PIETY AND POWER

An engaging look into the philosophies and lifestyles of the various sects of Orthodox Jewish fundamentalists. Landau (an editor of the Israeli daily Haaretz) examines the resurgence of haredism and its sociopolitical impact. Though he describes haredi ghettos in London, N.Y.C., and elsewhere, he focuses primarily on Israeli sects, delineating their newly emerged political power and predicting a growing role for them in Israeli's future: Haredi mentor ``Rabbi Shach's decision in March 1990 to support the [right wing] Likud was the most momentous event in Israeli politics for years.'' Both the rightist Likud and the left- leaning Labor parties woo the haredim with financial support for their institutions of learning and with draft deferments for their ubiquitous Talmudic academy students. Landau documents the extent of all this kosher political pork, tracing it back to Israeli's founding years. Though he remains objective throughout, he depicts the 92-year-old spiritual leader of Degel Hatorah as backward and bigoted and cites a Hasidic editor who warns against ``talking with disgusting heretics.'' More appealing are Landau's portraits of more tolerant leaders like Rabbi Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Sephardic Jews from North Africa and the Near East. Landau also details the schisms that divide the sects from one another, and the even wider breach between them and the National Religious Party, representing the Modern Orthodox in Israel. While Modern Orthodox are, for the most part, fervent nationalists, the haredim, the author says, see the sinfully secular state of Israel as ``a vindication of their anti- Zionism.'' Landau concludes with a fascinating study of the fierce debate in Israel and beyond on ``Who is a Jew?,'' suggesting that ``the dismissal of haredism as anachronistic may itself be an anachronism.'' A valuable, well-researched study of this misunderstood minority of a minority. (Appended with a solid bibliography and a glossary of both Yiddish and Hebrew terms.)