The idea of a communita is a concept that I found interesting in the past. This concept of many different groups of people with varying faiths coming together in through some shared holy tradition seemed to be nonexistent because of the intense tension between groups of differing faiths that have only intensified overtime due to historical events and politics, which have influenced these groups. However, in Alex Weingrod’s The Saint of Beersheba there was a development of what a communita was from the work by Meri. Weingrod believes that tension was the force that actually facilitated a communita, which he argued through the tension between nominative and traditionalist practice regarding the communita of the Hillula.
For example, we discussed in class how there is a tension regarding the way one should behave at Hillula. Specifically, one individual with a more nominative or orthodox approach when participating at the Hillula attempts to break up a group of people who, through their traditionalist approach, are dancing at the Hillula. This tension forced an interaction between these two types of people at the ceremony, which would not have happened necessarily without tension between nominative and traditionalist views, which in effect encourages an interaction.
Tension between groups of people is a characteristic that we are experience and understand. The idea that this integrated element of tension between groups is what fuels the existence of communitas is intriguing. The concept of two groups living harmoniously with differing backgrounds that have a foundation of tension like the Tensuian Jews and Moroccan Jews within Israel is farfetched in my opinion. This makes Weingrod’s perspective on a communita more believable because he is incorporating this element of human nature and heightening its importance as the facilitating factor of a communita. This transforms and improves my previous definition of a communita that I gained from the Meri readings that do not mention tension as a major factor of communita, which makes this former definition weaker in comparison to Weingard’s concept of a communita.
