father’s birth)	Europe and America	48	12.7%	139	22.8%	7.41***
	Asia and Africa	222	58.7%	216	35.5%
Average income per month per capita in the household	Less than 2000 NIS	156	31.7%	429	61.8%	11.59***
Average income per month per capita in the household	2000 NIS and more	336	68.3%	265	38.2%
Years of schooling	12 or less	219	36.3%	162	19.9%
Years of schooling	13+	385	63.7%	652	80.1%	5.92***
Academic degree	None	430	80.7%	466	72.4%
Academic degree	2nd or 3rd	103	19.3%	178	27.6%	4.38***
Feeling lonely	Usually or often	204	33.6%	145	17.7%
	Never or seldom	404	66.4%	676	82.3%	5.75***
Having someone to rely on	Do not have	71	11.7%	39	4.8%
Having someone to rely on	Have	537	88.3%	775	95.2%	2.35***
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will not	549	90.1%	610	73.9%
Consult a professional in times of crisis	I will	60	9.9%	215	26.1%	10.79***

Note: *p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001.

A clear correlation was found between the tendency to consult rabbis and observance of religious commandments (or mitzvoth). While orthodox and ultra-orthodox people observe all the religious commandments, the secular and the traditionalists observe selectively. Among these sections, those who consult rabbis are more likely to eat only kosher food (83.9% vs. 49.6%, p< 0.001), to pray regularly (65.2% vs. 24.2%, p< 0.001), and to refrain from driving on the Sabbath (38.4% vs. 11.8%, p< 0.001) than those who do not consult (Table 6).

Table 6.

Rates of observance among secular and traditional populations (N = 4838).

Variant		N	Observe	Percentage	Z test
Usually or always avoid driving on the Sabbath	Regularly consult	609	234	38.4%
Usually or always avoid driving on the Sabbath	Do not consult	4212	495	11.8%	13.12***
Regularly or always pray	Regularly consult	609	397	65.2%
Regularly or always pray	Do not consult	4215	1021	24.2%	20.08***
Usually or always eat kosher food	Regularly consult	609	511	83.9%
Usually or always eat kosher food	Do not consult	4210	2087	49.6%	20.48***

Note: *p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001.

To summarize, our findings show that people from all population strata consult rabbis on personal issues. Among the secular and traditionalist sections of the population, the tendency to consult a rabbi is correlated with being poorer, less educated, a woman, younger, of African-Asian origin, and feeling less well psychologically (Table 3). Nevertheless, the seculars and traditionalists who consult rabbis are of higher socio-economic status than the consulters from the orthodox and ultra-orthodox section of the population, which is basically much poorer (Table 5). Similarly to the secular and traditional sections, among the orthodox and ultra-orthodox population, younger and poorer people tend to consult rabbis more frequently than older and more affluent people. By contrast with the secular and traditionalist sections of the population, however, among the orthodox it is the men, those of Israeli origin, the better educated and people in better psychological condition who tend to consult rabbis more frequently (Table 4). Thus, among secular and traditional people, the tendency to consult rabbis is more prevalent among the lower socio-economic classes and the disempowered, although consultation is not confined to this population.

Factors that Drive Secular and Traditional People to Consult Rabbis

The secular and traditional interviewees typically consulted rabbis at times of crisis and difficulty in their lives. These may involve severe health problems, such as the need to undergo an operation, the need to make an important decision, or ongoing infertility problems; difficult interpersonal relationships and problems within the family; difficulty in finding a spouse; and financial worries. More abstract feelings likewise motivated people to approach rabbis, such as ‘being out of luck’ or as one interviewee said, ‘sometimes I feel that the universe is too big and I feel I need advice and guidance’. No-one mentioned genuinely religious issues, such as questions of Jewish law (halakha). They were not motivated to consult rabbis by a desire to ensure that their actions accorded with Jewish law and hence with God’s will. Most of the interviewees come for advice on their own secular personal problems, while others come on behalf of a member of family.

The rabbi was often described as a sort of psychologist. Some interviewees spoke of his empathy, described him as being a good listener, or noted that he was an appropriate person with whom to speak at times of crisis or when they needed to make a meaningful decision. One woman said, ‘I don’t want to tell anybody about it, so I went to the rabbi. He is the only one I told about this.’ Another young woman explained that she preferred a particular rabbi to another because he speaks more. One of the interviewees, a gambler who sought to quit the habit as he had run up debts on the black market, explained why he had turned to the rabbi: ‘I did not have the money for a psychologist and the rabbi was my last resort.’ But the rabbi is not considered to be an ordinary psychologist. He is believed to possess special powers. Many interviewees emphasized this: ‘You don’t have to tell the rabbi what your problems are, he knows about them as soon as you enter his room.’ Interviewees told us about their own experiences of the rabbi’s ability to see hidden things. Most of them observed that they felt relieved and empowered when they left the rabbi’s room. As one of them put it: ‘You emerge stronger, reinforced and more whole; you feel as if you have more air to breathe and need not despair.’ Interviewees spoke about regaining hope and belief and gaining relief. One of them added, ‘I feel that there is someone protecting me’.

Mystical Experiences during the Consultation

We asked interviewees about their experiences and feelings during the consultation. Some spoke of ‘being in a different world’. One interviewee attributed this feeling to his secular surroundings:

Because I live in an entirely secular world and surroundings, when I come to the rabbi I feel very, very different. I feel excited some days ahead, I feel as though I’m preparing for something very significant, important and meaningful. When I arrive I feel as if I am isolated from the world outside and connected to a most specific inner point within myself and my belief. I have very strong feelings at those moments and also after the visit. This happens because I feel connected to various worlds; I become attached to all those worlds and find my place of calm and wellbeing in each of them.

Other interviewees echoed this sense of anxiousness several days ahead of the consultation. They likewise feel excited when they sit in the waiting room for several hours. When entering the rabbi’s room, they are anxious and feel strong emotions. Some described how they began to cry and tremble and were unable to speak. This man described his experience while visiting the rabbi:

When my wife was pregnant with our last child the physician told us that the child had a heart defect and that they would have to operate on him when he was born. He told us that this problem should be treated immediately the child was born. My wife reacted very badly, she was entirely shattered. I too, I felt I had never been so afraid. I constantly thought about this tiny being only a few minutes old, knowing nothing of this world, lying helpless in an operating theater. I went to the rabbi three days after we were told this, and came to him crying like a small child. I cried bitterly when I entered the rabbi’s room. He sat me down, gave me water to drink, and did not ask me anything. He just hugged me and blessed me for over half an hour. I closed my eyes, feeling I was in God’s hands. My entire body was trembling. When I came out I breathed deeply, I felt I had become empty and was now prepared to be strong for my wife and the baby that would arrive – whatever happened. The child was born healthy, thank God, the problem was resolved during pregnancy.

Some of the interviewees described seeing a halo around the rabbi, or a shining spirit, as did a woman who accompanied her sick son to the rabbi. This rabbi does not admit women, so she remained in the waiting room while her husband entered the rabbi’s room with their son:

The waiting room was crowded, many people waiting there. After a while the door to the rabbi’s room opened, and I saw him illuminated, with a halo coming out of his room … I felt trembling all over, as if this halo of his had been transferred into my body. It was an exciting experience for me. I cried out of excitement. This feeling remained in my heart for some days, as if it was frozen there. It was stronger then me, an experience from another world.

Some interviewees reported that they ‘did not have to explain themselves, the rabbi immediately understands’, and others were amazed at the rabbi’s power, like the woman who told us that when she entered the rabbi’s room he immediately told her, ‘don’t worry, your mother’s operation will succeed’.

What do the rabbis do during the consultation session? Almost all of them pray and utter blessings and some roll their eyes while praying. Some engage in numerology – the assignation of numeric values to Hebrew letters, which is practiced as part of reading the future. Most of the interviewees were asked by the rabbi to perform some symbolic act or ritual, such as reciting a prayer every day (generally the prayer known as Hatikun Haklali [General Rectification] or a psalm), to drink ‘holy water’ twice a day, to wear or to burn amulets, to change one’s name, to immerse oneself in a ritual bath (miqve), to light candles twice a week in memory of some holy man, and to make a donation (tsedaqa) toward a ritual circumcision for a needy person in the case of infertility. The interviewees appreciate the symbolism of these practices and regard them as manifesting a supernatural power in which they believe. Only a few interviewees reported being given some kind of medication, such as herbs, or being instructed to put warm oil in the ear. Some rabbis explain that the problem originated in an ‘evil eye’ – a belief in the ability of a person to cause harm or bring bad luck to some other person by supernatural means. This belief is widespread in the Mediterranean area and in other cultures worldwide (DeMello, 2012; Gilmore, 1982).

Supernatural forces are attributed to the rabbis and many interviewees referred to them as miracle workers. Diverse phenomena that occurred after visiting the rabbi were described as miracles; for example: ‘After five years of ineffective medical treatments, I became pregnant’; ‘Two weeks later I signed two employment contracts’; ‘ I met my husband three months later’; ‘The physician and I didn’t believe it: a month after the visit the tumor disappeared’.

All these descriptions of experiences and feelings during consultations relate to rabbis of North African origin. The interviewees also mentioned one exception – Rabbi Firer. Rabbi Firer is not of North African origin, does not utter blessings or manifest a supernatural power. He is of Ashkenazi origin and is renowned for advising on practical medical issues. He founded the association ‘Ezra Lemarpe’ (Clinical Help), a medical organization which offers a wide range of services to patients. With the help of volunteers he guides the sick as they cope with their illness, advising them on appropriate physicians and medical centers, assists in flying patients to medical centers around the world, imports rare medicines according to the doctor’s prescription, and so forth. Some interviewees related that they had been helped by Rabbi Firer, who is ‘a well known Ashkenazi Rabbi … who does not believe in miracle making’.

Critical Points of View

Although interviewees generally expressed faith and confidence in the rabbis, they did voice some criticism. Some told of instances in which the rabbi had been wrong and his predictions had failed to materialize. A traditional-religious woman described her experience thus:

During my last pregnancy the rabbi told me that I had a son, as I wanted this so much, but, wonder of wonders, I had a girl. Also, some years ago, I went to Rabbi David Abu-Hazira in Naharia, he blessed my son, who was very ill. He told me not to worry as my son would get better, but a week later my son died. I asked some rabbi how could it be that such a great rabbi had lied to me. He answered that the rabbi had blessed my son, and without his blessing his soul could not have gone to heaven.

Other women saw the rabbi as ‘only a mediator between me and God’, and ‘if you go to two rabbis, they may say opposite things’.

The main critique of rabbis that we heard was the accusation of ‘mas’hara’. This is an Arabic word adopted in Hebrew slang, which means selling worthless goods. Most of the interviewees explained that it is customary to make a donation to the rabbi. Some were asked to donate whatever they chose, while others were asked to pay between 150 and 350 NIS ($40–$90). One interviewee reported her dismay when the rabbi’s assistants asked her to sign a contract stating that should she become pregnant she would pay the rabbi, and should she have a son she would pay double. Another interviewee was critical of what she termed the ‘market’, namely being sold certain objects by the rabbi’s assistant reputed to be blessed by the rabbi. Some interviewees noted that ‘there are those who call themselves rabbis, but do it only for profit, there are a lot of quacks and imposters’.

A number of criteria are commonly employed when choosing a rabbi with whom to consult, in order to guard against charlatanism:

The rabbi should be recommended by family members or by friends.

The waiting list for the rabbi should be long and ‘many people are waiting near his door’.

The rabbi himself and his lineage should be renowned for the miracles they have performed.

The rabbi should have a particular area of expertise, such as interpersonal relations and romantic attachment, or health-related matters.

Most of the interviewees we approached live in northern Israel and generally, but not always, consult rabbis who live in this area. The names of certain rabbis cropped up repeatedly in the interviews, among whom were Rabbi Mamo, Rabbi Shriki, Rabbi Swissa, Rabbi David Abu-Hazira, Rabbi Haim Amram Ifergan, and Rabbi Firer.

Since we interviewed people who regularly consulted rabbis on personal issues and believe in their supernatural powers, in their ability to work miracles and in their inherent sanctity, almost none of the interviewees questioned the very essence of these beliefs. This contrasts with a more rational religious Jewish attitude that may censure such beliefs.

Discussion

This article is innovative in examining the phenomenon of secular and traditional people who consult authoritative figures in the religious Jewish world on personal matters. Rabbis were consulted by roughly a quarter of Israel’s Jewish population, of whom 43 percent identified themselves as secular or traditionalist. In this study we sought to explore their characteristics and motives. The study has certain limitations.

One limitation is that the sample of interviewees does not entirely match the characteristics found in the survey analysis. This might be a source of bias of the data gathered in the interviews. Another limitation is the lack of data from previous years. Such data could shed light on the trends of religious, traditional and secular Israeli populations and on changes that have occurred in the patterns of consultation with rabbis. Hence, we suggest that further research monitor such phenomena in Israeli society in the following years.

The specific phenomenon studied here exemplifies three broader aspects: 1) religion is relevant as a resource for dealing with existential and personal difficulties in modern society; 2) our finding of significantly higher rates of consultation among younger than among older people suggests that we may currently be witnessing a quest for spirituality and a growing interest in the mystical dimensions of religion; and 3) the dichotomy comprising the categories of traditional-religious and modern-secular is becoming less clear-cut, and this may indicate the need to reformulate it.

People from all strata of Israeli society reported that they consult rabbis on personal matters. The media has reported cases of affluent businessmen and leading politicians who regularly consult rabbis prior to making important economic or political decisions (e.g. Makover-Blikov, 2010). We, however, found higher rates of consulting rabbis on personal issues among seculars and traditionalists who are less affluent, less educated, and younger individuals; among those of African and Asian ethnic origin (especially the second generation); and among people suffering psychological hardship or experiencing a psycho-social or medical crisis.

The fact that the tendency of seculars and traditionalists to consult rabbis is more prevalent among the lower socio-economic classes and the disempowered may indicate that consultations with rabbis are regarded as a religious-traditional resource, which they use to empower themselves. Counseling and advising form part of the traditional role of rabbis as Jewish religious leaders. In his The Sociology of Religion, Max Weber (1985[1922]: 285ff) referred to the promise of salvation that religions offer in order to satisfy various psychological and social needs. Feelings of deprivation, misfortune and suffering lead the individual to search for compensation; he or she may seek a sign of salvation that promises release from misfortune, deliverance from evil, or bodily healing in the near or distant future (Stolz, 2008). Difficulties and conditions of acute poverty, anxiety or frustration are exacerbated by the complexity of a society in which individuals, couples and families often remain alone with their problems. Since religion is not confined to rational ideas but entails also bodily experiences and emotions, it may exert an emancipatory power, albeit within limits (Dillon, 2010). A critical perspective is called for, as religion may simultaneously enable and disempower (Cadge et al., 2011).

We found that secular and traditional interviewees do not consult rabbis on matters of halakha (Jewish law), and do not generally regard them as their mentors for a religious life. Neither does the rabbi require them to become religious. Orthodox rabbis of North African origin are consulted in a quest for spirituality. The interviewees consult rabbis that are famous as masters of the kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), who are believed to possess supernatural abilities, such as the power to bless, to work miracles, to observe the invisible, and to predict the future. As a religious figure, the rabbi symbolizes to them the connection between ‘heaven and earth’, a combination of the real world and the mystic, and contact with God. This phenomenon indicates a need to be connected to the religious-spiritual dimension without fulfilling all the religious commandments.

Our findings, such as the significantly higher rates of consultation among younger than among older people, support Yadgar’s (2011) claim that the traditionalist identity can no longer be treated as a pre-modern phenomenon. The habit of Israeli secular people and less religious traditionalist Jews to consult rabbis on personal issues may be regarded as ‘vicarious religion’ (Davie, 2007) because of their belief in God and in rabbis’ powers without belonging to a religious community, or as a fuzzy fidelity (Voas, 2009) indicative of an uncommitted yet genuine interest in God and spiritual matters. This phenomenon inhabits a middle ground located between orthodox religion, traditionalism, spirituality, secularism and modernity.

The demography of the consultants and the reasons and experiences of consultation support the need for reformulation of the secular–religion distinction (as suggested by Calhoun et al., 2011) for several reasons. First, according to the prevailing dichotomy between the traditional-religious and modern-secular, we may expect religious people to consult with rabbis and secular not to do so, which is not the case. Second, one would expect people to identify themselves either as traditional-religious Jews who observe all the religious commandments (mitzvoth), or as seculars. Yet significant numbers of people identify themselves as traditionalists and not religious, and selectively observe religious commandments. Jewish halakha demands unconditional and uncompromising observance of all the precepts of Jewish law, be they major or minor. Patterns of selective observance are normal and standard in everyday religion (Orsi, 1997). However, from the perspective of modernization and secularization, theses that have dominated Israeli Zionist political discourse, blending the supposedly mutually exclusive categories of religiosity and secularism seems inconsistent and incomprehensible. From this perspective, this pattern of selective observance may be considered a selfish preference for comfort and ease rather than adherence to ideological consistency. A different interpretation may suggest that Jews choose to observe those practices that are deemed essential to one’s self-identification as a Jew (Yadgar, 2010). Third, we would expect people to consult orthodox rabbis on matters of halakha (Jewish law), but secular and traditional Israelis do not regard them as their mentors for a religious life. The believed spiritual powers of the rabbi, who symbolizes to them contact with God, are chosen as means to deal with hardships and difficulties in everyday life. Fourth, we should expect individuals living in modern society who need advice at times of depression, who need to talk to someone or consult someone other than a family member or a friend, to turn to a professional (such as a psychologist). Yet, secular people and traditionalists tend to consult rabbis almost as often as they consult a professional. This means that approximately half the people that consult someone, consult with rabbis rather than making the ‘natural choice’, namely consulting a professional. Furthermore, the interviewees often described the rabbi as a sort of psychologist, albeit one who possesses special supernatural powers.

In summary, the case of secular and traditionalist Israeli Jews who consult rabbis on personal issues contributes to the ongoing debates on the secular age (Taylor, 2007) and post-secular societies (Habermas, 2008a) by demonstrating the middle ground between traditional-religion and secular-modernity. The theoretical reformulation of the secular-religion categorization has moral implications, since it prevents seculars from regarding ‘traditional and religious communities’, as it were, as ‘archaic relics of pre-modern society persisting into the present’, and understanding freedom of religion merely as ‘the cultural equivalent of the conservation of a species threatened with extinction’ (Habermas, 2008b: 139).

Footnotes

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes

Yael Keshet PhD is a senior lecturer in Sociology at Western Galilee Academic College, Israel. Her research interests include medical pluralism issues, traditional medicine and religion, complementary and alternative medicine, the integration of complementary medicine in conventional healthcare organizations, and medicine on the internet. Recent publications include Energy Medicine and Hybrid Knowledge Construction: The Formation of New Cultural-Epistemological Rules of Discourse (Cultural Sociology, 2011); The Use of Boundary Objects to Enhance Interprofessional Collaboration: Integrating Complementary Medicine in a Hospital Setting (Sociology of Health and Illness, 2012); Network Gatekeeping: Complementary Medicine Information on the Websites of Medical Institutions (Health, 2012).

Ido Liberman PhD is a member of the Research Authority and a lecturer in Sociology and Statistics at Western Galilee Academic College, Israel. His research interests include sociological and demographic processes in Israeli society in general and in the national religious community in particular. He is also interested in the sociological importance of the postmodern era, and the methodological and statistical domain in sociological research. He also engages in the domain of evaluation research in organizations.

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