Haredi Judaism (, ) is a sector of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are often referred to as ultra-Orthodox in English, a term considered pejorative by many of its adherents, who prefer the term strictly Orthodox or Haredi (plural: Haredim). Haredim regard themselves as the most authentic custodians of Jewish religious law and tradition which, in their opinion, is binding and unchangeable. Many consider all other contemporary expressions of Judaism, including Modern Orthodoxy, as "deviations from God's laws", although other movements of Judaism would disagree.
As of 2020, there were about 2.1 million Haredim globally, representing 14% of the world's Jewish population.
Terminology
The term is a Modern Hebrew adjective derived from the Biblical verb , which appears in the Book of Isaiah (; its plural appears in Isaiah ) and is translated as "[one who] trembles" at the word of God. The word connotes an awe-inspired fear to perform the will of God; it is used to distinguish them from other Orthodox Jews (similar to the names used by Christian Quakers and Shakers to describe their relationship to God).Sokol, Sam. "Introducing the New, Improved Haredim", The Tower Magazine, May 2013. accessed June 28, 2024. "The term 'Haredi' comes from the Hebrew word for trembling or, depending on context, anxiety. Like the American Shakers and Quakers, it is a direct reference to the fear of God, or of transgressing His laws, that lies at the core of the lives of adherents."
The term most commonly used by outsiders, for example most American news organizations, is ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Hillel Halkin suggests the origins of the term may date to the 1950s, a period in which Haredi survivors of the Holocaust first began arriving in America. However, Isaac Leeser (1806–1868) was described in a 1916 biography as "ultra-Orthodox".
The word Haredi is often used in the Jewish diaspora in place of the term ultra-Orthodox, which many view as inaccurate or offensive,Ayalon, Ami (1999). "Language as a barrier to political reform in the Middle East", International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Volume 137, pp. 67–80: "Haredi" has none of the misleading religious implications of "ultra-Orthodox": in the words of Shilhav (1989: 53), "They are not necessarily [objectively] more religious, but religious in a different way."; and Haredi' ... is preferable, being a term commonly used by such Jews themselves ... Moreover, it carries none of the venom often injected into the term 'ultra-Orthodox' by other Jews and, sadly, by the Western media ..."Sources describing the term as pejorative or derogatory include: Kobre, Eytan. One People, Two Worlds. A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them, reviewed by Eytan Kobre, Jewish Media Resources, February 2003. Retrieved August 25, 2009. "Indeed, the social scientist Marvin Schick calls attention to the fact that 'through the simple device of identifying [some Jews] ... as "ultra-Orthodox", ... [a] pejorative term has become the standard reference term for describing a great many Orthodox Jews... No other ethnic or religious group in this country is identified in language that conveys so negative a message. Goldschmidt, Henry. Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights, Rutgers University Press, 2006, p. 244, note 26. "I am reluctant to use the term 'ultra-Orthodox', as the prefix 'ultra' carries pejorative connotations of irrational extremism." Longman, Chia. "Engendering Identities as Political Processes: Discources of Gender Among Strictly Orthodox Jewish Women", in Rik Pinxten, Ghislain Verstraete, Chia Longmanp (eds.) Culture and Politics: Identity and Conflict in a Multicultural World, Berghahn Books, 2004, p. 55. "Webber (1994: 27) uses the label 'strictly Orthodox' when referring to Haredi, seemingly more adequate as a purely descriptive name, yet carrying less pejorative connotations than ultra-Orthodox." Shafran, Avi. "Don't Call Us 'Ultra-Orthodox', The Jewish Daily Forward, February 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014. "Considering that other Orthodox groups have self-identified with prefixes like 'modern' or 'open', why can't we Haredim just be, simply, 'Orthodox'? Our beliefs and practices, after all, are those that most resemble those of our grandparents. But, whatever alternative is adopted, 'ultra' deserves to be jettisoned from media and discourse. We Haredim aren't looking for special treatment, or to be called by some name we just happen to prefer. We're only seeking the mothballing of a pejorative." it being seen as a derogatory term suggesting extremism. English-language alternatives that have been proposed include fervently Orthodox,Lipowsky, Josh. "Paper loses 'divisive' term" . Jewish Standard. January 30, 2009. "... JTA [Jewish Telegraphic Agency] faced the same conundrum and decided to do away with the term, replacing it with 'fervently Orthodox'. ... 'Ultra-Orthodox' was seen as a derogatory term that suggested extremism." strictly Orthodox, or traditional Orthodox. Others, however, dispute the characterization of the term as pejorative. For example, Ari L. Goldman, a professor at Columbia University in United States, notes that the term simply serves a practical purpose to distinguish a specific part of the Orthodox community, and is not meant as pejorative. Others, such as Samuel Heilman, criticized terms such as ultra-Orthodox and traditional Orthodox, arguing that they misidentify Haredi Jews as more authentically Orthodox than others, as opposed to adopting customs and practises that reflect their desire to separate from the outside world.
The community has sometimes been characterized as traditional Orthodox, in contradistinction to the Modern Orthodox, the other major branch of Orthodox Judaism, and not to be confused with the movement represented by the Union for Traditional Judaism, which originated in Conservative Judaism.
Haredi Jews also use other terms to refer to themselves. Common Yiddish words include (Jews), (virtuous Jews), (son of the Torah),
In Israel, Haredi Jews are sometimes also called by the derogatory slang words (plural ), which mimics the traditional Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of the word (religious),Donna Rosenthal. The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land. Simon and Schuster, 2005. p. 183. "Dossim, a derogatory word for Haredim, is Yiddish-accented Hebrew for 'religious'." and more rarely, (blacks), a reference to the black clothes they typically wear;Nadia Abu El-Haj. Facts on the ground: Archaeological practice and territorial self-fashioning in Israeli society. University of Chicago Press, 2001. p. 262. a related informal term used in English is black hat.
Population Due to its imprecise definition, lack of data collection, and rapid change over time, estimating the global Haredi population is difficult. The true number of Haredim may be significantly underestimated due to their reluctance to participate in surveys and censuses.
In 1992, out of a total of 1,500,000 Orthodox Jews worldwide, about 550,000 were Haredi (half of them in Israel). One estimate given in 2011 stated that there were approximately 1.3 million Haredi Jews globally. Studies have shown a very high growth rate, with a large young population. Haredi population grew to 2.1 million in 2020 and is expected to double by 2040.
The vast majority of Haredi Jews are Ashkenazi. However, some 20% of the Haredi population are thought to belong to the Sephardic Haredi stream. In recent decades, Haredi society has grown due to the addition of a religious population that identifies with the Shas movement. The percentage of people leaving the Haredi population has been estimated between 6% and 18%. Not all leave the Orthodox community, as some become more behaviorally modern while still practicing some form of Orthodoxy.
Israel
Israel has the largest Haredi population. In 1948, there were about 35,000 to 45,000 Haredi Jews in Israel. By 1980, Haredim made up 4% of the Israeli population. Haredim made up 9.9% of the Israeli population in 2009, with 750,000 out of 7,552,100; by 2014, that figure had risen to 11.1%, with 910,500 Haredim out of a total Israeli population of 8,183,400. According to a December 2017 study conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute, the number of Haredi Jews in Israel exceeded 1 million in 2017, making up 12% of the population in Israel. In 2019, Haredim reached a population of almost 1,126,000; over the next year, it reached 1,175,000 (12.6% of total population). By the end of 2023, it reached almost 1,335,000, or 13.6% of total population; at the end of 2024, it passed over 1,392,000, thus representing 13.9% of the population, and by the end of 2025 it numbered over 1,452,000 or 14.3% of the total population of Israel.
The number of Haredi Jews in Israel continues to rise rapidly, with their current population growth rate being 4% per year. The number of children per woman is 7.2, and the share of Haredim among those under the age of 20 was 16.3% in 2009 (29% of Jews).Ari Paltiel, Michel Sepulchre, Irene Kornilenko, Martin Maldonado: Long‐Range Population Projections for Israel: 2009‐2059 Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
By 2030, the Haredi Jewish community is projected to make up 16% of the total population, and by 2065, a third of the Israeli population, including non-Jews. By then, one in two Israeli children would be Haredi. It is also projected that the number of Haredim in 2059 may be between 2.73 and 5.84 million, of an estimated total number of Israeli Jews between 6.09 and 9.95 million.
The largest Israeli Haredi concentrations are in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit, Beit Shemesh, Kiryat Ye'arim, Ashdod, Rekhasim, Safed, and El'ad. Two Haredi cities, Kasif and Tila, are planned.
United States The United States has the second largest Haredi population, which has a growth rate on pace to double every 20 years. In 2000, there were 360,000 Haredi Jews in the US (7.2 per cent of the approximately 5 million Jews in the U.S.); by 2006, demographers estimate the number had grown to 468,000 (30% increase), or 9.4 percent of all U.S. Jews. In 2013, it was estimated that there were 530,000 total ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States, or 10% of all American Jews. By 2011, 61% of all Jewish children in Eight-County New York City metropolitan area were Orthodox, with Haredim making up 49%.
In 2020, it was estimated that there were approximately 700,000 total ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States, or 12% of all American Jews. This number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, due to high Haredi birth rates in America.
New York state Most American Haredi Jews live in the greater New York metropolitan area.
New York City Brooklyn
The largest centers of Haredi and Hasidic life in New York are found in Brooklyn.
In 1988, it was estimated that there were between 40,000 and 57,000 Haredim in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, with many Satmar Hasidim. The Jewish population in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, estimated at 70,000 in 1983, is also mostly Haredi, and also mostly Hasidic. The Bobov Hasidim are the largest single bloc that mainly live in Borough Park. Crown Heights is the home base of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The Flatbush-Midwood, Kensington, Marine Park neighborhoods have tens of thousands of Haredi Jews. They are also the centers for the major non-Hasidic Haredi yeshivas such as Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Mir Yeshiva, as well as a string of similar smaller yeshivas. The Torah Vodaas and Chaim Berlin yeshivas allow some students to attend college and university, presently at Touro College, and previously at Brooklyn College.
Queens