Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity

Name: Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity | An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism
Brand: Stanford University Press
Price: 72.0 EUR
Availability: BackOrder

An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism

Eli Rubin(Author)

Stanford University Press

Published on 25. March 2025

Book

Hardback

446 pages

978-1-5036-4207-2 (ISBN)

€72.00incl. 7% vat

Shipment within 15-20 days

Description

Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity provides a comprehensive intellectual and institutional history of Chabad Hasidism through the Kabbalistic concept of ?im?um. The onset of modernity, Eli Rubin argues, was heralded by this startling idea: existence itself is predicated on a self-inflicted "rupture" in the infinite assertion of divinity. Centuries of theoretical disputations concerning ?im?um ultimately morphed into religious and social schism. These debates confronted the meaning of being and forged the animating ethos of Chabad, the most dynamic movement in modern Judaism.

Chabad's distinctive character and self-image, Rubin shows, emerged from its spirited defense of Hasidism's interpretation of ?im?um as an act of love leading to rapturous reunion. This interpretation ignited a literal conflagration, complete with book burnings, denunciations, investigations, and arrests. Chabad's subsequent preoccupation with ?im?um was equally significant for questions of legitimacy, authority, and succession, as for existential questions of being and meaning.

Unfolding the story of Chabad from the early modern period to the twentieth century, this book provides fresh portraits of the successive leaders of the movement. Innovatively integrating history, philosophy, and literature, Rubin shows how Kabbalistic ideas are crucially entangled in the experience of modernity and in the response to its ruptures.

Reviews / Votes

"Rubin's book offers an exciting new way of thinking about Jewish modernity, making this one of the most original and interesting books in Jewish Studies of our time."
-Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College "Chabad's rich intellectual history and its place in the broad existential currents of modernity finally get their due with Rubin's stupendous book, which like its author, is a wonder of erudition, insight, and humility."
-Yehudah Mirsky, Brandeis University "Eli Rubin's book is the first full-length statement of Chabad's philosophical program for an American audience. It makes the remarkable-and defensible-assertion that Jewish thought, and specifically the sixteenth-century Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, opens possibilities for modern science that are closed to the old determinism of pre-quantum science."-David P. Goldman, Law & Liberty "Rubin weaves Chabad metaphysics and significant events so they illuminate one another, taking us through the forks in the roads to better understand the path that forged forward ... It's an approach that presents a major leap forward in the study of Chabad history and philosophy."-Tzvi Freeman, Chabad "Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity is a rich resource, pairing philosophical and theological exegesis with a lively historical narrative. For readers of Judaic Studies who want an introduction to Chabad's intellectual underpinnings, Rubin's work is essential."-Daniel Kalish

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