Hasidism between ecstasy and magic moshe idel epub

First, the book is both comprehensive and detailed. Reedsy is a community of top publishing professionals. This encyclopedia includes biographies of hasidic leaders of the past two hundred years. His close study of ecstasy and magic will be essential for all those who are in any way interested in this area. It traces the movement from its eighteenthcentury beginnings in eastern europe and explores its development and evolution to the present day. When yaffa eliach was only four years old, she survived the nazi massacres of jews in her lithuanian hometown. Today, its distinguishing featuresisolationism, religious fanaticism, and aggressive rejection of all things modern, including not only nonorthodox judaism but the very idea of secularityare inexplicable, if not abhorrent, to much of world jewry. It was called into existence by the charismatic figure israel ben eliezer ca. Hermeneutics, mysticism, and religion idel, moshe on.

State university of new york press, 1995 dlc 92047504 ocolc27266192. Moshe idel was centennial scholar in residence at the jewish theological seminary. Hasidism as a modern movement 3 serve its memory by ethnographic and archival research. New perspectives may be the greatest academic book on kabbalah that has yet been written in the english language. Hasidism incarnate offers a unique exploration of sensitive subjects, stressing the affinities between two religions widely perceived as staunch adversaries. Modes of cleaving to the letters in the teachings of.

Encompassing jewish mystical literatures from those of late antiquity to works of polish hasidism, moshe idel highlights the diversity of kabbalistic views on eros and distinguishes between the major forms of eroticism. Lobel visiting scholar lecture moshe idel, the max cooper professor in jewish thought, department of jewish thought at. While at first glance hasidim appear analogous to the amish or other groups in america who actively defend themselves against all encroachments of contemporary life, it. Gershom scholemmajor trends in jewish mysticismmajor trends in jewish mysticism gershom scholem. The founder of hasidism, israel ben eliezer 16981760, became known as the baal shem tov the master of the good name, abbreviated besht. Buy essential papers on hasidism by gershon david hundert online at alibris. Indeed, by the 20 th century most internal hasidic sources acknowledged moshes conversion while focusing on his apparent mental illness and. The hasidim, or pious ones in hebrew, belong to a special movement within orthodox judaism, a movement that, at its height in the first half of the nineteenth.

Hasidism incarnate contends that much of modern judaism in the west developed in reaction to christianity and in defense of judaism as a unique tradition. Ex hasidim and the besht the book of doctrines and. The spiritualization of the contact with the divine in western mysticism, radically different from the more materialist propensities of magic, invites detachment from the bodyand from corporeality in generalin order to be able to enjoy communion with the divine. Hasidism has a long history of concurrently repelling and enchanting modern jews. Whereas idel explores the phenomenology of the mystical experience and theurgical endeavors of the zaddikim the righteous leaders of the hasidic dynasties against the background of the jewish mystical. Between ecstasy and magic s u n y series in judaica state univ of new york pr.

Rabinowicz lays out the basic tenets of the movement, which from its. Rather than focusing on any one immediate aspect of jewish mysticism, idel proposes to understand hasidism as the aggregation of multiple streams, including magic, theosophic kabbalah, and ecstatic kabbalah. Studies in ecstatic kabbalah suny series in judaica. As an adult, she dedicated herself to the study and memorialization of the holocaust and its victims. In this book, the worlds foremost scholar of kabbalah explores the understanding of erotic love in jewish mystical thought. Idel s book has broken new ground in the study of the mystical judaism of eastern europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read hasidism. Between ecstasy and magic ebook written by moshe idel. Untold tales of the hasidim crisis and discontent in the history of hasidism david assaf the tauber institute series for the study of european jewry brandeis 2010 360 pp.

The encyclopedia of hasidism is the first and only comprehensive englishlanguage reference work of its kind to cover all aspects of hasidism. Habad, messianism, and the phantom charisma of rabbi. Suny series in judaica includes bibliographical references and index. A mystical movement within eastern european judaism. This approach implies a more active type of engagement with the letters than has been assumed in earlier hasidic scholarship, which emphasized. With tzadikism, it developed specific forms of cultivating a religious elite, apocalyptic expectations, and communal life. Best kabbalah lists kabbalah is a term meaning the mystical side of judaism. By applying idels orientation one can appreciate the complex fabric woven by the hasidic masters from previous mystical sources. Prolegomena to the study of the jewish magical tradition gideon. Moshe idel is max cooper professor of jewish thought at the hebrew university, jerusalem. Balakirskykatz, maya 2007 on the masterdisciple relationship in hasidic visual culture. While magid, drawing on idel, suggests that there is an ontic affinity 7 between hasidism and christian incarnational theology, he decides to spend much more time talking about the affinities and much less about the differences. Hasidism has been a seminal force and a source of controversy in the jewish world since its inception in the second half of the 18th century.

Jewish magical and mystical traditions on the artificial anthropoid. Moshe idel hebrew university of jerusalem academia. Idel proposes to understand hasidism as the aggregation of multiple streams, including magic. Focusing on the hasidic strand of judaism, a strict orthodox sect, creates for magid the space to make provocative arguments without giving the impression that he is a proponent of the. Essential papers on hasidism by gershon david hundert. Idel analyzes both the theoretical views and spiritual practices of every major kabbalist tradition of the medieval and. A learned history of the hasidic movement from its origins in 18thcentury eastern europe to the present. Ecstasy and magic stand at the opposite extremes of most modern religious modalities. Introduction when faced with a particularly weighty problem, the baal shem tov, founder of hasidic judaism, would go to a certain place in the woods, light a sacred. The book is full of brilliant insights concerning the meaning of key concepts and practices in early hasidism. The hagiography of oral stories about his life, that were posthumously.

Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or. It is an authentic and ancient tradition passed down through the centuries by great sages both chassidic and other. Included are biographical entries on the great hasidic leaders of past and present generations and a wealth of information on hasidic principles, customs, and lore. Moshe idel, hebrew university of jerusalem, jewish thought department, emeritus. My jewish learning is a notforprofit and relies on your help. Idels book has broken new ground in the study of the mystical judaism of eastern europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Idels book has broken new ground in the study of the mystical judaism of. Discover book depositorys huge selection of moshe idel books online. A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the bodleian library at oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the quarto series with references to the.

Following on from the earlier communal tradition of baal shem, his fame as a healer spread among not only the jews, but also the nonjewish peasants and the polish nobles. The snatches of scholarly comment on the baal shem tov and the early chassidim ive come across in moshe idel, especially between ecstasy and magic suny, i recall as having been on the money. Messianic mystics yale university press, new haven, london, 1998. Mystical union and monotheistic faith, an ecumenical dialogue, eds.

Project muse promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. By applying what he calls the panoramic approach, in contrast to the existentialist approach of buber and the historicist approach of scholem, idel has been able to illuminate the phenomenon of hasidism in all its complexity and diversity. Between ecstasy and magic suny press, albany, 1994. Hermeneutics, mysticism, and religion moshe idel on. He accepts parts of ronit merozs articles that claim that the texts of the zohar originated between the 1114 th centuries. The privileged divine feminine in kabbalah moshe idel. Between ecstacy and magic is extremely compelling, rich in the vast erudition idels readers take for granted and full of insights on every page. This volume addresses the complex topic of the preeminent status of the divine feminine power, to be referred also as female, within the theosophical structures of many important kabbalists, sabbatean believers, and hasidic masters. Israel baal shem tovs approach to cleaving as dealing predominantly with the oral dimension of the letters, namely, with their sounds while they are articulated in recitation of prayer or torah study. P erhaps the most resonant chapter of this book is a detailed account of the sad story of moshe, the youngest son of schneur zalman of liadi, founder of lubavitch also known as chabad hasidism, who converted to christianity. Hasidism spread mystical ideas to the masses of easteuropean jewry. Ironically enough, this occurred even as modern judaism increasingly dovetailed with christianity with regard to its ethos, aesthetics, and attitude toward ritual and faith. Albany, ny 12246 production by christine lynch marketing by theresa abad swierzowski library of congress cataloginginpublication data idel. A new history is the first comprehensive study of this important jewish spiritual religious movement.

This work is incomparable to anything else and should be required reading for anyone who wants to seriously engage hasidism intellectually and historically. Study of the jewish magical tradition open epub for prolegomena to the study of. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, project muse is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves. The zohar contains variety of styles and diverse literature, hence abrams is sympathetic to moshe idels reclamation of the theory of moses gaster, who considered the work a collection of diverse sources. Her mission was to document the lives of the victims. The hasids broke with classicist judaism because they felt that it was intellectually elitist, substituting a form of judaism that emphasized bringing the joys of spirituality to the common man as well as to the scholar.

He is emeritus max cooper professor in jewish thought at the hebrew university, jerusalem, and a senior researcher at the shalom hartman institute. Moshe idel jewish magic from the renaissance period to early hasidism. Indeed, almost every ideological trend that has made itself felt among jews since that time from zionism and orthodoxy to contemporary jewish feminism and movements within the yeshiva world has claimed to have derived some inspiration from this. This privileged status is part of a much broader vision of the female as stemming from a very high. Among academic scholars of kabbalah and chassidus, i think moshe idel is in.