What do you call a Jewish monk?

Answer 1

Answer 1

There are not really any true monks in Judaism. Judaism prohibits celibacy, and does not encourage poverty as a lifestyle. However, Judaism does have its religious scholars. Rabbis are Jewish religious leaders and teachers. They get married like everyone else.

Answer 2

There is no Jewish tradition equivalent of being a monk. Anything similar to such a lifestyle would have been and is a fringe and it is not halachicly accepted (accepted by Jewish law). The main issue with monks in Judaism is that the monk is an ascetic, which means that he is detached from the world in contemplation. Judaism teaches that a person must be involved in the world and improve it through interaction (tikkun olam), making asceticism a violation of core Judaic principles.

There is a concept of 'nazir' but most people misunderstand what this is. It is possible for someone (male or female) to take a vow to be a nazir, which means that they must abstain from cutting their hair, no wine of grapevine products, and no contact with the impurity that derives from dead bodies.

Most commonly, the vow taken would be for a period of 30 days and once this period ended, the person who took the vow had to cut off their hair and make a 'sin' offering at the Temple to atone for this act of abstinence. This vow could only be done in Israel due to the requirement of the sacrifice to complete the vow and this is also why this vow is not made today. Very rarely was this vow made for a lifetime and even then, it did not preclude the person making the vow from marrying and having children and otherwise fully participating in the world. Please see the related link 'What is a nazir'.

Answer 3

While the above paragraphs represent the overwhelmingly dominant view across the various sects of Judaism as to the position on monks and ascetics, here is a minority view of the same question for your comparison and in the interests of fair academic inclusivity:

It is only recently that Jewish monastic lifestyles have been revived and many are unaware that there ever was a Jewish monastic tradition.

Contrary to popular belief, there have been ancient Jewish communities whose adherents took vows similar to Christian or Buddhist monks, e.g. the Therapeutae of Alexandria and the Essenes. Again, these were minority groups who were estranged from the general Pharisaic Line, but they were Jewish Groups.

(Furthermore, the original medieval kabbalists of Provence and Gerona lived extremely devoutly - very like monks, although they were married; so too did the great Hasidic teachers, like the Baal Shem Tov or Rabbi Nachman. There is also a doctrine of unknown righteous Jews who exist in every generation. They too would resemble monks in many respects.)

Some might make a connection between the practice of Jewish monasticism and the biblical institution of the Nazirite vows. There are those who see the concept of Nazirite dedication as an inspirational area for potential development in Jewish contemplative living, but the taking of Nazirite Vows per seis not currently practiced in Judaism.

The multi-denominational "Beit El Community of Jewish Contemplatives" was founded in 2008 specifically to renew and promote the solitary and communal contemplative lifestyles of the Jewish Monastic and Eremitic tradition. Its current members are Jews in the mainstream denominations of the Conservative, Reconstructionist, Progressive, and Renewal traditions.

You can read about the origins of this Jewish Contemplative community on the webpage "Jewish Contemplatives" listed below in the "Related Links section".

For a detailed introduction to the history and development of Jewish Monasticism in relation to Biblical and Traditional models, readers might also wish to read the "Jewish Monasticism" article published in Zeek Magazine in 2010. (see "Related Links section" )

Answer 2

The only Jews who were comparable to monks were the Essenes. Like other non-traditional groups (Hellenizers, Sadducees), they died out long ago, or abandoned Judaism completely.

The Essenes were a small sect in Second-Temple Judea who eventually disappeared from the Jewish community. They styled themselves "observant; pious ones." The normative, majority Jewish community viewed them as breakaways from the common stream of Jewish tradition, because of their non-traditional beliefs and practices.

Their beliefs included an excessive amount of dabbling with the names of angels, messianic fervor, gnosticism and eschatological speculation; and their practices were more like Christian monasticism than the generally accepted Jewish way of living.

The practices of the Essenes included vegetarianism, dwelling in isolated groups, communal ownership, monastic asceticism and avoidance of money, commerce and private property; and (among some of them) celibacy. Also, they had some forms of non-traditional observances (such as round phylacteries [tefillin]). Some researchers identify the Essenes as a form of early Christianity, taking also into account the fact that early Christianity was far from uniform and was, for a time, thought of by some as a kind of modified Judaism.

Any Jews today who would imitate the Essenes in any way, including celibacy (etc.), would be seen as aberrant by the normative Jewish community.