The Regal Way: The Life and Times of Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin - Couverture rigide

Assaf, David

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0804744688 ISBN 13 : 9780804744683

Editeur : Stanford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This is a pioneering study of the nineteenth century Hasidic movement as shown through the life of one of the most controversial and influential Hasidic leaders, Rabbi Israel Friedman of Ruzhin (1796-1850). The dramatic episodes of his life--including his involvement in the murder of Jewish informers, his imprisonment in Russia, his subsequent escape to Austria where he successfully reestablished his court--are echoed by the contradictory and highly critical opinions of his personal character and his role as leader of one of the largest and most opulent Hasidic courts of the nineteenth century.

Nineteenth-century Hasidism has been a comparatively neglected topic in Jewish historiography largely because of the traditional view that the movement was in a degenerate state during this period. The natural interest that scholars found in the eighteenth-century origins of the movement, alongside their personal dislike of the nineteenth-century Hasidic courts and their machinations, led them to concentrate on the earliest years and the more recent phases of Hasidism.

The book is in four parts. Part I draws on surprisingly rich non-Hasidic sources as well as on Hasidic materials to recreate the early life of Rabbi Israel from his childhood to his leadership of a Hasidic community. Part II concentrates on his activities as a famous spiritual leader, his adventures in Russia, and his final years in Austria. In Part III, the author analyzes major aspects of Rabbi Israel's career and thought as a Hasidic leader and public figure, with emphasis on his approach to materialism, wealth, and luxury. Part IV describes in detail the royal Hasidic court of Rabbi Israel and his sons--its formation, buildings, economics, social structure, functionaries, and administrative organization.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

David Assaf is Professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. He is the editor of the English translation (from Yiddish) of Journey to a Nineteenth-Century Shtetl: The Memoirs of Yechezkel Kotik and the compiler of Bratslav: An Annotated Bibliography.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Stanford University Press
• Date d'édition: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0804744688
• ISBN 13: 9780804744683
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 480
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible