Roles of Masculinity in The Ultraorthodox Jewish Community

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The articles I am writing about are “Circumcision, the First Haircut and the Torah: Ritual and Male Identity Among the Ultraorthodox of Contemporary Israel” by Yoram Bilu and “Our Bülent is not a Commando: Military Service and Manhood in Turkey” by Emma Sinclair-Webb. These articles speak about how these two different groups, the Turkish and the Ultraorthodox, come to be men in their communities. Although males in both groups are aiming for the same outcome, the views on what masculinity is and the way they get there is very different.
The ultraorthodox are a group of about 600,000 people who make up one of the most religiously observant sectors of Judaism in contemporary Israel (Bilu, 2000). This group views education as one of the most important factors of their culture and view orthodox society, as Bilu (2000) puts it, a “society of learners” (Pg. 34). This culture values men who are educated and loyal to their religion. The boys begin a series of “rites of passage” starting from the young age of three years old that prepare them for their lives as educated and dedicated men in the eyes of their family, community, and religion.
The road to becoming a man in the ultraorthodox Jewish community begins when the boy is three years old. These “rituals” are an important process of instilling male identity values and sensibility (Bilu, 2000). According to Bilu (2000), The three steps include: circumcision, the first haircut and the school initiation.The first step is circumcision, the surgical removal of the foreskin from the child’s penis, which happens at around the eighth day after birth. It is seen in the eyes of those who perform it as a “purification ritual that preconditions the child for learning ” (Pg. 43). The second step...

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...rate women from their activities, value male bonding and look up to father figures, and must complete these rituals in order to be viewed as a man. It is evident that despite the fact that both groups of males are aiming for the same outcome, it is clear that the views on what masculinity is and the way they get there is very different in both cultures.

Works Cited

Bilu, Y. (2000). Circumcision, the first haircut and the torah: Ritual and male identity among the ultraorthodox of contemporary israel. In M. Ghoussoub & E. Sinclair-Webb (Eds.), Imagined masculinities: Male identity and culture in the modern middle east. London : Saqi.
Sinclair-Webb, Emma. (2000). Our bulent is now a commando: Military service and manhood in turkey. In M. Ghoussoub & E. Sinclair-Webb (Eds.), Imagined masculinities: Male identity and culture in the modern middle east. London : Saqi.

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