Piety and Power

Landau provides a rare inside look at the mindset and world of the haredim , black-garbed ultra-Orthodox Jews who, in his verdict, constitute an aggressive fundamentalist movement convinced of its divine right to win souls and mold the Jewish people. In the U.S., reports the author, political correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Maariv , haredi leaders make common cause with Christian fundamentalist groups, taking positions on abortion, gay rights and affirmative action far removed from the liberalism espoused by most Jewish organizations. He examines the growing influence of Israel's haredi parties, which wring concessions out of Likud and Labor. Drawing on interviews in New York, London, France and Israel, he takes us into the yeshivas, into homes governed by strict sexual codes and into the courts of haredi rabbis. His insightful survey concludes that the haredi exacerbate the threat of a deep schism in worldwide Jewry over the question, ``Who is a Jew?'' (June)