Hannan Hever
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823282005
- eISBN:
- 9780823284795
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823282005.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter looks at one of the most famous and significant debates in Jewish studies: between Gershom Scholem and Martin Buber over the character of Hasidism. On the face of it, the debate was a ...
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This chapter looks at one of the most famous and significant debates in Jewish studies: between Gershom Scholem and Martin Buber over the character of Hasidism. On the face of it, the debate was a literary one, centering on the significance of the Hasidic tale and its role in the interpretation of the Hasidic movement. It was a debate between two conceptions of Hasidism, one as a system of theological concepts, and the other as a way of life. Yet this debate was not merely historicist, but topical and political as well. For in this debate, Buber and Scholem negotiated the question of Jewish sovereignty and endeavored to determine the desired relationship between Jews and the state.Less
This chapter looks at one of the most famous and significant debates in Jewish studies: between Gershom Scholem and Martin Buber over the character of Hasidism. On the face of it, the debate was a literary one, centering on the significance of the Hasidic tale and its role in the interpretation of the Hasidic movement. It was a debate between two conceptions of Hasidism, one as a system of theological concepts, and the other as a way of life. Yet this debate was not merely historicist, but topical and political as well. For in this debate, Buber and Scholem negotiated the question of Jewish sovereignty and endeavored to determine the desired relationship between Jews and the state.
Eliyahu Stern
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300179309
- eISBN:
- 9780300183221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300179309.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter discusses Elijah ben Solomon's opposition to the eighteenth century eastern European Hasidic movement. Elijah became an ardent opponent of the movement. He even accused the leaders of ...
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This chapter discusses Elijah ben Solomon's opposition to the eighteenth century eastern European Hasidic movement. Elijah became an ardent opponent of the movement. He even accused the leaders of Hasidic movement of Sabbatian tendencies. It explains that the Hasidic movement was established by the charismatic spiritual leader Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem. This movement minimized the legalistic, elite intellectual and ascetic elements in the Jewish tradition and promoted God's imminence, prayer, spiritual ecstasy, and popular social practices. Elijah opposed the Hasidic principle that humanity could access the Divine only through the medium of the Torah, which he viewed as a dangerous overestimation of the individual's ability to communicate with God.Less
This chapter discusses Elijah ben Solomon's opposition to the eighteenth century eastern European Hasidic movement. Elijah became an ardent opponent of the movement. He even accused the leaders of Hasidic movement of Sabbatian tendencies. It explains that the Hasidic movement was established by the charismatic spiritual leader Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem. This movement minimized the legalistic, elite intellectual and ascetic elements in the Jewish tradition and promoted God's imminence, prayer, spiritual ecstasy, and popular social practices. Elijah opposed the Hasidic principle that humanity could access the Divine only through the medium of the Torah, which he viewed as a dangerous overestimation of the individual's ability to communicate with God.
Nathaniel Deutsch
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520231917
- eISBN:
- 9780520927971
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520231917.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter addresses the traces made in writing by the Maiden of Ludmir. Throughout the process of writing, the Maiden has remained an elusive subject. It is tempting to see her as a pioneer in the ...
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This chapter addresses the traces made in writing by the Maiden of Ludmir. Throughout the process of writing, the Maiden has remained an elusive subject. It is tempting to see her as a pioneer in the struggle for Jewish women's spiritual empowerment. One of the most striking and, for the biographer, frustrating aspects of the Maiden's life is that she does not appear to have written anything herself. She is popularly known as the only “woman rebbe” in history. The Maiden's story can be read as a powerful metaphor for two contrasting and competing modes of spiritual leadership within the Hasidic movement. There is little knowledge on how the Maiden felt about her new life in Palestine.Less
This chapter addresses the traces made in writing by the Maiden of Ludmir. Throughout the process of writing, the Maiden has remained an elusive subject. It is tempting to see her as a pioneer in the struggle for Jewish women's spiritual empowerment. One of the most striking and, for the biographer, frustrating aspects of the Maiden's life is that she does not appear to have written anything herself. She is popularly known as the only “woman rebbe” in history. The Maiden's story can be read as a powerful metaphor for two contrasting and competing modes of spiritual leadership within the Hasidic movement. There is little knowledge on how the Maiden felt about her new life in Palestine.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226282077
- eISBN:
- 9780226282060
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226282060.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter argues that shamanic trance often seems in contexts of a markedly nomian nature. The Hasidic movement can be shown as a prime example of the intimate link between trance experience and ...
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This chapter argues that shamanic trance often seems in contexts of a markedly nomian nature. The Hasidic movement can be shown as a prime example of the intimate link between trance experience and nomian practice. The placement of trance within a graduated path explains the prevalence of the rabbinic ladder of ethical and nomian progression in Kabbalistic texts on trance. The nomian practice of immersion should be demonstrated as a crucial aspect of the daily mystical regimen of the central Hasidic figures, and that of other kabbalists, such as the Sephardic masters. It is immersion that differentiates the identity of the Hasidic path from antinomian mystical deviations such as Sabbateanism. The cultural determination of trance and other shamanic moments in mystical life reinforces the “contextual” school in the understanding of mystical experience, without negating the value of comparative study.Less
This chapter argues that shamanic trance often seems in contexts of a markedly nomian nature. The Hasidic movement can be shown as a prime example of the intimate link between trance experience and nomian practice. The placement of trance within a graduated path explains the prevalence of the rabbinic ladder of ethical and nomian progression in Kabbalistic texts on trance. The nomian practice of immersion should be demonstrated as a crucial aspect of the daily mystical regimen of the central Hasidic figures, and that of other kabbalists, such as the Sephardic masters. It is immersion that differentiates the identity of the Hasidic path from antinomian mystical deviations such as Sabbateanism. The cultural determination of trance and other shamanic moments in mystical life reinforces the “contextual” school in the understanding of mystical experience, without negating the value of comparative study.
Louis Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197100240
- eISBN:
- 9781800340312
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9780197100240.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
From its very beginnings in the eighteenth century, the Hasidic movement was suffused with a joyous enthusiasm and optimism derived from the notion of God being in all things. This led to an ...
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From its very beginnings in the eighteenth century, the Hasidic movement was suffused with a joyous enthusiasm and optimism derived from the notion of God being in all things. This led to an insistence on joy as an essential element in divine worship, and in consequence a distinctive attitude to prayer. This classic work, presented here with a new introduction, is a study of the attitudes of the hasidic rebbes to prayer. The book enables the reader to gain a familiarity with Hasidic thought on the subject of divine worship at first hand. The book includes the first translations of much of the source material.Less
From its very beginnings in the eighteenth century, the Hasidic movement was suffused with a joyous enthusiasm and optimism derived from the notion of God being in all things. This led to an insistence on joy as an essential element in divine worship, and in consequence a distinctive attitude to prayer. This classic work, presented here with a new introduction, is a study of the attitudes of the hasidic rebbes to prayer. The book enables the reader to gain a familiarity with Hasidic thought on the subject of divine worship at first hand. The book includes the first translations of much of the source material.
Samuel Dresner
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823221158
- eISBN:
- 9780823236749
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823221158.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Born in Warsaw, Abraham Heschel earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Berlin, and taught in Berlin and Frankfurt. After being deported by the Nazis to Poland in 1938, ...
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Born in Warsaw, Abraham Heschel earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Berlin, and taught in Berlin and Frankfurt. After being deported by the Nazis to Poland in 1938, he taught in Warsaw and London. In 1940 he came to the United States, invited by Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1945 until his death, he was professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Heschel's life and thought have been widely acclaimed. Thomas Merton, for example, described him as “the greatest religious writer in America”. New editions of his writings are constantly being published. His best-known works include The Earth Is the Lord's (1950), Man's Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism (1954), God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (1956), and The Prophets (1962). This book gives a personal insight into his life and views into the Hasidic movement and the important concept of halakha.Less
Born in Warsaw, Abraham Heschel earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Berlin, and taught in Berlin and Frankfurt. After being deported by the Nazis to Poland in 1938, he taught in Warsaw and London. In 1940 he came to the United States, invited by Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1945 until his death, he was professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Heschel's life and thought have been widely acclaimed. Thomas Merton, for example, described him as “the greatest religious writer in America”. New editions of his writings are constantly being published. His best-known works include The Earth Is the Lord's (1950), Man's Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism (1954), God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (1956), and The Prophets (1962). This book gives a personal insight into his life and views into the Hasidic movement and the important concept of halakha.
Louis Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197100240
- eISBN:
- 9781800340312
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9780197100240.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter discusses the meaning of Hasidism and the history of the movement. The Hasidic movement was born in the Jewish communities of Volhynia and Podolia during the eighteenth century. The ...
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This chapter discusses the meaning of Hasidism and the history of the movement. The Hasidic movement was born in the Jewish communities of Volhynia and Podolia during the eighteenth century. The chapter shows that despite the fiercest opposition on the part of the Jewish establishment, Hasidism spread quickly. Fifty years after the death of its founder, R. Israel b. Eliezer (d. 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (‘Master of the Good Name [of God] ’), the movement had succeeded in winning over half the Jewish population of Russia and Poland — the great centres of Jewish life in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. Indicative of its hold over the masses is the fact that the upholders of the status quo were very soon referred to as Mitnaggedim (‘opponents’), implying that they, and not the Hasidim (singular, Hasid), were obliged to be on the defensive.Less
This chapter discusses the meaning of Hasidism and the history of the movement. The Hasidic movement was born in the Jewish communities of Volhynia and Podolia during the eighteenth century. The chapter shows that despite the fiercest opposition on the part of the Jewish establishment, Hasidism spread quickly. Fifty years after the death of its founder, R. Israel b. Eliezer (d. 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (‘Master of the Good Name [of God] ’), the movement had succeeded in winning over half the Jewish population of Russia and Poland — the great centres of Jewish life in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. Indicative of its hold over the masses is the fact that the upholders of the status quo were very soon referred to as Mitnaggedim (‘opponents’), implying that they, and not the Hasidim (singular, Hasid), were obliged to be on the defensive.
Louis Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197100240
- eISBN:
- 9781800340312
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9780197100240.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines some rabbinic responsa relating to Hasidic prayer. Alongside R. Ezekiel Landau, multiple prominent rabbis who were either opposed or neutral to the growing Hasidic movement in ...
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This chapter examines some rabbinic responsa relating to Hasidic prayer. Alongside R. Ezekiel Landau, multiple prominent rabbis who were either opposed or neutral to the growing Hasidic movement in the eighteenth century issued several responsa regarding Hasidism. The chapter thus takes up responsa regarding a wide variety of subjects relating to Hasidic prayer, including the appropriate garments for prayer, the use of individuals for officiating, the issue of taking meals before prayer, and even which prayer book to use. In doing so, this chapter reveals a long series of dialogue and response from multiple rabbi. These shed light on many different views regarding Hasidic practice at the time.Less
This chapter examines some rabbinic responsa relating to Hasidic prayer. Alongside R. Ezekiel Landau, multiple prominent rabbis who were either opposed or neutral to the growing Hasidic movement in the eighteenth century issued several responsa regarding Hasidism. The chapter thus takes up responsa regarding a wide variety of subjects relating to Hasidic prayer, including the appropriate garments for prayer, the use of individuals for officiating, the issue of taking meals before prayer, and even which prayer book to use. In doing so, this chapter reveals a long series of dialogue and response from multiple rabbi. These shed light on many different views regarding Hasidic practice at the time.
Moshe Rosman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906764449
- eISBN:
- 9781800340800
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906764449.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter analyzes the image of the Besht as a man who fit in with the institutions, doctrines, and practices of his time. It points out how the Besht was considered a religious or social activist ...
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This chapter analyzes the image of the Besht as a man who fit in with the institutions, doctrines, and practices of his time. It points out how the Besht was considered a religious or social activist and a near-ignoramus or profound thinker. Nearly all the standard accounts made the Besht into a religious revolutionary who established something new and virtually unprecedented. His accounts were perceived as doctrinal and institutional constellations that quickly coalesced into the new Hasidic movement. The chapter highlights the image of the Besht that emerged around the Lubavitch, or Habad, Hasidic court at the time of its transition from the generation of its first zaddik, Shneur Zalman of Ladi, to its second, his son, Dov Ber of Lubavitch.Less
This chapter analyzes the image of the Besht as a man who fit in with the institutions, doctrines, and practices of his time. It points out how the Besht was considered a religious or social activist and a near-ignoramus or profound thinker. Nearly all the standard accounts made the Besht into a religious revolutionary who established something new and virtually unprecedented. His accounts were perceived as doctrinal and institutional constellations that quickly coalesced into the new Hasidic movement. The chapter highlights the image of the Besht that emerged around the Lubavitch, or Habad, Hasidic court at the time of its transition from the generation of its first zaddik, Shneur Zalman of Ladi, to its second, his son, Dov Ber of Lubavitch.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762007
- eISBN:
- 9780804775021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762007.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses the Hebrew–Yiddish diglossia, which underwent drastic changes that gradually but thoroughly changed its character, starting in the second half of the eighteenth century. Two ...
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This chapter discusses the Hebrew–Yiddish diglossia, which underwent drastic changes that gradually but thoroughly changed its character, starting in the second half of the eighteenth century. Two developments triggered the change: the gradual replacement of Yiddish by non-Jewish languages (German, French, Dutch, Italian) in western Europe (Germany, Alsace-Lorrain, North Italy, Holland, Switzerland) and the advent of the Hasidic movement in eastern Europe. Whereas the former gradually nullified the status of Yiddish as the spoken vernacular of western Ashkenazic Jewry, as well as that of its written language serving the religious-ritualistic needs of women and popular homiletic and entertainment literature, the latter toppled the equilibrium of the diglossia by assigning to Yiddish a role it had hardly played before—that of a “holy” Jewish language in its own right, in which sacred literature—hagiographic, allegorical, and narrative was written.Less
This chapter discusses the Hebrew–Yiddish diglossia, which underwent drastic changes that gradually but thoroughly changed its character, starting in the second half of the eighteenth century. Two developments triggered the change: the gradual replacement of Yiddish by non-Jewish languages (German, French, Dutch, Italian) in western Europe (Germany, Alsace-Lorrain, North Italy, Holland, Switzerland) and the advent of the Hasidic movement in eastern Europe. Whereas the former gradually nullified the status of Yiddish as the spoken vernacular of western Ashkenazic Jewry, as well as that of its written language serving the religious-ritualistic needs of women and popular homiletic and entertainment literature, the latter toppled the equilibrium of the diglossia by assigning to Yiddish a role it had hardly played before—that of a “holy” Jewish language in its own right, in which sacred literature—hagiographic, allegorical, and narrative was written.
Ada Rapoport-Albert
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113171
- eISBN:
- 9781800340589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113171.003.0036
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter reflects on Raphael Mahler's Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment (1985). This is a welcome addition to the slowly growing body of classic studies of Hasidism in English translation. ...
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This chapter reflects on Raphael Mahler's Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment (1985). This is a welcome addition to the slowly growing body of classic studies of Hasidism in English translation. The first part of the book, concerning Galicia, was first published in Yiddish in 1942. The second part, which deals with Congress Poland, appeared together with the first in an expanded Hebrew version in 1961. An avowed subscriber to ‘the method of historical materialism’, Mahler presents the clash between Hasidism and Haskalah as ‘the antithesis that reflected the conflicting interests and philosophies of two classes of the Jewish people’. The non-Hasidic Orthodoxy of Galicia is classified in this scheme as representing the same class interests as those associated with the Maskilim, an affinity which, according to Mahler, accounts for the Enlighteners' initial hope of aligning themselves with the Orthodox opponents of Hasidism in the campaign to eradicate the socially disruptive and religiously dissenting Hasidic movement.Less
This chapter reflects on Raphael Mahler's Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment (1985). This is a welcome addition to the slowly growing body of classic studies of Hasidism in English translation. The first part of the book, concerning Galicia, was first published in Yiddish in 1942. The second part, which deals with Congress Poland, appeared together with the first in an expanded Hebrew version in 1961. An avowed subscriber to ‘the method of historical materialism’, Mahler presents the clash between Hasidism and Haskalah as ‘the antithesis that reflected the conflicting interests and philosophies of two classes of the Jewish people’. The non-Hasidic Orthodoxy of Galicia is classified in this scheme as representing the same class interests as those associated with the Maskilim, an affinity which, according to Mahler, accounts for the Enlighteners' initial hope of aligning themselves with the Orthodox opponents of Hasidism in the campaign to eradicate the socially disruptive and religiously dissenting Hasidic movement.