Hizuk-The Gender Track: Religious Invigoration and Women Motivators in Israel

This paper concerns a women's activity of religious invigoration (hit'hazkut or hizuk-"strengthening"), influencing Haredi, religious, and traditional circles in Israel. This activity represents another step in the activization of the religious message, a phenomenon embodied in recent decades in Israel in a multitude of organizations, initiatives, and discourse involving religious outreach. In this paper we will focus on women leaders in the development of hizuk activity in Israel. Thus, we shall draw a distinction between "becoming observant" (hazara bi-teshuva) and "religious invigoration" or "religious strengthening" (hizuk dati)-two concepts which would seem to overlap, but which actually express two different ideas and aims. Specifically, we shall examine the gender aspect of hizuk activity in Israel, its particular characteristics, responses to it, and its ramifications for gender relations in religious society in Israel.