God is in details : the exponential intensification of orthopraxis in contemporary Orthodox Judaism

• Grant number: 15/01855-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: May 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Urban Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Marta Francisca Topel
• Grantee: Marta Francisca Topel
• Host Investigator: Nurit Stadler
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Abstract

The proposed research has a main hypothesis and a main goal. The main goal is to see how the Israeli Orthodox Jews learn, are updated and can comply with the hundreds of precepts, rules and customs governing the most mundane daily activities , such as different ways of washing eggplant and cauliflower, or how a sick woman must fulfill the commandment to light the Sabbath candles in case of being hospitalized. Given the huge amount of rules, I will only analyze the precepts and practices related to Jewish dietary laws , which also make up a vast compendium of laws and customs.The hypothesis I will attempt to test is that the thousands of precepts and practices that conform contemporary Orthodox Judaism can be designed as an indicator of an obsessive component in Halakhah or Jewish law. This obsession would appear to have a direct relationship with the fundamentalist character of Orthodoxy today.A abordagem metodológica será baseada na observação participante, na realização de entrevistas e na análise de fontes primárias.