The Varieties of Abandonment of Religious Symbols: Changes in Ethnic Synagogue / גוונים של נטישת סמלים דתיים: שינויים בבית כנסת עדתי

Taking the Weberian use of the term "secularization" as a point of departure, the author questions a recent identification of the term with the abandonment of religious beliefs per se. He shows that an abandoning of religious beliefs, which can be effected either through the eradication or the effacement (terms he posits in his typology of religious changes) of religious symbols, is not necessarily an index of secularization. The two concepts in turn are demonstrated to be distinct phenomena growing out of very different sociological conditions and circumstances. Three cases of symbolic change which occurred in a Djerban synagogue in Israel are discussed and the analysis is extended through a comparison with an African ritual. The three Djerban examples in the Israeli environment and the African ritual were found to be instances of effacement. In all four cases the very act of abandonment of the religious symbols, which was due to the fact that the particular symbols in question no longer conforms with the experiential situation of the actors, led to a reaffirmation of the symbols.