Terror, corpse symbolism, and taboo violation: the ‘Haredi Disaster Victim Identification Team in Israel’ (Zaka)

Abstract

Anthropologists dealing with death have pointed to a process of privatization, bureaucratization, and secularization of death in the age of 'high modernity'. In this article I argue that the exploration of death within the framework of modern terrorism, a form of death that is becoming increasingly common, reveals new expressions and interpretations of death that are public and are represented by a complex religious repertoire of images and practices. Based on a field study that combines in-depth interviews, observations, films, and textual analyses, this article examines how volunteers from the 'Zaka' organization (the Jewish ultra-Orthodox team for identification of victims of disaster in Israel) explain their deathwork during terror attacks. Generally we would expect that this community's religious norms, which prevent them from involvement with the larger society, would also prevent members from participation in cases of death in the public sphere. Nevertheless, Zaka's tasks involve collecting, matching, and recomposing pieces of human flesh and blood in the public arena. Through these new practices, Zaka volunteers shape new narratives of public death, which are based on two central premises: a discourse of 'corpse symbolism' and a narrative of taboo desecration. This language reinforces and revives Haredis' own religious expressions during terror, allowing them to monopolize the death experience and the handling of dead bodies, introduce sacred meanings of corpses and death into the public sphere, and create their new position as specialists and deathworkers. Testimonies of terror: prologueOn 4 October 2003, 29-year-old Hanadi Taysir Jaradat, a Palestinian attorney and new member of the Islamic Jihad, entered 'Maxim' , a well-known restaurant in Haifa, and blew herself up. Nineteen people were killed that day, and over fifty were wounded. In a letter she left to her family, she wrote:

Fundamentalism's encounters with citizenship: theHaredimin Israel

“…In interviews, volunteers explain how imperative this task is by invoking religious symbols and justifications, and highlight the importance of performing it in the public sphere (Stadler 2006). One central element related to participation in ZAKA is the emphasis on religious and nationalistic ideals of sacrifice and thus, in order to fulfill Haredi virtues, male members must join the organization, act voluntarily in public, be ready to work at any time, and frequently renounce their primary religious obligation to the yeshiva.…”

“…This aid is seen positively because it contrasts sharply with the absence of community members in the IDF during wars. Thus numerous articles in the popular press appearing after attacks portray ZAKA as carrying out sacred work and as dedicated to the Jewish religious aspects of respect for the dead (Stadler 2006).…”

“…However, they invent new interpretations of death and use them to help victims as well as to justify their civic contribution. During interviews volunteers explain that recomposing the body after an explosion becomes the most generous act of devotion (Stadler 2006). For example, one man described saving one soul as the most rewarding otherworldly act he could undertake:…”

“…It is in this light that ZAKA, the Haredi male organization that identifies victims of terrorist attacks and assembles dismembered body parts, should be seen. An organization of more than 900 volunteers recruited almost exclusively of Haredim, it was established in 1995 following a spate of violent attacks throughout the country (Stadler 2006). ZAKA began to specialize in identifying and collecting body parts following terrorist attacks and then in bringing the dead to a proper Jewish burial.…”

Who knows who we are? Questioning DNA analysis in disaster victim identification

“…As he began to talk about the statistical accuracy rate of bone-DNA I say there is a 99.99% accuracy to our DNA analysis and we have a very high success rate! 4 2 The list of relevant literature is far too extensive to list here; examples include (Beyerlein and Sikkink 2008;Fothergill 2003;Oliver-Smith 1996;Petterson et al 2006;Stadler 2006).…”