The litvish communities of golders green and gateshead

This chapter compares the mechanisms used by members of the Litvish communities of Golders Green and Gateshead to construct a private and public “demarcation terrain” between the abstract obligations and the spatial reality in which they are applied. In Golders Green, the Litvish community organises itself while competing within a diverse population. This reality brings exposure to and rationalisation of the employment market and consumer culture, with a weakening of religious reliance. Personal responsibility allows the Litvish man a degree of flexibility when combining religious studies and employment, and relative freedom in adapting the communal lifestyle to his abilities and professional preferences. In Gateshead, the community is organised in a “top-down” manner and arranged around its bold institutions. Social norms and mechanisms of supervision create a high level of awareness of the leadership’s values and expectations. In Gateshead’s municipal politics, the awareness to the Litvish Haredi group increases, as they are highly aware of the demographic characteristic and the unique housing needs of this community. These preferences and tendencies find expression in the residential enclaves: the clustering within a community enclave, the extremism against other communities in Gateshead, and the high level of residential heterogeneity within other Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Golders Green, all award the delineated area its spatial boundaries.