Yaacob Dweck
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691183572
- eISBN:
- 9780691189949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691183572.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter focuses on Gershom Scholem and Joel Teitelbaum as readers of Jacob Sasportas. Both Scholem and Teitelbaum considered the middle of the twentieth century as a period of crisis, and each, ...
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This chapter focuses on Gershom Scholem and Joel Teitelbaum as readers of Jacob Sasportas. Both Scholem and Teitelbaum considered the middle of the twentieth century as a period of crisis, and each, in his own way, turned to Sasportas's The Fading Flower of the Zevi as part of a larger response to that crisis. If Scholem and his student Isaiah Tishby had engaged in something akin to lower criticism in their editing and analysis of Sasportas, Teitelbaum employed analysis similar to higher criticism in his use of Sasportas. If Scholem saw Sabbatianism as generative of a crisis and fundamental rupture in Jewish history and turned to Sasportas as a witness to this crisis, Teitelbaum experienced the middle decades of the twentieth century as a crisis in and of itself. To him, Sasportas was not an intellectual instrument with which to reconstruct the past; rather, he functioned as a moral resource that served as a guide for the proper rabbinic response to religious messianism in the present. Ultimately, Scholem's and Teitelbaum's readings of The Fading Flower of the Zevi placed Sasportas squarely at the heart of a central debate in modern Jewish life: Zionism.Less
This chapter focuses on Gershom Scholem and Joel Teitelbaum as readers of Jacob Sasportas. Both Scholem and Teitelbaum considered the middle of the twentieth century as a period of crisis, and each, in his own way, turned to Sasportas's The Fading Flower of the Zevi as part of a larger response to that crisis. If Scholem and his student Isaiah Tishby had engaged in something akin to lower criticism in their editing and analysis of Sasportas, Teitelbaum employed analysis similar to higher criticism in his use of Sasportas. If Scholem saw Sabbatianism as generative of a crisis and fundamental rupture in Jewish history and turned to Sasportas as a witness to this crisis, Teitelbaum experienced the middle decades of the twentieth century as a crisis in and of itself. To him, Sasportas was not an intellectual instrument with which to reconstruct the past; rather, he functioned as a moral resource that served as a guide for the proper rabbinic response to religious messianism in the present. Ultimately, Scholem's and Teitelbaum's readings of The Fading Flower of the Zevi placed Sasportas squarely at the heart of a central debate in modern Jewish life: Zionism.
Isaiah Tishby
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774099
- eISBN:
- 9781800342668
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774099.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter reviews Rabbi Moses Hayim Luzzatto's poetic productions, which include both poems and prayers that are collected in Sefer hashirim. It talks about Isaiah Tishby, who found a rich store ...
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This chapter reviews Rabbi Moses Hayim Luzzatto's poetic productions, which include both poems and prayers that are collected in Sefer hashirim. It talks about Isaiah Tishby, who found a rich store of poems, piyutim, prayers, and other liturgical writings by Luzatto in MS Guenzburg 745. It also explores the poems and prayers in MS Guenzburg 745, which are imbued with the unmistakable spirit of kabbalah and messianism and complete with elements that strongly reflect Luzatto's personality and the characteristics of his group. The chapter discusses how MS Guenzburg 745 provided fresh light on the character of Luzzatto as poet and composer of piyutim. It points out ways in which MS Guenzburg 745 provided great assistance to the solution of complicated problems relating to the course of Luzzatto's life and his activity as leader of a kabbalistic-messianic group in Padua.Less
This chapter reviews Rabbi Moses Hayim Luzzatto's poetic productions, which include both poems and prayers that are collected in Sefer hashirim. It talks about Isaiah Tishby, who found a rich store of poems, piyutim, prayers, and other liturgical writings by Luzatto in MS Guenzburg 745. It also explores the poems and prayers in MS Guenzburg 745, which are imbued with the unmistakable spirit of kabbalah and messianism and complete with elements that strongly reflect Luzatto's personality and the characteristics of his group. The chapter discusses how MS Guenzburg 745 provided fresh light on the character of Luzzatto as poet and composer of piyutim. It points out ways in which MS Guenzburg 745 provided great assistance to the solution of complicated problems relating to the course of Luzzatto's life and his activity as leader of a kabbalistic-messianic group in Padua.
