Media Practices of Russian Speaking Orthodox Jews: Women’s Groups and Rabbis’ Blogs on Facebook and Instagram

Abstract

The article focuses on the media practices of the Russian-speaking Orthodox Jews seeking patterns of observance relevant to secular modernity. The author applied the conceptual framework of “communicative figurations" for describing the process of everyday Torah observances in post-Soviet countries, Israel, the USA, and Western Europe. The empirical research of media repertoires revealed that the members in the post-Soviet Orthodox communities use Facebook and Instagram platforms to maintain closed women groups and rabbis’ blogs focused on observance. Women’s groups are framing everyday observance in terms of modesty, family purity, kosher home, etc. Personal rabbis’ blogs introduce the practices of “digital Judaism" that include Torah lessons, the daily page of the Talmud, questions and answers exchange, etc. The content-based textual analyses uncovers thematic intersections, circulation of stories, and reciprocal hyperlinks between both types of groups. Media practices of women’s groups and rabbis’ blogs provide a linkage of the local Russian-speaking Jewish communities with the transnational Orthodox constellation.