with the degree of adherence to the old way of life. Since adherence to tradition as expressed in outer appearance (traditional garments, beard, side-locks), speech (Yiddish), and the education of children ( heder ) is considered the most legitimate, Neturei Karta who follow the traditions of the Old Ashkenazi yishuv in these respects are not merely the best representative of the isolationist approach, but also the embodiment of extreme and uncompromising loyalty to the traditions of "Israel of old." 6
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Haredi self-identification therefore is determined not only by its special historiosophical and historiographical points of view but also by the awareness of the degree to which these have been deviated from on the political, religious, and social levels. Thus, haredi society is characterized by continuous feelings of self-delegitimation, guilt, and weakness a posteriori in the face of Zionist reality. These feelings determine the strength of NK as a radical religious group. To a large extent they also determine its dialectical relation with all of haredi ultra-Orthodoxy, as well as, in a sense, with religious Jewish society in general.
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But radical though they may be, these paradoxical and complicated relations place NK and similar groups in the camp of conservative fundamentalism. This is because Jewish traditional society is their context of reference and they consider themselves living in conditions of exile, which limits their use of power to traditional "exilic" means of behavior. Religious groups such as NK express their radical viewpoints in activities that they call zealotism, viewing this as a legitimate religious phenomenon in the context of Judaism. The classical example of such religious zeal is that of Pinhas, son of Elazar, son of Aaron the Priest, who killed both Zimri, son of Salu, "a chief in the Simeonite family," and Cozbi the Midianite, daughter of Zur, before the entire congregation of the children of Israel. 7 The Talmudic commentary on this event provides the following sociological analysis of Pinhas' act. 8 Although God praises Pinhas in the Bible, the Talmud justifies his deed only a posteriori . The ambivalent attitude toward such direct, violent acts may be sensed in the discussion between the Talmud sages. The Talmud says that if Zimri had killed Pinhas, he would not have been punished, "for he [Pinhas] is a
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