ABSTRACT
The element of choice is a crucial component of traditionism as a modern identity. Traditionists, as I have already stated, are not forced into this identity. It is a choice that they make while being intimately aware of the alternative Jewish identities dominant within the Israeli context – secularity on the one hand and orthodoxy on the other. Being aware of them, they reject them consciously. Traditionists often deal with contradicting pressure sources demanding, many times in a persistent and continuous way, that they renounce their “middling identity” and choose one of the above-mentioned dominant options. As such, the uniqueness of traditionist identity cannot be “implicit” and understated or hidden in any way; rather, it becomes explicit and strongly present, requiring a rather high level of self-reflection.
