This relatively new group comes, on the whole, out of Modern Orthodoxy but has developed a more extreme religious position, echoing much of the Haredi suspicion of the modern world and a harder line towards many of the minutiae of the Halacha which much of mainstream Modern Orthodoxy has not embraced. The word “Hardal” (the Hebrew word for mustard), an acronym for Haredi Dati Leumi (National Religious Haredim) is of fairly recent creation and many of this group prefer to refer to themselves as Torani (i.e. dedicated to the Torah) Jews.
The trend towards a stricter and stricter interpretation of the Halacha, which is reflected in the growing trend towards Torani or Hardal Judaism, is something that we see in recent years also in parts of the Dati Leumi world which has not crossed over the line which would put it squarely in this group. In general, reflecting a phenomenon that is by no means restricted to the Jewish world, we see many Jews who live a Halachic lifestyle, interpreting their religious obligation in more stringent terms. This can be seen in many areas of life and has become controversial in terms of some of the extreme views expressed and demands made of women in the Orthodox religious world.
