Jonatan Meir | Ben Gurion University of the Negev (original) (raw)
Books by Jonatan Meir
The Hebrew satire Bohen Tsadik (first edition Prague, 1838) continues the earlier work Megaleh Te... more The Hebrew satire Bohen Tsadik (first edition Prague, 1838) continues the earlier work Megaleh Temirin (Vienna, 1819). R. Ovadiah ben Petahiah sets out once more, equipped with wondrous contrivances (among them a schreibtafel, a recording device), on a mission to gather public opinion about his book, Megaleh Temirin. Yet the story quickly takes a turn. The schreibtafel fills up, and Ovadiah is forced to seek out an honest man to erase the letters with his breath. A tale of hardships ensues in which no characters emerge intact: rabbis, hasidim, imaginary maskilim, various merchants—in short, the whole Jewish world of Galicia. Throughout the story, Perl encodes the names of individuals and events that were well known to his contemporaries. The book ends in a heterotopia, revealing something of Perl’s tortured soul and his sysiphic battles against Hasidism and its influence in Eastern Europe. A close reading of Bohen Tsadik, therefore, opens a window into a forgotten world of Haskalah and Hasidism in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Bohen Tsadik appears here for the first time in a critical edition based on the first printing and various manuscripts. The text is accompanied by appendices detailing the formation of the book and its contents, Perl’s method of name encryption, and manuscript variants. This is the fourth volume in the series devoted to the compilation of Perl’s writings, joining the monograph Hasidut Medumah and the two-volume critical edition of Megaleh Temirin.
The editor, Prof. Jonatan Meir, teaches in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He has published numerous studies on Sabbatianism, the Haskalah movement in Eastern Europe, Hasidism, and Kabbalah in the twentieth century.
This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewi... more This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in 2023. These lectures offer a broad perspective on the history of Bratslav Hasidism, from its origins in the late-eighteenth century to its most visible manifestation in the twentieth century. In contrast to popular romantic portrayals, these lectures highlight the dynamism of this complex hasidic group. Furthermore, the volume presents a new understanding of the radical theology developed within the group, one that has undergone numerous changes in response to shifting historical conditions. Contents – First Lecture: The Loneliness of R. Nahman of Bratslav. Second Lecture: R. Nathan of Nemirov and the Shaping of Bratslav Hasidism in the Nineteenth Century. Third Lecture: The Bratslav Renaissance in Poland. Bibliographical Appendix.
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This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewi... more This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in 2022. These lectures offer a broad perspective on the development of the prominent contemporary kabbalistic movement centered around the image and writings of R. Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1884–1954). The vicissitudes of this maverick kabbalist are subject to a historical accounting; particular attention is given to the dissemination of his teachings in various centers (Poland, Land of Israel, and the United States), as well as the clusters of students who continue to claim his legacy to this day. The volume presents for the first time previously unknown manuscripts and documents that together form a new image of Kabbalah in the twentieth century, a Kabbalah riveted by a complex dynamic of concealment and revelation.
Contents – First Lecture: The Fertile Ground of Jewish Mysticism in Poland. Second Lecture: The Travails of the Lonely Kabbalist in the Land of Israel. Third Lecture: Kabbalah for a New World. Bibliographical Index.
This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewi... more This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in 2021. These lectures offer a broad perspective on the history of Habad Hasidism, from its origins in the latter half of the eighteenth century to its most visible manifestation in the twentieth century. These lectures highlight the dynamism of this hasidic group and the changes that it has undergone in three central domains: its sense of mission; literary activity; and messianism. This volume does away with the romantic conceptions that have enveloped Habad Hasidism at various, conceptions that have made their way, in part, into academic scholarship.
Contents – First Lecture: The Wars of R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady and the Shaping of Habad Hasidism. Second Lecture: Habad in the Nineteenth Century: Orthodoxy, Politics, and Enlightenment. Third Lecture: Habad in the Twentieth Century: Romanticism, Messianism, and Missionization. Bibliographical Appendix.
Zvi Meroni’s book was first published in 1938 and contains sketches inspired by his forays throug... more Zvi Meroni’s book was first published in 1938 and contains sketches inspired by his forays throughout Jerusalem. The book presents a wondrous patchwork of mystical seekers, Zionist pioneers, pedagogues, doctors, and nurses, alongside scholars, Hasidim, Kabbalists, and regular people who chanced upon his path, all of whom are enveloped in a nationalistic spirit laden with romantic expressions. Together, they form a lyrical utopian tract, a song in praise of the Jerusalem of above and below, a vision of Jerusalem of the days to come. At first glance the work appears to be nothing more than unrefined Zionist propaganda that seeks to paper over contradictions and present a national Hebrew vision devoid of fissures. Yet it is not for this reason that we are reissuing the book; its pages contain further qualities that renders it unique. Throughout, Meroni inadvertently documents many important facets of the city, offering a living portrait of Jerusalem’s Kabbalists and Hasidim, even if they appear in a romantic light. orders: https://blimabooks.com/products/jerusalemofdreamers
“Al Tilei Beit Frank” (Upon the Ruins of the House of Frank), among the more radical texts penned... more “Al Tilei Beit Frank” (Upon the Ruins of the House of Frank), among the more radical texts penned by Zalman Shazar (Rubaschow), was first printed in a limited bibliophile edition in Leipzig in 1923. While an earlier version had appeared in 1920 as “Ikvot Ahim Ovdim” (Footsteps of Lost Brothers), here the work was expanded and stylistically improved. The romantic text was inspired by a visit to Offenbach, the final residence of Jacob Frank. Yet this was no mere travel account, but an associative appraisal of Frankism as a whole in light of the books, images, and documents from Frank’s followers preserved in the local museum. The accompanying images are not only striking but serve as a springboard for the essay itself; their very presence contributes depth and significance to the text as a whole. It is no surprise, then, that the work made a strong impression. Gershom Scholem praised “Al Tilei Beit Frank” in his groundbreaking essay “Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah” (1936), going so far as to pronounce that the essay demonstrated “indications of a true appreciation of complexities of Sabbatianian psychology” and served as an opening to further research into the movement. A facsimile edition of the first edition is printed here alongside a comprehensive afterward touching on Shazar’s approach to the study of Sabbatianism. ||
'על תלי בית פרנק' (1923) היא אחת המסות הרדיקליות של זלמן שזר (1974-1889) שנדפסה לראשונה במהדורה ביבליופילית בליפסיה 1923. נוסח ראשון הופיע עוד בשנת 1920, בשם 'עקבות אחים אובדים', אך כאן הורחבו הדברים וקיבלו חן רב. הדברים הועלו על הכתב בעקבות ביקור של שזר באופנבך, מקום משובו האחרון של יעקב פראנק, והם נוסחו בלשון פיוטית-רומנטית. אין כאן רק רשמי ביקור באופנבך, אלא גם העלאת פרשת הפרנקיזם בצורה אסוציאטיבית לאור התבוננות בספרים, בתמונות ובתעודות של 'המאמינים' שנגנזו במוזיאון המקומי. התמונות המלבבות שצורפו לספר לא רק מותירות רושם רב, אלא שהמסה רוכבת עליהן ועצם הוספתן נתן עומק נוסף ומשמעות חדשה לטקסט. אין פלא שהרושם שהותירו הדברים היה רב, ואין פלא שגרשם שלום העלה את הדברים על נס במאמרו 'מצוה הבאה בעברה' (1936) וראה בספרון שלפנינו 'סימני הבנה אמתית לסבכי הנפש שבשבתאות' ופתח למחקר החדש על תנועה זו. מודפסת כאן פקסימיליה של הדפוס הראשון בצרוף אחרית דבר מקיפה על דרכו של שזר בחקר השבתאות.
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Joseph G. Weiss (1918–1969) arrived in Jerusalem from Budapest in December 1939 and enrolled at t... more Joseph G. Weiss (1918–1969) arrived in Jerusalem from Budapest in December 1939 and enrolled at the Hebrew University, where he studied Jewish history, Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and general philosophy. He attended lectures by Julius Guttmann, Shmuel Hugo Bergmann, Yitzhak Baer, Gershom Scholem, and others. Weiss initially intended to study the medieval poetry of the Jews of Spain, and even wrote several articles on Hebrew literature, yet he quickly drew close to Scholem and the study of Kabbalah. Weiss took a rather critical attitude toward developments in Palestine and appears to have refrained from political engagement at this time, notwithstanding the Zionist fervor in the spirit of Martin Buber that brought him to Palestine in the first place. He received his M.A. from the Faculty of the Humanities in 1947 and proceeded to write a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Scholem, at first on R. Nahman of Bratslav and subsequently on the Baal Shem Tov. The complicated history of the dissertation that he submitted in 1950 on dialectical faith in the teachings of R. Nahman has long been clouded in mystery, circumstances that have given rise to spurious claims made by journalists and scholars alike who have sought to portray Scholem in a certain light. One such rumor, which is utterly devoid of any basis in fact, claims that Scholem compelled Weiss to leave Jerusalem for London due to his refusal to accept the dissertation. Others have read the affair as a sort of mythological struggle between two research approaches: historical-philological versus spiritual-existential, an interpretation that is far removed from reality. The events, it seems, served as fertile ground for scholars in search of an imaginary anchor for their own ideas, a smokescreen for a new approach. A significant breakthrough came with the publication by Noam Zadoff of an important selection of Scholem and Weiss’s correspondence, which sheds light on several key issues. With that, a complete account of the dissertation, presented in its full context (not to mention developments over the years in Weiss’s approach to the study of Bratslav Hasidism), has not been provided to this date, and is presented here for the first time. New material from the Schocken Library archive, the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People, the archive of the Hebrew University, and various archives held at the National Library of Israel, including a voluminous correspondence between Weiss and his friend Samuel Miklos Stern, allow us to present a far broader and more accurate picture of the events. This is a significant contribution not only to the study of Scholem and Weiss, but to the history of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University, as a whole.
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In parallel with his prolific work on Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem delivered many public lectures.... more In parallel with his prolific work on Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem delivered many public lectures. He usually chose to lecture on subjects he was researching at the time, in conjunction with his courses at the Hebrew University. These lectures dealt with particular topics, and at times Scholem delivered lecture series on wider themes. At times he wrote thorough lecture notes, but usually he only left general comments in the form of subject headings. Some of these lectures were recorded by others, in preparation for the possibility of publication. Around the time of his death, there was an initiative to publish new editions of Scholem’s writings. In this context, several of these types of lecture were printed (including a number of lectures related to messianism). Most, however, were hidden away in his archive, their importance notwithstanding. They sank into the abyss – along with the editorial and publication project. Now, at a time when Scholem’s cultural presence is at a peak, and when countless different interpretations of his works have been forwarded, the time seems ripe to return to his “hidden” texts, and to redouble the efforts to publish his scattered and archival writings. The series of lectures from 1947 – which focus on the history of Jewish messianic movements, Sabbatianism foremost among them – are but a small sample of a whole hidden collection which, one hopes, will soon be published.
“Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah: la-Havanat ha-Shabta’ut” (Redemption Through Sin: Toward an Understa... more “Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah: la-Havanat ha-Shabta’ut” (Redemption Through Sin: Toward an Understanding of Sabbatianism) is perhaps the most thrilling essay written by Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), a highly influential text that signaled a new approach to the study of the Sabbatian movement. It offered a firm rebuke to the Wissenschaft des Judentums and strove to identify an ongoing non-negative nihilistic impulse latent within the movement. Scholem sought to rescue Sabbatianism from existing research paradigms and in doing so provide a new assessment of Jewish history. He presented the ideological background of Sabbatianism, the movement’s transition from a mass revival to a hidden heresy, as well as the various phases and figures that accompanied this process from the days of Sabbatai Sevi to the phantasms of Jacob Frank. Above all else, he endeavored to show a clear dialectical development leading from the belief in Sabbatai Sevi to religious nihilism, and from religious nihilism to the new world of the Enlightenment. The essay, which contains Scholem’s central theses on Sabbatianism and the course of modern Jewish history, employs powerful rhetoric that both disturbs and enlivens the reader. The essay will no doubt cause a stir among contemporary readers, as much as it did when it first appeared.
Full Volume | Printed 2024
יוסף חיים ברנר | הערכת עצמנו. על מנדלי מוכר ספרים
יוסף חיים ברנר | סדנא דגלותא
The book Be-ikvot Mashiah (Gershom Scholem, In the Footsteps of the Messiah, 1944), still hunte... more The book Be-ikvot Mashiah (Gershom Scholem, In the Footsteps of the Messiah, 1944), still hunted by academics and collectors to this day, signifies the first attempt to redeem the texts of the fallen Messiah’s followers. This was a beginning that shaped the study of Jewish mysticism in the twentieth century, even if complete editions of key Sabbatian texts continue to await their redeemer. The current reissuing of this book, in 390 copies, is nothing less than a call to action to scholars and a cry for a textual redemption that has been delayed. |
Professor Jonatan Meir serves as a faculty member in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is the author of numerous studies on various forms of Jewish Literature and Jewish Mysticism.
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First Edition, 2021
Paperback Edition, 2023
בעקבות משיח: אוסף מקורות מראשית התפתחות האמונה השבתאית מלוקטים מתוך כתביו של ר' אברהם בנימין נתן בן אלישע חיים אשכנזי המכונה נתן העזתי יוצאים לאור מתוך כתבי-היד על ידי גרשם שלום, ועתה הובא לדפוס מחדש עם תיקונים והשלמות על ידי יונתן מאיר, ספרי בלימה | עלו לשלום, ירושלים וברלין תשפ"ב - מהדורת פקסמיליה עם תוספות מרובות, עדכונים והשלמות- הפקה: יוסי שוייג | עיצוב: עדה ורדי - נדפס בש"ץ עותקים |
This book is a prelude to a larger task that lies ahead: the authoring of a comprehensive monog... more This book is a prelude to a larger task that lies ahead: the authoring of a comprehensive monograph on Gershom Scholem’s scholarly oeuvre as informed by the vast material preserved in his archive. Or, in other words, presenting the “Major Trends in the Study of Jewish Mysticism” as established by Scholem. This book is concerned with one—albeit central—component of this story that awaits to be told, that of Scholem’s study of the Sabbatian movement. By presenting for the first time the narrative arc of what is arguably Scholem’s greatest scholarly achievement as informed by his own archive, Gershom Scholem and the Research of Sabbatianism subverts many of the questionable theories put forward about Scholem’s hidden motives in studying this messianic movement while offering a clear picture of the development of the scholarship of this critical chapter in the history of Jewish mysticism.
Professor Jonatan Meir serves as a faculty member in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is the author of numerous studies on various forms of Jewish Literature and Jewish Mysticism. Dr. Shinichi Yamamoto is a scholar of Kabbalah and Sabbatianism at the University of Tokyo; he has recently published Kabbalah: Historical and Conceptual Perspectives (Tokyo 2015). The authors are the editors of Gershom Scholem, History of the Sabbatian Movement (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Schocken Institute for Jewish Research and Schocken Books, 2018)
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דרך ספר - שי לזאב גריס // דרך ספר מאגד מאמרים העוסקים בפנים שונות של תולדות הספר בתרבות היהודי... more דרך ספר - שי לזאב גריס //
דרך ספר מאגד מאמרים העוסקים בפנים שונות של תולדות הספר בתרבות היהודית. יש בו הזמנה למסע בעקבות ספרים וסופרים; הזמנה לעולם עשיר ומורכב שעד לאחרונה היה נחלתם של ביבליוגרפים בלבד. המאמרים עוסקים בשאלות הנוגעות להתהוותם של טקסטים, יצירתם והתקבלותם של ספרים, תפקידם בהנחלת ידע ובעיצוב תודעתם של המוני בית ישראל, כמו גם למקומם של ספרים בתרבות היהודית בשלבים קריטים ומשתנים. דרך ניתוח פאראטקסים, סוגות ספרותיות שונות, עיונים בספרות קודש וחול, וניתוחים היסטוריים וספרותיים, נחשפת כאן תמונה עשירה של סוכני תרבות עלומים, ספרים גנוזים ותלאות של מחברים ומדפיסים. לא הספר המוגמר עומד במרכז המאמרים שלפנינו, אלא המסכת המופלאה והדינמית של מעשה הספר, דרך הספר, מעשה שאין לו סוף.
פרופסור זאב גריס הוא פרופסור אמריטוס במחלקה למחשבת ישראל ע"ש גולדשטיין-גורן באוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב. בין כתביו הרבים, שפרצו דרך במחקר תולדות הספר העברי, יש לציין את הספרים: ספר סופר וסיפור בראשית החסידות: מן הבעש"ט ועד מנחם מנדל מקוצק, תל-אביב: הקיבוץ המאוחד, ספריית הילל בן חיים למדעי היהדות, תשנ"ב; הספר כסוכן תרבות בשנים ת"ס-תר"ס (1900-1700), תל-אביב: הקיבוץ המאוחד, ספריית הילל בן חיים למדעי היהדות, תשס"ב; הספר העברי: פרקים לתולדותיו (סדרת אסופות, י), ירושלים: מוסד ביאליק, תשע"ו.
משתתפים בקובץ נַחֵם אילן • יעקב אלבוים • יעקב בלידשטיין • שלמה ברגר • אבריאל בר-לבב • עמוס גולדרייך • רועי גולדשמידט • יוסף מ' דובאוויק • בועז הוס • זאב הרוי • צחי וייס • מוטי זלקין • ברכה זק • משה חלמיש • עודד ישראלי • חגית כהן • דניאל י' לסקר • יונתן מאיר • רון מרגולין • ענת נבות • נורית פיינשטיין • משה מ' פיירשטיין • דוד צרי • משה דוד צ'צ'יק • יועד קדרי • ניחם רוס • אברהם (רמי) ריינר • דב שוורץ • יוסף שלמון
These lectures, originally delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in Jerusalem... more These lectures, originally delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in Jerusalem in 2019, broadly survey the development of the literary and theological image of R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov from the emergence of Hasidism in the mid-eighteenth century until the early twentieth century. This work constitutes a groundbreaking attempt to examine the numerous and oftentimes fantastic legends surrounding the historical figure of the Ba’al Shem Tov and assess the various attitudes toward him expressed in the literature of Hasidism, the Haskalah, and modern academic scholarship./ First Lecture - In Praise of the Ba’al Shem Tov and the Beginnings of Hasidism / Second Lecture - Satires, Stories, and Imaginary Praises / Third Lecture - Romanticism, Research, and Hagiography with Footnotes
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Introduction / In the Secret Place of the Soul: Opening Chapters of a Book (1913) / Bordering Two... more Introduction / In the Secret Place of the Soul: Opening Chapters of a Book (1913) / Bordering Two Worlds: From the Notebook of a Dreamer (1919) / On the Hidden and the Concealed: Hidden Senses, Dreams (1921)
Abstract: The Warsaw journalist and religious thinker Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) was a complex individual whose diverse writings bespeak the many changes he underwent over the course of his life. The three essays collected in this volume reflect Zeitlin’s engagement with the emerging notion of religious experience. The first essay, “In the Secret Place of the Soul: Opening Chapters of a Book,” appeared in 1913 in response to William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. Here Zeitlin sought to author a “Varieties of Jewish Religious Experience,” drawn from the descriptive accounts of religious experience found in the Bible and hasidic texts, as a corrective to the Christian perspective of James’s work. The categories of religious experience he termed, “wonder,” “astonishment,” and “revelation,” would go on to inspire Abraham Joshua Heschel in the latter’s God in Search of Man (even if he did not credit Zeitlin). This work was never completed as planned. With the outbreak and ensuring violence of the First World War, Zeitlin was transformed, according to his testimony, into a clairvoyant visionary. He recorded his dreams, premonitions, and reflections on religious experience in a journal he referred to as his “Book of Visions.” A small excerpt published in 1919 as “Bordering Two Worlds: From the Notebook of a Dreamer,” which is all that survives from his journal, is the second essay presented in this volume. Zeitlin’s dreams and visions were ill received by friends and critics alike, prompting him in 1921 to publish a response in his defense, “On the Hidden and the Concealed,” the third essay in this collection. This brief rejoinder, itself presented as the beginnings of a larger work on esoteric phenomena, outlines the theoretical underpinnings of a system of hidden senses and intuition—borrowed directly from the American New Thought writer Ralph Waldo Trine—which Zeitlin believed demonstrated the reality of prophetic dreams. “In the Secret Place of the Soul,” “Bordering Two Worlds,” and “On the Hidden and the Concealed” were later reissued with significant censorship, omissions, and textual revisions by Aaron Zeitlin in 1960 in the volume Al Gvul Shnei Olamot, and are presented here for the first time in their original form. Although written at different times, the three essays collected in this volume together present Hillel Zeitlin’s innovative conception of Jewish religiosity and inner experience, critical elements within the broader picture of his writings and activities.
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הלל צייטלין - בחביון הנשמה
Introduction / Shekhinah: Contemplation (1908) / Transcendent Beauty: Lyric Compositions Drawn fr... more Introduction / Shekhinah: Contemplation (1908) / Transcendent Beauty: Lyric Compositions Drawn from the Aggadah and Kabbalah (1908) / The Thirst: A Vision of the Heart (1909)
Abstract: The writings of the Warsaw journalist and mystic Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) are a reflection of the various stages of his life. The essays collected in this volume were authored in 1908-1909, critical years in which Zeitlin emerged as an exceptional religious thinker rooted at once in the depths of heresy. This standpoint was spurred, in part, by the pessimism of the Russian-Jewish philosopher Lev Shestov, whom Zeitlin later styled “the most original Jew I have ever encountered.” The three essays collected in this volume share this dynamic of profound heresy and faith. The first two essays, “Shekhinah: Contemplation” and “Transcendent Beauty: Lyric Compositions Drawn from the Aggadah and Kabbalah,” both published in 1908, are composed of textual fragments taken from rabbinic and kabbalistic literature. Here Zeitlin sought to clarify and shed light on the Jewish mythos and its resplendent imagery. “Shekhinah,” in particular, made a great impression on the young Gershom Scholem, who penned a German translation of the piece for Martin Buber’s Der Jude, although it was ultimately shelved. The third essay in this volume, “The Thirst: A Vision of the Heart,” published in 1909, is a response to David Frischman’s Hebrew translation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which appeared that same year in the journal Reshafim. Here Zeitlin gave expression to the unceasing search for a new God prompted by the Nietzschean death of God, a quest whose only terminus is the voice of God calling to be searched. “Shekhinah” and “Transcendent Beauty” were reissued by Aaron Zeitlin in 1960 in the volume Al Gvul Shnei Olamot, yet that edition was marred by censorship, omissions, and textual revisions to the extent that what was published were entirely different works. “Shekhinah,” “Transcendent Beauty,” and “The Thirst” are here presented in their original form, profound literary expressions of the religious truth found in the depths of heresy.
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הלל צייטלין - געגועים ליופי
The Hebrew satire Bohen Tsadik (first edition Prague, 1838) continues the earlier work Megaleh Te... more The Hebrew satire Bohen Tsadik (first edition Prague, 1838) continues the earlier work Megaleh Temirin (Vienna, 1819). R. Ovadiah ben Petahiah sets out once more, equipped with wondrous contrivances (among them a schreibtafel, a recording device), on a mission to gather public opinion about his book, Megaleh Temirin. Yet the story quickly takes a turn. The schreibtafel fills up, and Ovadiah is forced to seek out an honest man to erase the letters with his breath. A tale of hardships ensues in which no characters emerge intact: rabbis, hasidim, imaginary maskilim, various merchants—in short, the whole Jewish world of Galicia. Throughout the story, Perl encodes the names of individuals and events that were well known to his contemporaries. The book ends in a heterotopia, revealing something of Perl’s tortured soul and his sysiphic battles against Hasidism and its influence in Eastern Europe. A close reading of Bohen Tsadik, therefore, opens a window into a forgotten world of Haskalah and Hasidism in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Bohen Tsadik appears here for the first time in a critical edition based on the first printing and various manuscripts. The text is accompanied by appendices detailing the formation of the book and its contents, Perl’s method of name encryption, and manuscript variants. This is the fourth volume in the series devoted to the compilation of Perl’s writings, joining the monograph Hasidut Medumah and the two-volume critical edition of Megaleh Temirin.
The editor, Prof. Jonatan Meir, teaches in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He has published numerous studies on Sabbatianism, the Haskalah movement in Eastern Europe, Hasidism, and Kabbalah in the twentieth century.
This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewi... more This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in 2023. These lectures offer a broad perspective on the history of Bratslav Hasidism, from its origins in the late-eighteenth century to its most visible manifestation in the twentieth century. In contrast to popular romantic portrayals, these lectures highlight the dynamism of this complex hasidic group. Furthermore, the volume presents a new understanding of the radical theology developed within the group, one that has undergone numerous changes in response to shifting historical conditions. Contents – First Lecture: The Loneliness of R. Nahman of Bratslav. Second Lecture: R. Nathan of Nemirov and the Shaping of Bratslav Hasidism in the Nineteenth Century. Third Lecture: The Bratslav Renaissance in Poland. Bibliographical Appendix.
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This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewi... more This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in 2022. These lectures offer a broad perspective on the development of the prominent contemporary kabbalistic movement centered around the image and writings of R. Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1884–1954). The vicissitudes of this maverick kabbalist are subject to a historical accounting; particular attention is given to the dissemination of his teachings in various centers (Poland, Land of Israel, and the United States), as well as the clusters of students who continue to claim his legacy to this day. The volume presents for the first time previously unknown manuscripts and documents that together form a new image of Kabbalah in the twentieth century, a Kabbalah riveted by a complex dynamic of concealment and revelation.
Contents – First Lecture: The Fertile Ground of Jewish Mysticism in Poland. Second Lecture: The Travails of the Lonely Kabbalist in the Land of Israel. Third Lecture: Kabbalah for a New World. Bibliographical Index.
This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewi... more This volume brings together three lectures that were delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in 2021. These lectures offer a broad perspective on the history of Habad Hasidism, from its origins in the latter half of the eighteenth century to its most visible manifestation in the twentieth century. These lectures highlight the dynamism of this hasidic group and the changes that it has undergone in three central domains: its sense of mission; literary activity; and messianism. This volume does away with the romantic conceptions that have enveloped Habad Hasidism at various, conceptions that have made their way, in part, into academic scholarship.
Contents – First Lecture: The Wars of R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady and the Shaping of Habad Hasidism. Second Lecture: Habad in the Nineteenth Century: Orthodoxy, Politics, and Enlightenment. Third Lecture: Habad in the Twentieth Century: Romanticism, Messianism, and Missionization. Bibliographical Appendix.
Zvi Meroni’s book was first published in 1938 and contains sketches inspired by his forays throug... more Zvi Meroni’s book was first published in 1938 and contains sketches inspired by his forays throughout Jerusalem. The book presents a wondrous patchwork of mystical seekers, Zionist pioneers, pedagogues, doctors, and nurses, alongside scholars, Hasidim, Kabbalists, and regular people who chanced upon his path, all of whom are enveloped in a nationalistic spirit laden with romantic expressions. Together, they form a lyrical utopian tract, a song in praise of the Jerusalem of above and below, a vision of Jerusalem of the days to come. At first glance the work appears to be nothing more than unrefined Zionist propaganda that seeks to paper over contradictions and present a national Hebrew vision devoid of fissures. Yet it is not for this reason that we are reissuing the book; its pages contain further qualities that renders it unique. Throughout, Meroni inadvertently documents many important facets of the city, offering a living portrait of Jerusalem’s Kabbalists and Hasidim, even if they appear in a romantic light. orders: https://blimabooks.com/products/jerusalemofdreamers
“Al Tilei Beit Frank” (Upon the Ruins of the House of Frank), among the more radical texts penned... more “Al Tilei Beit Frank” (Upon the Ruins of the House of Frank), among the more radical texts penned by Zalman Shazar (Rubaschow), was first printed in a limited bibliophile edition in Leipzig in 1923. While an earlier version had appeared in 1920 as “Ikvot Ahim Ovdim” (Footsteps of Lost Brothers), here the work was expanded and stylistically improved. The romantic text was inspired by a visit to Offenbach, the final residence of Jacob Frank. Yet this was no mere travel account, but an associative appraisal of Frankism as a whole in light of the books, images, and documents from Frank’s followers preserved in the local museum. The accompanying images are not only striking but serve as a springboard for the essay itself; their very presence contributes depth and significance to the text as a whole. It is no surprise, then, that the work made a strong impression. Gershom Scholem praised “Al Tilei Beit Frank” in his groundbreaking essay “Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah” (1936), going so far as to pronounce that the essay demonstrated “indications of a true appreciation of complexities of Sabbatianian psychology” and served as an opening to further research into the movement. A facsimile edition of the first edition is printed here alongside a comprehensive afterward touching on Shazar’s approach to the study of Sabbatianism. ||
'על תלי בית פרנק' (1923) היא אחת המסות הרדיקליות של זלמן שזר (1974-1889) שנדפסה לראשונה במהדורה ביבליופילית בליפסיה 1923. נוסח ראשון הופיע עוד בשנת 1920, בשם 'עקבות אחים אובדים', אך כאן הורחבו הדברים וקיבלו חן רב. הדברים הועלו על הכתב בעקבות ביקור של שזר באופנבך, מקום משובו האחרון של יעקב פראנק, והם נוסחו בלשון פיוטית-רומנטית. אין כאן רק רשמי ביקור באופנבך, אלא גם העלאת פרשת הפרנקיזם בצורה אסוציאטיבית לאור התבוננות בספרים, בתמונות ובתעודות של 'המאמינים' שנגנזו במוזיאון המקומי. התמונות המלבבות שצורפו לספר לא רק מותירות רושם רב, אלא שהמסה רוכבת עליהן ועצם הוספתן נתן עומק נוסף ומשמעות חדשה לטקסט. אין פלא שהרושם שהותירו הדברים היה רב, ואין פלא שגרשם שלום העלה את הדברים על נס במאמרו 'מצוה הבאה בעברה' (1936) וראה בספרון שלפנינו 'סימני הבנה אמתית לסבכי הנפש שבשבתאות' ופתח למחקר החדש על תנועה זו. מודפסת כאן פקסימיליה של הדפוס הראשון בצרוף אחרית דבר מקיפה על דרכו של שזר בחקר השבתאות.
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Joseph G. Weiss (1918–1969) arrived in Jerusalem from Budapest in December 1939 and enrolled at t... more Joseph G. Weiss (1918–1969) arrived in Jerusalem from Budapest in December 1939 and enrolled at the Hebrew University, where he studied Jewish history, Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and general philosophy. He attended lectures by Julius Guttmann, Shmuel Hugo Bergmann, Yitzhak Baer, Gershom Scholem, and others. Weiss initially intended to study the medieval poetry of the Jews of Spain, and even wrote several articles on Hebrew literature, yet he quickly drew close to Scholem and the study of Kabbalah. Weiss took a rather critical attitude toward developments in Palestine and appears to have refrained from political engagement at this time, notwithstanding the Zionist fervor in the spirit of Martin Buber that brought him to Palestine in the first place. He received his M.A. from the Faculty of the Humanities in 1947 and proceeded to write a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Scholem, at first on R. Nahman of Bratslav and subsequently on the Baal Shem Tov. The complicated history of the dissertation that he submitted in 1950 on dialectical faith in the teachings of R. Nahman has long been clouded in mystery, circumstances that have given rise to spurious claims made by journalists and scholars alike who have sought to portray Scholem in a certain light. One such rumor, which is utterly devoid of any basis in fact, claims that Scholem compelled Weiss to leave Jerusalem for London due to his refusal to accept the dissertation. Others have read the affair as a sort of mythological struggle between two research approaches: historical-philological versus spiritual-existential, an interpretation that is far removed from reality. The events, it seems, served as fertile ground for scholars in search of an imaginary anchor for their own ideas, a smokescreen for a new approach. A significant breakthrough came with the publication by Noam Zadoff of an important selection of Scholem and Weiss’s correspondence, which sheds light on several key issues. With that, a complete account of the dissertation, presented in its full context (not to mention developments over the years in Weiss’s approach to the study of Bratslav Hasidism), has not been provided to this date, and is presented here for the first time. New material from the Schocken Library archive, the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People, the archive of the Hebrew University, and various archives held at the National Library of Israel, including a voluminous correspondence between Weiss and his friend Samuel Miklos Stern, allow us to present a far broader and more accurate picture of the events. This is a significant contribution not only to the study of Scholem and Weiss, but to the history of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University, as a whole.
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In parallel with his prolific work on Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem delivered many public lectures.... more In parallel with his prolific work on Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem delivered many public lectures. He usually chose to lecture on subjects he was researching at the time, in conjunction with his courses at the Hebrew University. These lectures dealt with particular topics, and at times Scholem delivered lecture series on wider themes. At times he wrote thorough lecture notes, but usually he only left general comments in the form of subject headings. Some of these lectures were recorded by others, in preparation for the possibility of publication. Around the time of his death, there was an initiative to publish new editions of Scholem’s writings. In this context, several of these types of lecture were printed (including a number of lectures related to messianism). Most, however, were hidden away in his archive, their importance notwithstanding. They sank into the abyss – along with the editorial and publication project. Now, at a time when Scholem’s cultural presence is at a peak, and when countless different interpretations of his works have been forwarded, the time seems ripe to return to his “hidden” texts, and to redouble the efforts to publish his scattered and archival writings. The series of lectures from 1947 – which focus on the history of Jewish messianic movements, Sabbatianism foremost among them – are but a small sample of a whole hidden collection which, one hopes, will soon be published.
“Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah: la-Havanat ha-Shabta’ut” (Redemption Through Sin: Toward an Understa... more “Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah: la-Havanat ha-Shabta’ut” (Redemption Through Sin: Toward an Understanding of Sabbatianism) is perhaps the most thrilling essay written by Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), a highly influential text that signaled a new approach to the study of the Sabbatian movement. It offered a firm rebuke to the Wissenschaft des Judentums and strove to identify an ongoing non-negative nihilistic impulse latent within the movement. Scholem sought to rescue Sabbatianism from existing research paradigms and in doing so provide a new assessment of Jewish history. He presented the ideological background of Sabbatianism, the movement’s transition from a mass revival to a hidden heresy, as well as the various phases and figures that accompanied this process from the days of Sabbatai Sevi to the phantasms of Jacob Frank. Above all else, he endeavored to show a clear dialectical development leading from the belief in Sabbatai Sevi to religious nihilism, and from religious nihilism to the new world of the Enlightenment. The essay, which contains Scholem’s central theses on Sabbatianism and the course of modern Jewish history, employs powerful rhetoric that both disturbs and enlivens the reader. The essay will no doubt cause a stir among contemporary readers, as much as it did when it first appeared.
Full Volume | Printed 2024
יוסף חיים ברנר | הערכת עצמנו. על מנדלי מוכר ספרים
יוסף חיים ברנר | סדנא דגלותא
The book Be-ikvot Mashiah (Gershom Scholem, In the Footsteps of the Messiah, 1944), still hunte... more The book Be-ikvot Mashiah (Gershom Scholem, In the Footsteps of the Messiah, 1944), still hunted by academics and collectors to this day, signifies the first attempt to redeem the texts of the fallen Messiah’s followers. This was a beginning that shaped the study of Jewish mysticism in the twentieth century, even if complete editions of key Sabbatian texts continue to await their redeemer. The current reissuing of this book, in 390 copies, is nothing less than a call to action to scholars and a cry for a textual redemption that has been delayed. |
Professor Jonatan Meir serves as a faculty member in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is the author of numerous studies on various forms of Jewish Literature and Jewish Mysticism.
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First Edition, 2021
Paperback Edition, 2023
בעקבות משיח: אוסף מקורות מראשית התפתחות האמונה השבתאית מלוקטים מתוך כתביו של ר' אברהם בנימין נתן בן אלישע חיים אשכנזי המכונה נתן העזתי יוצאים לאור מתוך כתבי-היד על ידי גרשם שלום, ועתה הובא לדפוס מחדש עם תיקונים והשלמות על ידי יונתן מאיר, ספרי בלימה | עלו לשלום, ירושלים וברלין תשפ"ב - מהדורת פקסמיליה עם תוספות מרובות, עדכונים והשלמות- הפקה: יוסי שוייג | עיצוב: עדה ורדי - נדפס בש"ץ עותקים |
This book is a prelude to a larger task that lies ahead: the authoring of a comprehensive monog... more This book is a prelude to a larger task that lies ahead: the authoring of a comprehensive monograph on Gershom Scholem’s scholarly oeuvre as informed by the vast material preserved in his archive. Or, in other words, presenting the “Major Trends in the Study of Jewish Mysticism” as established by Scholem. This book is concerned with one—albeit central—component of this story that awaits to be told, that of Scholem’s study of the Sabbatian movement. By presenting for the first time the narrative arc of what is arguably Scholem’s greatest scholarly achievement as informed by his own archive, Gershom Scholem and the Research of Sabbatianism subverts many of the questionable theories put forward about Scholem’s hidden motives in studying this messianic movement while offering a clear picture of the development of the scholarship of this critical chapter in the history of Jewish mysticism.
Professor Jonatan Meir serves as a faculty member in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is the author of numerous studies on various forms of Jewish Literature and Jewish Mysticism. Dr. Shinichi Yamamoto is a scholar of Kabbalah and Sabbatianism at the University of Tokyo; he has recently published Kabbalah: Historical and Conceptual Perspectives (Tokyo 2015). The authors are the editors of Gershom Scholem, History of the Sabbatian Movement (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Schocken Institute for Jewish Research and Schocken Books, 2018)
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דרך ספר - שי לזאב גריס // דרך ספר מאגד מאמרים העוסקים בפנים שונות של תולדות הספר בתרבות היהודי... more דרך ספר - שי לזאב גריס //
דרך ספר מאגד מאמרים העוסקים בפנים שונות של תולדות הספר בתרבות היהודית. יש בו הזמנה למסע בעקבות ספרים וסופרים; הזמנה לעולם עשיר ומורכב שעד לאחרונה היה נחלתם של ביבליוגרפים בלבד. המאמרים עוסקים בשאלות הנוגעות להתהוותם של טקסטים, יצירתם והתקבלותם של ספרים, תפקידם בהנחלת ידע ובעיצוב תודעתם של המוני בית ישראל, כמו גם למקומם של ספרים בתרבות היהודית בשלבים קריטים ומשתנים. דרך ניתוח פאראטקסים, סוגות ספרותיות שונות, עיונים בספרות קודש וחול, וניתוחים היסטוריים וספרותיים, נחשפת כאן תמונה עשירה של סוכני תרבות עלומים, ספרים גנוזים ותלאות של מחברים ומדפיסים. לא הספר המוגמר עומד במרכז המאמרים שלפנינו, אלא המסכת המופלאה והדינמית של מעשה הספר, דרך הספר, מעשה שאין לו סוף.
פרופסור זאב גריס הוא פרופסור אמריטוס במחלקה למחשבת ישראל ע"ש גולדשטיין-גורן באוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב. בין כתביו הרבים, שפרצו דרך במחקר תולדות הספר העברי, יש לציין את הספרים: ספר סופר וסיפור בראשית החסידות: מן הבעש"ט ועד מנחם מנדל מקוצק, תל-אביב: הקיבוץ המאוחד, ספריית הילל בן חיים למדעי היהדות, תשנ"ב; הספר כסוכן תרבות בשנים ת"ס-תר"ס (1900-1700), תל-אביב: הקיבוץ המאוחד, ספריית הילל בן חיים למדעי היהדות, תשס"ב; הספר העברי: פרקים לתולדותיו (סדרת אסופות, י), ירושלים: מוסד ביאליק, תשע"ו.
משתתפים בקובץ נַחֵם אילן • יעקב אלבוים • יעקב בלידשטיין • שלמה ברגר • אבריאל בר-לבב • עמוס גולדרייך • רועי גולדשמידט • יוסף מ' דובאוויק • בועז הוס • זאב הרוי • צחי וייס • מוטי זלקין • ברכה זק • משה חלמיש • עודד ישראלי • חגית כהן • דניאל י' לסקר • יונתן מאיר • רון מרגולין • ענת נבות • נורית פיינשטיין • משה מ' פיירשטיין • דוד צרי • משה דוד צ'צ'יק • יועד קדרי • ניחם רוס • אברהם (רמי) ריינר • דב שוורץ • יוסף שלמון
These lectures, originally delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in Jerusalem... more These lectures, originally delivered at the Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in Jerusalem in 2019, broadly survey the development of the literary and theological image of R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov from the emergence of Hasidism in the mid-eighteenth century until the early twentieth century. This work constitutes a groundbreaking attempt to examine the numerous and oftentimes fantastic legends surrounding the historical figure of the Ba’al Shem Tov and assess the various attitudes toward him expressed in the literature of Hasidism, the Haskalah, and modern academic scholarship./ First Lecture - In Praise of the Ba’al Shem Tov and the Beginnings of Hasidism / Second Lecture - Satires, Stories, and Imaginary Praises / Third Lecture - Romanticism, Research, and Hagiography with Footnotes
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Introduction / In the Secret Place of the Soul: Opening Chapters of a Book (1913) / Bordering Two... more Introduction / In the Secret Place of the Soul: Opening Chapters of a Book (1913) / Bordering Two Worlds: From the Notebook of a Dreamer (1919) / On the Hidden and the Concealed: Hidden Senses, Dreams (1921)
Abstract: The Warsaw journalist and religious thinker Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) was a complex individual whose diverse writings bespeak the many changes he underwent over the course of his life. The three essays collected in this volume reflect Zeitlin’s engagement with the emerging notion of religious experience. The first essay, “In the Secret Place of the Soul: Opening Chapters of a Book,” appeared in 1913 in response to William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. Here Zeitlin sought to author a “Varieties of Jewish Religious Experience,” drawn from the descriptive accounts of religious experience found in the Bible and hasidic texts, as a corrective to the Christian perspective of James’s work. The categories of religious experience he termed, “wonder,” “astonishment,” and “revelation,” would go on to inspire Abraham Joshua Heschel in the latter’s God in Search of Man (even if he did not credit Zeitlin). This work was never completed as planned. With the outbreak and ensuring violence of the First World War, Zeitlin was transformed, according to his testimony, into a clairvoyant visionary. He recorded his dreams, premonitions, and reflections on religious experience in a journal he referred to as his “Book of Visions.” A small excerpt published in 1919 as “Bordering Two Worlds: From the Notebook of a Dreamer,” which is all that survives from his journal, is the second essay presented in this volume. Zeitlin’s dreams and visions were ill received by friends and critics alike, prompting him in 1921 to publish a response in his defense, “On the Hidden and the Concealed,” the third essay in this collection. This brief rejoinder, itself presented as the beginnings of a larger work on esoteric phenomena, outlines the theoretical underpinnings of a system of hidden senses and intuition—borrowed directly from the American New Thought writer Ralph Waldo Trine—which Zeitlin believed demonstrated the reality of prophetic dreams. “In the Secret Place of the Soul,” “Bordering Two Worlds,” and “On the Hidden and the Concealed” were later reissued with significant censorship, omissions, and textual revisions by Aaron Zeitlin in 1960 in the volume Al Gvul Shnei Olamot, and are presented here for the first time in their original form. Although written at different times, the three essays collected in this volume together present Hillel Zeitlin’s innovative conception of Jewish religiosity and inner experience, critical elements within the broader picture of his writings and activities.
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הלל צייטלין - בחביון הנשמה
Introduction / Shekhinah: Contemplation (1908) / Transcendent Beauty: Lyric Compositions Drawn fr... more Introduction / Shekhinah: Contemplation (1908) / Transcendent Beauty: Lyric Compositions Drawn from the Aggadah and Kabbalah (1908) / The Thirst: A Vision of the Heart (1909)
Abstract: The writings of the Warsaw journalist and mystic Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) are a reflection of the various stages of his life. The essays collected in this volume were authored in 1908-1909, critical years in which Zeitlin emerged as an exceptional religious thinker rooted at once in the depths of heresy. This standpoint was spurred, in part, by the pessimism of the Russian-Jewish philosopher Lev Shestov, whom Zeitlin later styled “the most original Jew I have ever encountered.” The three essays collected in this volume share this dynamic of profound heresy and faith. The first two essays, “Shekhinah: Contemplation” and “Transcendent Beauty: Lyric Compositions Drawn from the Aggadah and Kabbalah,” both published in 1908, are composed of textual fragments taken from rabbinic and kabbalistic literature. Here Zeitlin sought to clarify and shed light on the Jewish mythos and its resplendent imagery. “Shekhinah,” in particular, made a great impression on the young Gershom Scholem, who penned a German translation of the piece for Martin Buber’s Der Jude, although it was ultimately shelved. The third essay in this volume, “The Thirst: A Vision of the Heart,” published in 1909, is a response to David Frischman’s Hebrew translation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which appeared that same year in the journal Reshafim. Here Zeitlin gave expression to the unceasing search for a new God prompted by the Nietzschean death of God, a quest whose only terminus is the voice of God calling to be searched. “Shekhinah” and “Transcendent Beauty” were reissued by Aaron Zeitlin in 1960 in the volume Al Gvul Shnei Olamot, yet that edition was marred by censorship, omissions, and textual revisions to the extent that what was published were entirely different works. “Shekhinah,” “Transcendent Beauty,” and “The Thirst” are here presented in their original form, profound literary expressions of the religious truth found in the depths of heresy.
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הלל צייטלין - געגועים ליופי
Translated and published without the knowledge of the author
יונתן מאיר | חמישה ספרים על שבתאות
In 1953, Dov Sadan published a short, provocative manuscript titled “Ḥezyoni Hitul” (Scenes of je... more In 1953, Dov Sadan published a short, provocative manuscript titled “Ḥezyoni Hitul” (Scenes of jest), a text that for unclear reasons had been overlooked until that point. In consideration of this work’s important and aesthetic value, we have reissued it here on the basis of a recently discovered manuscript. The context of the manuscript is clear: the publication of Shivḥei ha-Besht (In praise of the Baal Shem Tov) in Kopust in late 1814 and in a Yiddish version in Ostroh in 1816. Shivḥei ha-Besht shocked readers with its depictions of the wondrous deeds of Israel Baal Shem Tov (the Besht). It was the first attempt, in the mode of hagiography, to describe the persona of the Besht at a time when many had already lay claim to his legacy and disseminated the teachings of Hasidism. With new hasidic courts and tsaddikim appearing in every corner, there was a need for an account of the founder and his praises, a sort of propaganda literature that would relate his wonders and present him as a new embodiment of R. Isaac Luria for contemporary tsaddikim to emulate. It comes as no surprise that the Maskilim rushed to address the book, mocking it in satires and parodies. They imagined that by undermining the image of the Besht and mocking his praises they would cause people to abandon the living tsaddikim. The text presented here contains three satirical portrayals (or scenes) of a meeting between simple people and wonder-working hasidic rebbes who claim authority from the Besht. Shivḥei ha-Besht stands in the background here as an inspiration for imaginary miracles and as a holy book with magical powers. The three scenes were written between the years 1816 and 1824. They attempt to depict the making of hasidic hagiography, as well as the dirty truth of how the tsaddikim actually perform their miracles. In other words, how the tsaddikim act cunningly to deceive the public while articulating their miraculous deeds in hagiographic tones à la Shivḥei ha-Besht. This text is important not only for its content, language, style, and the context in which it was written, but also on account of its author, Yaakov Shmuel Bik (1772–1831), a well-known Galician Maskil who moved between complex worlds, namely those of the Galician rabbinate, Hasidism, and the Haskalah.
תולדות ר' שמואל הורוויץ וסדר נסיעתו לאומן (1932-1928)
ראיון קצר מאוד על הבעש"ט https://www.bac.org.il/blog/?postID=20020
יונתן מאיר | איגרת גנוזה להגנת חסידות ברסלב
“Al Tilei Beit Frank” (Upon the Ruins of the House of Frank), among the more radical texts penn... more “Al Tilei Beit Frank” (Upon the Ruins of the House of Frank), among the more radical texts penned by Zalman Shazar (Rubaschow), was first printed in a limited bibliophile edition in Leipzig in 1923. While an earlier version had appeared in 1920 as “Ikvot Ahim Ovdim” (Footsteps of Lost Brothers), here the work was expanded and stylistically improved. The romantic text was inspired by a visit to Offenbach, the final residence of Jacob Frank. Yet this was no mere travel account, but an associative appraisal of Frankism as a whole in light of the books, images, and documents from Frank’s followers preserved in the local museum. The accompanying images are not only striking but serve as a springboard for the essay itself; their very presence contributes depth and significance to the text as a whole. It is no surprise, then, that the work made a strong impression. Gershom Scholem praised “Al Tilei Beit Frank” in his groundbreaking essay “Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Averah” (1936), going so far as to pronounce that the essay demonstrated “indications of a true appreciation of complexities of Sabbatianian psychology” and served as an opening to further research into the movement. | A facsimile edition of the first edition is printed here alongside a comprehensive afterward touching on Shazar’s approach to the study of Sabbatianism.
orders: https://blimabooks.com/products/breakdown הקדמה קטנה לשכול וכשלון (1920)
Abstract: The history of the Mekitze Nirdamim (“rousers of those who slumber”) society is quite... more Abstract: The history of the Mekitze Nirdamim (“rousers of those who slumber”) society is quite peculiar. Ephraim E. Urbach offered a preliminary account of the society’s history in a publication marking its hundredth anniversary, and my remarks here will build onenschaft des his account from a slightly different perspective. When looking at the society’s activities, one can speak of three distinct periods: a first period in Eastern Prussia under the leadership of Eliezer Lipmann Silbermann, owner of the Ha-Maggid newspaper, a period that extended for ten years and whose success was largely located in Eastern Europe; a second period in Berlin under the domineering leadership of Abraham Berliner, a period centered in Western Europe, that extended for over twenty years; and a third period in the Land of Israel, led initially by David Yellin, Simcha Assaf, and S.Y. Agnon. We are perhaps already in a fourth period. I will introduce each period and focus on several points relating to the pre-history of the society, the relation between East and West, and Mekitze Nirdamim’s ties to several other projects that threatened to swallow it alive. In doing so, I will draw attention to the society’s roots in Eastern Europe.
This article explores the history and ideas of Hillel Zeitlin’s (1871–1942) mystical diary. The... more This article explores the history and ideas of Hillel Zeitlin’s (1871–1942) mystical diary. The first part of the diary appeared in print in Warsaw in 1919, but Zeitlin continued to write the diary until the European Holocaust, and the manuscript is presumed lost. This paper aims to reconstruct the content of the lost part of the diary on the basis of the manuscript correspondence between Zeitlin and other authors. It also discusses Zeitlin’s unsuccessful attempts to have his diary published. By exploring this episode in Zeitlin’s intellectual biography, this article examines the often-neglected mystical dimension of his oeuvre and the effect of diaristic writing on his late works.
חמש הערות – פתח דבר להרצאות שלום על התנועות המשיחיות בישראל | In parallel with his prolific work ... more חמש הערות – פתח דבר להרצאות שלום על התנועות המשיחיות בישראל | In parallel with his prolific work on Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem delivered many public lectures. He usually chose to lecture on subjects he was researching at the time, in conjunction with his courses at the Hebrew University. These lectures dealt with particular topics, and at times Scholem delivered lecture series on wider themes. At times he wrote thorough lecture notes, but usually he only left general comments in the form of subject headings. Some of these lectures were recorded by others, in preparation for the possibility of publication. Around the time of his death, there was an initiative to publish new editions of Scholem’s writings. In this context, several of these types of lecture were printed (including a number of lectures related to messianism). Most, however, were hidden away in his archive, their importance notwithstanding. They sank into the abyss – along with the editorial and publication project. Now, at a time when Scholem’s cultural presence is at a peak, and when countless different interpretations of his works have been forwarded, the time seems ripe to return to his “hidden” texts, and to redouble the efforts to publish his scattered and archival writings. The series of lectures from 1947 – which focus on the history of Jewish messianic movements, Sabbatianism foremost among them – are but a small sample of a whole hidden collection which, one hopes, will soon be published.
פתח דבר למצוה הבאה בעברה - נוסח כתב היד
![Research paper thumbnail of 'Херсонская гениза [The Kherson Genizah]', Идеи без границ [Ideas without Borders], Online Magzine (February 9, 2023) | (Russian)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/99139762/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Сериал «Стертые следы. Загадки еврейской истории Украины» проекта «Идеи без границ» культурного... more Сериал «Стертые следы. Загадки еврейской истории Украины» проекта «Идеи без границ» культурного центра Бейт Ави Хай в Иерусалиме
Йонатан Меир — профессор кафедры истории еврейской мысли Университета им. Бен-Гуриона в Негеве.
![Research paper thumbnail of 'Убийство в Лемберге [A Murder in Lemberg]', Идеи без границ [Ideas without Borders], Online Magzine (February 5, 2023) | (Russian)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/99139760/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Сериал «Стертые следы. Загадки еврейской истории Украины» проекта «Идеи без границ» культурного ц... more Сериал «Стертые следы. Загадки еврейской истории Украины» проекта «Идеи без границ» культурного центра Бейт Ави Хай в Иерусалиме
Йонатан Меир — профессор кафедры истории еврейской мысли Университета им. Бен-Гуриона в Негеве.
The interwar period was a time of great political and social foment for the Jews of Eastern Europ... more The interwar period was a time of great political and social foment for the Jews of Eastern Europe. As empires crumbled and independent nation-states emerged in their place, new political orders took root that offered minority groups greater opportunity for political organization, if not the actual realization of their promised rights. Spurred by these newfound political opportunities, Jews in Eastern Europe formed a rash of parties, movements, and social organizations, each with their own platform and aims. This was the so-called “Golden Age of Jewish Politics” in which numerous ideologies, each with their own party apparatus and vision for the Jewish future, vied for the hearts and minds of the younger generation. These new organizational forms were seized upon by religious leaders, as well. Figures such as R. Yosef Yitzhak Schneersohn of Habad-Lubavitch, Nathan Birnbaum, and R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczno Rebbe, conceived various religious organizations, societies, and other frameworks that would effect change outside of the dominant political discourse. One such figure was Hillel Zeitlin (1871–1942), a leading Polish-Jewish journalist and religious intellectual who for close to two decades sought in vain to establish fraternal societies for the spiritual and ethical revival of the Jewish people. Driven by a messianic zeal, Zeitlin identified his period as leading up to the end of days, a determination that demanded immediate action. His final manifesto, “On Select Redeemers,” appears here for the first time in English translation.
https://traditiononline.org/hillel-zeitlins-on-select-redeemers/
Gershom Scholem wrote about the Sabbatian movement for over fifty years. He revisited the topic i... more Gershom Scholem wrote about the Sabbatian movement for over fifty years. He revisited the topic in different ways in lectures, articles, and his great book Sabbatai Sevi and the Sabbatian Movement in His Lifetime. His archive at the National Library of Israel holds dozens of files related to Sabbatianism that contain drafts, notes, and alternative versions that were never incorporated into his published work. This pertains in particular to late Sabbatianism, the heresy to which Scholem intended to devote a dedicated volume (titled “Underground Sabbatianism”) that he never completed. Notes taken by Ehud ben Ezer of a complete lecture series from 1960–1961 on late Sabbatianism—or, to be precise, Sabbatianism following the death of Sabbatai Sevi—were published for the first time this past year. The Scholem Archive likewise contains dozens of files connected to work carried out at the Research Institute for Kabbalah housed at the Schocken Library (1939–1948); among these are several typescripts of Sabbatian manuscripts. At the Scholem Archive and Scholem Library one can also find hundreds of handwritten corrections to Sabbatai Sevi and the Sabbatian Movement in His Lifetime that include notes, emendations, and addenda. These important corrections were only partially incorporated into the English translation of the book and will be published in full elsewhere. In commemoration of 65 years since the initial publication of Sabbatai Sevi and the Sabbatian Movement in His Lifetime in 1957, we have collected several highly interesting fragments from the Scholem Archive that clarify various aspects of the Sabbatian movement. The fragments, in turn, also shed light on Scholem’s approach as a scholar and convey several interesting anecdotes from the history of the Sabbatian movement that did not make it into Scholem’s published work.
Comparatively little has been written on Nehemiah Hiyyah Hayon. He stood, after all, at the margi... more Comparatively little has been written on Nehemiah Hiyyah Hayon. He stood, after all, at the margins of the Sabbatian affair. He had no role in the tumultuous years of Sabbatai Sevi and Nathan of Gaza, while he predated the major disputes sparked by R. Yaakov Emden in the mid-eighteenth century (even if his name was frequently mentioned in that context as a progenitor of unbounded heresy). He is the only one among the Sabbatians to publish his own writings (in Berlin and Amsterdam), although genuine Sabbatian content, or even allusions to Sabbatai Sevi’s name, are missing from his works (notwithstanding his publication of the “Secret of Faith” attributed to Sabbatai). He was frequently castigated on account of the Sabbatian heresy allegedly found in his writings, yet he denied any such connection and, moreover, viewed himself as standing in opposition to, or above, the Sabbatians of his day, with many of whom he was well acquainted. He spent years as an itinerant ba’al shem and visionary who received professed revelations from Elijah and Metatron, yet none of this comes across in the abstract theology that makes up his writings. This highly paradoxical figure, in sum, is worthy of a dedicated monograph. In this article I wish to offer a further contribution to the existing scholarship on Hayon, one that if not directly related to his kabbalistic writings, is pertinent to the context in which they were authored: the renewed discourse surrounding the limits of Kabbalah.
Joseph G. Weiss (1918–1969) arrived in Jerusalem from Budapest in December 1939 and enrolled at t... more Joseph G. Weiss (1918–1969) arrived in Jerusalem from Budapest in December 1939 and enrolled at the Hebrew University, where he studied Jewish history, Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and general philosophy. He attended lectures by Julius Guttmann, Shmuel Hugo Bergmann, Yitzhak Baer, Gershom Scholem, and others. Weiss initially intended to study the medieval poetry of the Jews of Spain, and even wrote several articles on Hebrew literature, yet he quickly drew close to Scholem and the study of Kabbalah. Weiss took a rather critical attitude toward developments in Palestine and appears to have refrained from political engagement at this time, notwithstanding the Zionist fervor in the spirit of Martin Buber that brought him to Palestine in the first place. He received his M.A. from the Faculty of the Humanities in 1947 and proceeded to write a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Scholem, at first on R. Nahman of Bratslav and subsequently on the Baal Shem Tov. The complicated history of the dissertation that he submitted in 1950 on dialectical faith in the teachings of R. Nahman has long been clouded in mystery, circumstances that have given rise to spurious claims made by journalists and scholars alike who have sought to portray Scholem in a certain light. One such rumor, which is utterly devoid of any basis in fact, claims that Scholem compelled Weiss to leave Jerusalem for London due to his refusal to accept the dissertation. Others have read the affair as a sort of mythological struggle between two research approaches: historical-philological versus spiritual-existential, an interpretation that is far removed from reality. The events, it seems, served as fertile ground for scholars in search of an imaginary anchor for their own ideas, a smokescreen for a new approach. A significant breakthrough came with the publication by Noam Zadoff of an important selection of Scholem and Weiss’s correspondence, which sheds light on several key issues. With that, a complete account of the dissertation, presented in its full context (not to mention developments over the years in Weiss’s approach to the study of Bratslav Hasidism), has not been provided to this date, and is presented here for the first time. New material from the Schocken Library archive, the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People, the archive of the Hebrew University, and various archives held at the National Library of Israel, including a voluminous correspondence between Weiss and his friend Samuel Miklos Stern, allow us to present a far broader and more accurate picture of the events. This is a significant contribution not only to the study of Scholem and Weiss, but to the history of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University, as a whole.
Compared to his other fields of research, Gershom Scholem's studies of Hasidism were quite limite... more Compared to his other fields of research, Gershom Scholem's studies of Hasidism were quite limited. In the major research plans which he developed in the 1920s and '30s-for example in his detailed letter to H.N. Bialik or his early plans for the Institute for Kabbalah at the Schocken Library-he makes no mention of this field of research. Still, he continually and systematically published on Hasidism over the years. Scholem's scattered articles on Hasidism were collected in recent years by David Assaf and Esther Liebes in the anthology "The Latest Phase," with updates and additions; this collection gives us a full picture of Scholem's contribution to the field. Much scholarship has also been dedicated to the controversy between Scholem and Martin Buber over Hasidism, or to be more precise, to the complex relationship between the two over the years. Some have come to read Scholem's studies of Hasidism from this vantage point alone. However, Scholem's deep interest in Hasidism was expressed in other ways: in his large collection of books which includes many Hasidic works with his handwritten marginal notes; in his drafts and notes for articles which were never completed; and in lectures on the subject which he gave over the years. This material remains hidden in the Gershom Scholem Archive and has never been collected. Of exceptional importance is a manuscript of a complete book on Hasidism in English, composed towards the end of 1948, which provided the basis of the lectures that Scholem gave in the United States in March 1949. This book, written in the context of his complicated relationship with Salman Z. Schocken, was also the basis of many studies which Scholem published years late, and he continually updated it over many years. Our interest here is in another hidden text: a series of early lectures on Hasidism which Scholem gave in Hebrew in 1945. This series raises several fundamental questions about Scholem's studies of Hasidism and their relationship to Buber's projects, and shows with great clarity the manner in which Scholem wanted to portray Hasidism.
Books Event: (1) Three Lectures on Habad Hasidism, Jerusalem: Schocken Institute for Jewish Resea... more Books Event: (1) Three Lectures on Habad Hasidism, Jerusalem: Schocken Institute for Jewish Research, 2024; (2) Wrestling with the Esoteric: Three Lectures on Yehuda Leib Ashlag and 20th Century Kabbalah, Jerusalem: Schocken Institute for Jewish Research, 2024; (3) Three Lectures on Bratslav Hasidism, Jerusalem: Schocken Institute for Jewish Research, 2024
יונתן מאיר | הז'אנר הסאטירי ואביזרייהו: כיצד לא לקרוא סאטירות אנטי-חסידיות
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv2rnAORLiVCDxp8oyDKnO38rzP-AGYHW || בעקבות הב... more Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv2rnAORLiVCDxp8oyDKnO38rzP-AGYHW ||
בעקבות הבעש"ט: דימויים, היסטוריה ותאולוגיה. הסדרה מציעה קריאה צמודה בטקסטים מרכזיים הנוגעים לר' ישראל בעל שם טוב ולראשית התנועה החסידית. דרך הצגת אגרות, חיבורים תיאולוגיים, חזיונות, ספרות הגיוגרפית ומחקר, ננסה לדלות את דמותו ההיסטורית והמיתולוגית של הבעש"ט, דמות שנעטפה באגודת שונות ומשונות (ראש להם בספר שבחי הבעש"ט). נדון בשלל דימויים מימי ראשית החסידות במחצית השנייה של המאה השמונה עשרה ועד לתחילת המאה העשרים – דימויים הגיוגרפיים, סאטיריים ורומנטיים – המשפיעים עד לימינו. סדר ההרצאות: (1) דמותו המיתולוגית של הבעש"ט. (2) שברירים היסטוריים ותאולוגיים. (3) בסבך שבחי הבעש"ט. (4) תיקון המינות ואורתודוקסיה. (5) הבעש"ט במאה העשרים | הרצאות זום. כניסה חופשית אך יש צורך להרשם | פרופ' יונתן מאיר מלמד במחלקה למחשבת ישראל על-שם גולדשטיין-גורן באוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב והוא חבר האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים
![Research paper thumbnail of ‘Schocken Library, Rehavia’, На карте не значится: Скрытые книжные сокровища Иерусалима [Of the Map: Hidden Book Treasures of Jerusalem], Идеи без границ Beit Avi Chai, April 10, 2024 (Poster)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/113193391/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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В силу специфики формата «полевых семинаров», эта программа доступна лишь ограниченным группам до 25 человек.
Участники могут приобрести билет на каждый вечер отдельно, на несколько вечеров, или на всю программу целиком
https://www.bac.org.il/ru/
![Research paper thumbnail of ‘Meir Benayahu Collection, Rehavia’, На карте не значится: Скрытые книжные сокровища Иерусалима [Of the Map: Hidden Book Treasures of Jerusalem], Идеи без границ Beit Avi Chai, April 9, 2024 (Poster)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/113193270/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](рехдневная вечерняя экскурсионно-образовательная программа даст вам редкую возможность исследов... more рехдневная вечерняя экскурсионно-образовательная программа даст вам редкую возможность исследовать скрытые книжные сокровища Иерусалима, посетить библиотеки и частные коллекции с ограниченным доступом, исторические типографии и мастерские редких и исчезающих книжных ремёсел.
В силу специфики формата «полевых семинаров», эта программа доступна лишь ограниченным группам до 25 человек.
Участники могут приобрести билет на каждый вечер отдельно, на несколько вечеров, или на всю программу целиком
https://www.bac.org.il/ru/
אש זרה - שיחה עם יונתן מאיר https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan/podcasts/p-8234/689396/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W\_x9DN4H3k
מראיינים: הילל מליניאק וקובי פישר
בתנועה השבתאית התפתחה תיאולוגיה רדיקלית שהשפיעה על ההיסטוריה היהודית בעת החדשה. בסדרת השיעורים נק... more בתנועה השבתאית התפתחה תיאולוגיה רדיקלית שהשפיעה על ההיסטוריה היהודית בעת החדשה. בסדרת השיעורים נקרא קריאה צמודה בטקסטים מרכזיים הנוגעים לשבתי צבי ולתנועה השבתאית. דרך הצגת אגרות, חיבורים תיאולוגיים, חזיונות, זיכרונות, ספרות בדיונית ומחקר, נעמוד על ההתפתחות והדימויים של תנועה מפעימה זו, המשפיעים עד לימינו אנו. | פרופ' יונתן מאיר מלמד במחלקה למחשבת ישראל על שם גולדשטיין-גורן באוניברסיטת בן גוריון בנגב, והוא חבר האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים. | הרשמה חינם: playlist - all seven lectures: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv2rnAORLiVDvqL43Wm6XI4dVsLjykJzg |
ספרי בלימה וכביש אחד מזמינים אתכם לערב מיוחד לכבודו של גרשם שלום, בו נחגוג את הוצאתם לאור של שלוש... more ספרי בלימה וכביש אחד מזמינים אתכם לערב מיוחד לכבודו של גרשם שלום, בו נחגוג את הוצאתם לאור של שלושה ספרים חדשים ומרתקים ◆ מצוה הבאה בעבירה ◆ התנועות המשיחיות בישראל ◆ אלכימיה וקבלה | בתכנית: הרצאות קצרות מאת פרופ' רחל אליאור, פרופ' יונתן מאיר, ד"ר לינה ברוך, ואבישלום פון שילוח שיקריא משיריו החדשים והישנים. מנחה: ד״ר אלכסנדרה מנדלבום | לרכישת הספרים : https://blimabooks.com/ video: https://youtu.be/EXxuAD0seBU?t=3057
The lectures will present a broad survey of Bratslav Hasidism from its origins in the late eighte... more The lectures will present a broad survey of Bratslav Hasidism from its origins in the late eighteenth century to the highly visible forms it assumed in the twentieth century. Looking past the commonly held romantic image of Bratslav Hasidism, we will uncover the dynamism of this complex hasidic group and the daring theological responses it has developed in the wake of changing historical circumstances. | First Lecture: The Loneliness of R. Nahman of Bratslav. | Second Lecture: R. Natan of Nemirov and the Formation of Bratslav Hasidism in the Nineteenth Century. | Third Lecture: The Renaissance of Bratslav Hasidism in Early-Twentieth-Century Poland. || ההרצאות יציגו תמונה רחבה של תולדות חסידות ברסלב, מראשיתה בשלהי המאה השמונה עשרה ועד לגילוייה המוחצנים במאה העשרים. בניגוד לתמונה הרומנטית המקובלת נעמוד על הדינמיות שבחסידות מורכבת זו ועל התיאולוגיה הנועזת שהתפתחה בה ושעברה תמורות ושינויים לנוכח מציאות היסטורית משתנה | First Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTC2JLz-CwY | Second Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9I1PERsvNE | Third Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSTqc3Jtis - - -
תיקון שבתי צבי: שבתאות וחסידות
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgIUaYiXFyY
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-unbn8vh88
הרנסנס של חסידות ברסלב https://www.isf.org.il/#/
ספר מאורעות צבי ועיצוב דמותה של השבתאות במאה התשע עשרה (כולל מהדורה מדעית של הספר ושל כתב היד) ... more ספר מאורעות צבי ועיצוב דמותה של השבתאות במאה התשע עשרה
(כולל מהדורה מדעית של הספר ושל כתב היד)
Israel Science Foundation http://www.isf.org.il
Israel Science Foundation http://www.isf.org.il
The Jewish enlightenment (the Haskalah movement) in Eastern Europe in the first half of the ninet... more The Jewish enlightenment (the Haskalah movement) in Eastern Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century is best known for its negative relationship to Hasidism and for its intellectual tendencies. Against this background various angry missives were written, deprecating this growing mystical movement which was rising in popularity, as well as various satires aimed at its followers and leaders. In order to thwart the new movement, the Maskilim sought to define Hasidism as an errant sect, not only in relation to
קריאה בספר סיפורי מעשיות לר' נחמן מברסלב
יונתן מאיר | שבתי צבי והתנועה השבתאית בימי חייו
יונתן מאיר | שבתאות ומינות במאה השמונה עשרה
This course examines the development of messianism in Habad Hasidism during the twentieth century... more This course examines the development of messianism in Habad Hasidism during the twentieth century under the leadership of R. Yosef Yitshak Schneersohn (1880–1950) and his successor, R. Menahem Mendel Schneersohn (1902–1994). We will read key Habad texts and discuss the historical, sociological, and theological developments that led to the creation of this new messianic movement whose remnants are active to this day.
This seminar offers a broad survey of the development of Jewish hagiographical literature, from... more This seminar offers a broad survey of the development of Jewish hagiographical literature, from Haside Ashkenaz and the formation of the Mayse-bukh collection, to legends of Safed (Shivhe ha-Ari), and up to the genre’s renaissance with the Baal Shem Tov and the emergence of modern Hasidism (chiefly Shivhe ha-Besht). The seminar will draw attention to the significance of both print and manuscript works and expose the political underpinnings of literary production throughout history. The seminar will consist foremost of close readings of texts in Hebrew and Yiddish and the analysis of major historiographical trends.
This seminar examines the development in Germany over the course of the nineteenth century of Wis... more This seminar examines the development in Germany over the course of the nineteenth century of Wissenschaft des Judentums, as well as key trends in the academic study of Judaism as conducted in Eastern Europe up to the early twentieth century. The seminar will note various stages of Jewish historiography, with a focus on differing attitudes toward Jewish mysticism, as well as tensions between rationalism, romanticism, and nationalism. The seminar will be based on a close reading of texts in German, Hebrew, and Yiddish.
This course will present a broad historical and theological survey of a prominent eighteenth-cent... more This course will present a broad historical and theological survey of a prominent eighteenth-century messianic episode centered around the controversial figure of Jacob Frank. Frank appears at times as a messianic aspirant, yet at other times as a fraud and scoundrel, a man ruled by destructive tendencies who passed through religions in order to nullify them all. Yet he possessed exceptional charisma, a poetic cunning, and a revolutionary religious voice and was a “nihilistic” teacher with a syncretic vision of his own. The course will examine the rise and fall of the Frankist movement and its depiction within both literature and scholarship.
This course offers a broad survey of trends in the academic study of Hasidism in the twentieth ce... more This course offers a broad survey of trends in the academic study of Hasidism in the twentieth century. We will discuss the emergence of this branch of scholarship within the broader trends of Jewish Studies and the humanities. In doing so we will shed light, as well, on historical and theological phenomena which yet to receive close scholarly attention, and broadly discuss developments within Hasidism itself. Part of the course will be devoted to the hasidic renaissance of the twentieth century and an examination of recent academic scholarship on Hasidism.
This seminar will be based on readings of foundational texts from the eighteenth and nineteenth c... more This seminar will be based on readings of foundational texts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries related to Sabbatianism, Hersey and Hasidism. The discussion will provide a broad picture of the 18th Century Jewish society (especially in Eastern Europe) and will spread new light on the Theological and historical background of Hasidism, and on the new discourse concerning the limits of religion and the essence of Heresy
This course offers a broad survey of the history and development of Hasidism, from the Ba’al Shem... more This course offers a broad survey of the history and development of Hasidism, from the Ba’al Shem Tov and the circles surrounding him in the eighteenth century, to the emergence of the leadership model of the tzaddik and the hasidic court throughout the nineteenth century, and up to the diffuse variations of the movement in the twentieth century. Through readings of key hasidic texts we will note, as well, trends in the research of Hasidism. At the heart of the course lies the depiction of the historical and theological development—as well as the many changes—of Hasidism throughout the centuries.
