GIDEON ARAN – SITTING POSTURE,

NATIVE ISRAELINESS AND ULTRA-

ORTHODOXY

Gideon Aran is a professor of Sociology & Anthropology at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He studies both religion and extremism, and

particularly their intersection, in Israel, in past and present Judaism, and in comparative perspective. Aran's research is based mainly on ethnographic

fieldwork. In recent years his writing and teaching focus on fundamentalism, sects, cults and radical groups, religious violence, terrorism. Aran's

forthcoming book concerns suicide bombing, especially in the Middle East.

contact:

Professor Gideon Aran

Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology

Hebrew University

Jerusalem

Israel 91905

Email: gideon.aran@mail.huji.ac.il

Phone: 972-2-5883331 (Office)

972-2-5345801 (Home)

Fax : 972-2-5324339 (Office)

American readers of a certain age will no doubt

have come across this phenomenon at the time

of the ‘flower children’, and it still may be

possible to find it in enclaves of 1960s sub-

culture, or among New Age holdouts.

Taken from “Denial Does Not Make The Haredi

Body Go Away Ethnography of a Disappearing

(?) Jewish Phenomenon”, By Prof. Gideon Aran

I am referring to a low seated position – not on a

chair – which has several versions, such as

crouching down on your heels, with bent limbs

drawn up closely beneath the body, or a kind of

relaxed semi-lotus position, resting entirely on your

backside with legs crossed in front.

In all its versions, this is a posture in which the

body’s center of gravity is close to the ground, or

even in contact with it.The sitting posture described

here commonly expresses an unmediated

relationship between a person and his body and his

place.

Moreover, this posture is usually interpreted as

embodying stability and calm, simplicity and

naturalness, a feeling of homeliness, authenticity,

and perhaps exoticism as well. It is seen as

a strong sitting posture. It is not surprising, then,

that this posture often signals a native status;

sometimes defined as a “native sitting”.

In the US it is associated with the Native

Americans, and a similar pattern can be found in

South and East Asia, as well as other places

around the world. The same has been true in Israel,

mainly in its formative years and during the heyday

of the modern Jewish national movement. This

sitting posture became one of the trademarks of the

Zionist awakening, focused on the land and state

building.

In a way, the Zionist project can be summed up as

an attempt to restore Hebrew autochthony, or rather

to create Jewish indigenousness. The sitting

posture under discussion became a test and a rite

for the Jewish natives in their old-new country.

While Zionism’s early leaders and activists were of

European extraction; upon settling in Palestine they

cultivated this posture, charged it with symbolism

and called it by the loaded name of yeshiva

mizrachit (Oriental Sitting).

There is a paradoxical dimension in the ideology of

Jewish nativism, or, native-ness Being indigenous –

native – implies that the feeling of belonging to a

place is taken for granted, rather than something to

yearn for, argue about or deliberate over.

Feeling comfortable and confident in a place, as if it

were your own – this should be natural, a given,

something that sits in the back of the mind, and not

a topic to be focused on or a subject that needs to

be clarified or contested in any way. The status of

the native might be a bone of contention between

one group and another, but it is not supposed to be

an issue within a group. Being conscious of one’s

nativeness, and being socialized to become a

native, these are contradictions in terms. It reflects

a fundamental tension inherent in Israeliness.

Early in their attempts to turn themselves into

natives, the Zionists realized that there were

already natives in the area – local Arabs, who

would come to be known as Palestinians. Ever

since, a bitter struggle has been waged over who is

the true, legitimate and senior native, with each

side making competing claims for authenticity and

exclusivity.

From the outset, the baffled Zionists tended to

adopt elements of Palestinian nativeness, which

they naively perceived as representing archaic

Hebraism, thus complicating the story of the Middle

East and diverting it into a tragic catch.

In the attempt to link the new Israelis with the

ancient Israelites, indigenousness was shaped

whose foundations repeatedly point to its very rival.

The Jewish native’s nickname – tsabar (Sabra) –

derives from the bush that adorns the grounds of

the Arab villages in the disputed territories. Note

also that local Jews borrowed from local Arabs

distinctive items of clothing (e.g. kafiyah), gestures

(e.g. dugri,), dialect (e.g. ahalan) and other

identifying marks.

One of the ironic and fatal consequences of this

appropriation is that every genuine attempt to get

closer to the Zionist ideal of nativeness inevitably

leads to the heart of Palestinian entity. Rocky hills,

olive trees, wells and donkeys – a seemingly

biblical panorama – are the present-day

characteristic vistas of the lands inhabited by the

Palestinians, the very same landscapes in which

the Jewish settlers, waving the flag of Zionism, are

trying to strike root.

Yeshiva mizrachit would seem to present a similar

case. Like eating falafel and dancing the debka –

prototypical images of

authenticmizrachiut (“oriental-ness”) – this sitting

posture is an icon of healthy true Israeliness.

The Zionist ideal was reflected in an upright,

healthy, athletic and aggressive body. Suntanned

muscular Judaism was the aim, as well as the

medium, of the revolution. In the Zionist fantasy –

followed by the Zionist program and ultimately by

Zionist practice – body image, the body’s

appearance, performance and its language, all

have an important role.

There is a repertoire of bodily postures and

movements that are considered correct, exemplary

and obligatory. Yeshiva mizrachit is a crucial

element of this repertoire. The champions

of yeshiva mizrachit embody Zionism – initially the

pioneers of the early aliyot, and later the tsabarim,

the first generation of native born Israelis.

Yeshiva mizrachit is hegemonic. Of course, not

everybody adopts it, and there are those who

positively reject it. Certain groups of Jewish citizens

from the pre-state yishuv, as well from today’s

state, can be singled out for not practicing yeshiva

mizrachit. In the past they were the bourgeois

immigrants from Germany and Poland (the Fourth

& Fifth aliyot), and more recently they include

immigrants from the former Soviet bloc.

The former describedyeshiva mizrachit as primitive

and impolite; the latter see it as infantile and

ostentatious. Throughout the years, however, there

has been another Jewish sector in Israel that has

consistently refrained from yeshiva mizrachit,

namely the local ultra-orthodox, the Israeli

Haredim.

The latter are unable, or unwilling, to sit like that.

Indeed, the Haredim have never been “caught”

sitting yeshiva mizrachit. Systematic observations

and interviews confirm the incompatibility between

Haredi-ness and yeshiva mizrachit. This

incontrovertible fact is the starting point for the

present research on the Haredi body. The issue of

Haredim and yeshiva mizrachit will also close this

research report.

GIDEON ARAN IS A PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE HEBREW

UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM. HE STUDIES BOTH RELIGION AND EXTREMISM, AND PARTICULARLY

THEIR INTERSECTION, IN ISRAEL, IN PAST AND PRESENT JUDAISM, AND IN COMPARATIVE

PERSPECTIVE. ARAN'S RESEARCH IS BASED MAINLY ON ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK. IN

RECENT YEARS HIS WRITING AND TEACHING FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALISM, SECTS, CULTS

AND RADICAL GROUPS, RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE, TERRORISM. ARAN'S FORTHCOMING BOOK

CONCERNS SUICIDE BOMBING, ESPECIALLY IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

CONTACT:

PROFESSOR GIDEON ARAN

DEPT. OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY

HEBREW UNIVERSITY

JERUSALEM

ISRAEL 91905

EMAIL: GIDEON.ARAN@MAIL.HUJI.AC.IL

PHONE: 972-2-5883331 (OFFICE)

972-2-5345801 (HOME)

FAX : 972-2-5324339 (OFFICE)