The Haredim represent the conservative, or pietistic, form of
Jewish fundamentalism, distinct from the radical fundamentalism of
Gush Emunim, and emphasising withdrawal from, and disdain for, the secular world, and the creation of an alternative world which insulates the Torah and the life it prescribes from outside influences. Haredi Judaism is not an institutionally cohesive or homogeneous group, but comprises a diversity of spiritual and cultural orientations, generally divided into a broad range of Hasidic courts and Litvishe-Yeshivish streams from Eastern Europe, and Oriental
Sephardic Haredi Jews. These groups often differ significantly from one another in their specific ideologies and lifestyles, as well as the degree of stringency in religious practice, rigidity of religious philosophy, and isolation from the general culture that they maintain. Some Haredis encourage
outreach to less observant and unaffiliated Jews and (secular Israeli Jews). Some scholars, including some secular and Reform Jews, describe the Haredim as "radical fundamentalists". Efforts to keep clear of external influence are a core characteristic of Haredi Judaism. Historically, new mediums of communication such as books, newspapers and magazines, and later tapes, CDs and television, were dealt with by either transforming and controlling the content, or choosing to have rabbinic leadership censor it selectively or altogether. In the modern digital era, difficulty in censoring the Internet and conversely, the Internet's importance, resulted in a decades long and ongoing struggle of comprehension, adaptation, and regulation on the part of rabbinical leadership and community activists. These beliefs and practices, which have been interpreted as "isolationist", can bring them into conflict with authorities. In 2018, a Haredi school in the United Kingdom was rated as "inadequate" by the
Office for Standards in Education, after repeated complaints were raised about the censoring of textbooks and exam papers which contained mentions of
homosexuality, examples of women socializing with men, pictures showing women's shoulders and legs, or information that contradicts a
creationist worldview.
Lifestyle and family , Jerusalem, 2013 Haredi life, like Orthodox Jewish life in general, is very family-centered and ordered. Boys and girls attend separate schools and proceed to higher
Torah study, in a yeshiva or seminary, respectively, starting anywhere between the ages of 13 and 18. A significant proportion of young men remain in yeshiva until their marriage (often
arranged). After marriage, many Haredi men continue their Torah studies in a
kollel. Studying in secular institutions is often discouraged, although educational facilities for vocational training in a Haredi framework do exist. In the United States and Europe, the majority of Haredi males are active in the workforce. For various reasons, in Israel, a majority (56%) of their male members do not work, though some of those are part of the unofficial workforce. Haredi families (and Orthodox Jewish families in general) are usually much larger than non-Orthodox families, with an average of seven children per family, but it is not unheard of for families to have twelve or more children. About 80% of female Haredi Jews in Israel work. Haredi Jews are typically opposed to the viewing of television and films, and the reading of secular newspapers and books. There has been a strong campaign against the
Internet, and Internet-enabled mobile phones without filters have also been banned by leading rabbis. In May 2012, 40,000 Haredim gathered at
Citi Field, a
baseball park in New York City, to discuss the dangers of unfiltered Internet. The event was organized by the
Ichud HaKehillos LeTohar HaMachane. The Internet has been allowed for business purposes, so long as filters are installed. In some instances, forms of recreation which conform to Jewish law are treated as antithetical to Haredi Judaism. In 2013, the Rabbinical Court of the Ashkenazi Community in the Haredi settlement of
Beitar Illit ruled against
Zumba (a type of dance fitness) classes, although they were held with a female instructor and all-female participants. The Court said in part: "Both in form and manner, the activity [Zumba] is entirely at odds with both the ways of the Torah and the holiness of Israel, as are the songs associated to it."
Shidduch (matchmaking) With Haredi Judaism having a heavy emphasis on marriage, especially while young, some members rely on the
shidduch (matchmaking) system. They employ a schadhan (a professional matchmaker) to support them in their search for a spouse. While there is no current statistical data showing how many people use the services of a schadhan, it is estimated that the vast majority of Haredi couples were paired by one. However, with the broader societal shift to online dating, matchmaking in Orthodox and Haredi Judaism has started making inroads online. Vastly different from the most popular online dating services, apps like Shidduch pair couples based on shared values and life goals. To do this, users fill out a digital resume. The app was made possible by a partnership between its developers and the
Orthodox Union — the same group responsible for kosher food certification ("Circle-U").
Dress The standard mode of dress for males of the Lithuanian stream is a black or navy suit and a white shirt. Headgear includes black
Fedora or
Homburg hats, with black
skull caps. Pre-war Lithuanian yeshiva students also wore light coloured suits, along with beige or grey hats, and prior to the 1990s, it was common for Americans of the Lithuanian stream to wear coloured shirts throughout the week, reserving white shirts for
Shabbos. Beards are common among Haredi and many other Orthodox Jewish men, and Hasidic men will almost never be clean-shaven. Women adhere to the
laws of modest dress, and wear long skirts and sleeves, high necklines, and, if married, some form of hair covering. Haredi women never wear trousers, although most do wear pajama-trousers within the home at night. Haredi women often dress more freely, and casually, within the home, as long as the body remains covered in accordance with
halakha. More modernized Haredi women are somewhat more lenient in matters of their dress, and some follow the latest trends and fashions, while conforming to
halakha. Non-Lithuanian Hasidic men and women differ from the Lithuanian stream by having a much more
specific dress code, the most obvious difference for men being the full-length suit jacket (
rekel) on weekdays, and the fur hat (
shtreimel) and silk caftan (
bekishe) on the Sabbath.
Neighborhoods Haredi neighborhoods have been said by some to be safer, with less violent crime, although this is a generalization, and even that may apply to only specific communities, rather than all. In Israel, the entrances to some of the most extreme Haredi neighborhoods are fitted with signs that ask for modest clothing to be worn. Some areas are known to have "modesty patrols", and people dressed in ways perceived as immodest may suffer harassment, and advertisements featuring scantily dressed models may be targeted for vandalism. These concerns are also addressed through public lobbying and legal avenues. During the week-long
Rio Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, many of the city's 7,000 Orthodox Jews feel compelled to leave the town, due to the immodest exposure of participants. In 2001, Haredi campaigners in Jerusalem succeeded in persuading the
Egged bus company to get all their advertisements approved by a special committee. By 2011, Egged had gradually removed all bus adverts that featured women, in response to their continuous defacement. A court order that stated such action was discriminatory led to Egged's decision not to feature people at all (neither male nor female). Depictions of certain other creatures, such as
space aliens, were also banned, in order not to offend Haredi sensibilities. Haredi Jews also campaign against other types of advertising that promote activities they deem offensive or inappropriate. Due to halakha, i.e., activities that Orthodox Jews believe are prohibited on
Shabbat, most state-run buses in Israel do not run on Saturdays, regardless of whether riders are Orthodox or even whether they are Jewish. In a similar vein, Haredi Jews in Israel have demanded that the roads in their neighborhoods be closed on Saturdays, vehicular traffic being viewed as an "intolerable provocation" upon their religious lifestyle (see
Driving on Shabbat in Jewish law). In most cases, the authorities granted permission after Haredi petitioning and demonstrations, some of them including fierce clashes between Haredi Jews and secular counter-demonstrators, and violence against police and motorists.
Sex separation While Jewish modesty law requires
gender separation under various circumstances, observers have contended that there is a growing trend among some groups of Hasidic Haredi Jews to extend its observance to the public arena. In the Hasidic village of
Kiryas Joel, New York, an entrance sign asks visitors to "maintain sex separation in all public areas", and the bus stops have separate waiting areas for men and women. In
New Square, another Hasidic enclave, men and women are expected to walk on opposite sides of the road. and street signs requesting that women avoid certain pavements in
Beit Shemesh have been repeatedly removed by the municipality. Since 1973, buses catering to Haredi Jews running from Rockland County and Brooklyn into Manhattan have had separate areas for men and women, allowing passengers to conduct on-board prayer services. Although the lines are privately operated, they serve the general public, and in 2011, the set-up was challenged on grounds of discrimination, and the arrangement was deemed illegal. During 2010–2012, there was much public debate in Israel surrounding the existence of segregated Haredi
Mehadrin bus lines (whose policy calls for both men and women to stay in their respective areas: men in the front of the bus, and women in the rear of the bus) following an altercation that occurred after a woman refused to move to the rear of the bus to sit among the women. A subsequent court ruling stated that while voluntary segregation should be allowed, forced separation is unlawful. Israeli national airline
El Al has agreed to provide gender-separated flights in consideration of Haredi requirements. graduating class of 1934 in
Łódź, Poland Education in the Haredi community is strictly segregated by sex.
Yeshiva education for boys is primarily focused on the study of Jewish scriptures, such as the
Torah and
Talmud (
non-Hasidic yeshivas in the United States teach secular studies in the afternoon); girls obtain studies both in Jewish religious education as well as broader secular subjects.
Newspapers and publications , a weekly columnist for
Hamodia In 1930s Poland, the Agudath Israel movement published its own Yiddish-language paper,
Dos Yiddishe Tagblatt. In 1950, the Agudah started printing
Hamodia, a Hebrew-language Israeli daily. Haredi publications tend to shield their readership from objectionable material, and perceive themselves as a "
counterculture", desisting from advertising secular entertainment and events. A strict policy of modesty is characteristic of the Haredi press in recent years, and pictures of women are usually not printed. In 2009, the Israeli daily ''
Yated Ne'eman doctored an Israeli cabinet photograph replacing two female ministers with images of men, and in 2013, the Bakehilah'' magazine pixelated the faces of women appearing in a
photograph of the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The mainstream Haredi political Shas party also refrains from publishing female images. Among Haredi publishers which have not adopted this policy is
ArtScroll, which does publish pictures of women in their books. No coverage is given to serious crime, violence, sex, or drugs, and little coverage is given to non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. Inclusion of "immoral" content is avoided, and when publication of such stories is a necessity, they are often written ambiguously. Such attacks have led to Haredi editors being warned about libelous provocations. While the Haredi press is extensive and varied in Israel, only around half the Haredi population reads newspapers. Around 10% read secular newspapers, while 40% do not read any newspaper at all. According to a 2007 survey, 27% read the weekend Friday edition of
Hamodia, and 26% the ''Yated Ne'eman
. In 2006, the most-read Haredi magazine in Israel was the Mishpacha'' weekly, which sold 110,000 copies. Some Haredi businessmen utilize the internet throughout the week, but they still observe Shabbat in every aspect by not accepting or processing orders from Friday evening to Saturday evening. They utilize the internet under strict
filters and guidelines. The
Kosher cell phone was introduced to the Jewish public with the sole ability to call other phones. It was unable to utilize the internet, text other phones, and had no camera feature. In fact, a kosher phone plan was created, with decreased rates for kosher-to-kosher calls, to encourage community.
News hotlines News hotlines are an important source of news in the Haredi world. Since many Haredi Jews do not listen to the radio or have access to the internet, even if they read newspapers, they are left with little or no access to breaking news. News hotlines were formed to fill this gap, and many have expanded to additional fields over time. Currently, many news lines provide rabbinic lectures, entertainment, business advice, and similar services, in addition to their primary function of reporting the news. Many Hasidic sects maintain their own hotlines, where relevant internal news is reported and the group's perspective can be advocated for. In the Israeli Haredi community, there are dozens of prominent hotlines, in both Yiddish and Hebrew. Some Haredi hotlines have played significant public roles. ==In Israel==