Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism - Couverture rigide

Rubin, Eli

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1503642070 ISBN 13 : 9781503642072

Editeur : Stanford University Press, 2025

Synopsis

Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity provides a comprehensive intellectual and institutional history of Chabad Hasidism through the Kabbalistic concept of ṣimṣum. 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 ṣimṣum 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 ṣimṣum 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 ṣimṣum 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.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Eli Rubin is a contributing editor at Chabad.org. He received his PhD from the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Stanford University Press
• Date d'édition: 2025
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1503642070
• ISBN 13: 9781503642072
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 446
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible