Hashkafa

Hashkafa ( ; plural hashkafot, hashkafos, or hashkafas) is the Hebrew term for worldview and guiding philosophy, used almost exclusively within Orthodox Judaism. A hashkafa is the perspective an Orthodox Jew adopts, which shapes many aspects of their life. Hashkafa thus plays a crucial role in how these interact with the world around them, and influences individual beliefs about secularity, gender roles, and modernity. In that it guides many practical decisions—where to send children to school, what synagogue to attend, and what community to live in—hashkafa works in conjunction with halakha or Jewish law.

Hashkafa ( ; plural hashkafot, hashkafos, or hashkafas) is the Hebrew term for worldview and guiding philosophy, used almost exclusively within Orthodox Judaism. A hashkafa is the perspective an Orthodox Jew adopts, which shapes many aspects of their life. Hashkafa thus plays a crucial role in how these interact with the world around them, and influences individual beliefs about secularity, gender roles, and modernity. In that it guides many practical decisions—where to send children to school, what synagogue to attend, and what community to live in—hashkafa works in conjunction with halakha or Jewish law.

Marriage and dating: shidduchim

Shidduchim, the practice of matching two people for marriage, is heavily influenced by hashkafot. Jewish blogs are rife with posts about the marital compatibility of men and women who have different hashkafot. Dating websites, like JWed.com and JDate, require members to fill in a box about their hashkafa. People assume that if a husband and wife have similar hashkafot, they will most likely have a happy marriage.

Head covering: kippah

The type of head covering that a man wears is often seen to be an expression of the hashkafa he subscribes to; see discussion below. Members of most Haredi and Hasidic groups wear black velvet or cloth yarmulkes (skullcaps; in Hebrew kippot, sing. kippah); men in these communities also wear a black, wide-brimmed hat, often a Borsalino. See and , and . Religious Zionists and Modern Orthodox tend to wear knitted, colored kippot. These are sometimes affectionately, and sometimes derogatorily, referred to as a "srugie" (i. e., "knitted" or "crocheted"). See . As mentioned, many believe that kippot are self-conscious manifestations of a person's hashkafic orientation and social affiliation. This superficial, and often misguided, habit to pigeonhole people based on head coverings has been criticized.

Non-Orthodox hashkafas

Taken at its broadest and simplest definition, hashkafa is the overarching Torah principles that guide human action. In this sense, the term is significant to nearly all Jewish denominations that share certain tenets articulated in the Torah, particularly from a humanistic and philosophical perspective. One such example is the principle of tikkun olam, taken to mean fixing the world and making it a better place, which is not a sectarian belief. Reform Jews, Conservative Jews, and Orthodox Jews all value and emphasize this principle, but each endeavor to fulfill this concept differently based upon their respective traditions. Nonetheless, the term hashkafa itself generally is used only within the Orthodox community and refers solely to their guiding philosophies.

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371686990 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.