Modi'in Illit is a Haredi Jewish-Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Modi'in Illit
Welcome sign for Modi'in Illit, with the small inscription, "Haredi City of the Future". The homes of Kiryat Sefer and its water towers are in the background.
Residential buildings
Image: Brachfeld 02
Haredi Judaism consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict interpretation of religious sources and their accepted halakha and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating or modern values and practices. Its members are usually referred to as ultra-Orthodox in English; however, the term "ultra-Orthodox" is considered pejorative by many of its adherents, who prefer terms like strictly Orthodox or Haredi. Haredi Jews regard themselves as the most religiously authentic group of Jews, although other movements of Judaism disagree.
Haredi Jewish men during a Torah reading
Young Haredi Jews in Jerusalem, 2005
Hasidic boys in Łódź, 1910
Haredi Jews from Galicia at the Karmelitermarkt [de] in Vienna's second district, Leopoldstadt, 1915