|
Showing 1 - 11 of
11 matches in All Departments
The Ba'al Shem Tov is an elusive subject for historians because
documentary evidence about his life is scanty and equivocal. Until
now, much of what was known about him was based on stories compiled
more than a generation after his death, many of which serve more to
mythologize him than to describe him. The portrait Moshe Rosman
provides is drawn from life instead of from myth. Based on
innovative critical analysis of familiar and previously unexplored
archival sources, and concentrating on accounts that can be
attributed to the Besht or to contemporary eyewitnesses, this book
goes further than any previous work in uncovering the historical
Ba'al Shem Tov. Additionally, documents in Polish and Hebrew
discovered by Professor Rosman during his research for the book
enable him to give the first detailed description of the cultural,
social, economic, and political context of the Besht's life.
Founder of Hasidism supplies the history behind the legend. It
presents the best, most convincing description that can be drawn
from the existing documentary evidence, changing our understanding
of the Besht and with it the master-narrative of hasidism. A
substantial new introduction considers what has changed in the
study of Hasidism since the influential first edition was
published, these changes being in part due to the effect of the
book. New approaches, new sources, and new interpretations have
been introduced, and these are reviewed and critically assessed.
Criticisms of the original edition are answered and key issues
reconsidered, including the authenticity of the various versions of
the Holy Epistle; the ways in which Jacob Joseph of Polonne's books
can be utilized as historical sources; and the relationship to
history of the stories about the Ba'al Shem Tov in the
hagiographical collection Shivhei Ha-Besht.
With great vigour and from the vantage point of long experience of
writing and teaching Jewish history, Moshe Rosman treats the key
questions that postmodernism raises for the writing of Jewish
history. What is the relationship between Jewish culture and
history and those of the non-Jews among whom Jews live? Can we-in
the light of postmodernist thought-speak of a continuous, coherent
Jewish People, with a distinct culture and history? What in fact is
Jewish cultural history, and how can it be written? How does gender
transform the Jewish historical narrative? How does Jewish history
fit into the multicultural paradigm? Has Jewish history entered a
postmodern phase? How can Jewish history utilize the methodologies
of other disciplines to accomplish its task? All these are
questions that Jewish historians need to think about if their work
is to be taken seriously by mainstream historians and
intellectuals, or indeed by educated Jews interested in
understanding their own cultural and historical past. While
engaging with the questions raised by postmodernists, the author
adopts a critical stance towards their work. His basic claim is
that it is possible to incorporate, judiciously, postmodern
innovations into historical scholarship that is still based on
documentary research and critical analysis. The resulting endeavor
might be termed 'a reformed positivism'. Rosman presents a
concentrated, coherent, cogent argument as to what considerations
must be brought to bear on the writing of Jewish history today. By
highlighting in one book the issues raised by postmodernism, How
Jewish is Jewish History? provides those in the field with a
foundation from which to discuss how it should be practiced in
light of this generation's challenges. It is a valuable resource
for students of Jewish history and historiography and a handy tool
for scholars who must confront the issues aired here in their own
more narrowly focused scholarly works.
National Jewish Book Awards Winner of the Anthologies and
Collections Award, 2009. Europe has changed greatly in the last
century. Political, social, and ideological transformations have
not only redrawn the map of the continent but have rewoven the
fabric of its culture. These changes have nourished widespread
reassessment in European historical research: in terms of its
presuppositions, its methodologies, its directions, its emphases,
and its scope. The political boundaries between nations and states,
along with the very concepts of 'nation' and 'boundary', have
changed significantly, and the self-consciousness of ethnic
minorities has likewise evolved in new directions. All these
developments have affected how the Jews of Europe perceive
themselves, and they help to shape the prism through which
historians view the Jewish past. This volume looks at the Jewish
past in the spirit of this reassessment. Part I reconsiders the
basic parameters of the subject as well as some of its fundamental
concepts, suggesting new assumptions and perspectives from which to
conduct future studies of European Jewish history. Topics covered
here include periodization and the definition of geographical
borders, antisemitism, gender and the history of Jewish women, and
notions of assimilation. Part II is devoted to articulating the
meaning of 'modernity' in the history of European Jewry and
demarcating key stages in its crystallization. Contributors here
reflect on the defining characteristics of a distinct early modern
period in European Jewish history, the Reformation and the Jews,
and the fundamental features of the Jewish experience in modern
times. Parts III and IV present two scholarly conversations as case
studies for the application of the critical and programmatic
categories considered thus far: the complex web of relationships
between Jews, Christians, and Jewish converts to Christianity
(Conversos, New Christians, Marranos) in fifteenth-century Spain;
and the impact of American Jewry on Jewish life in Europe in the
twentieth century, at a time when the dominant trend was one of
migration from Europe to the Americas. This timely volume suggests
a new framework for the study of Jewish history and helps to
contextualize it within the mainstream of historical scholarship.
CONTRIBUTORS: Ram Ben-Shalom, Miriam Bodian, Jeremy Cohen, Judah M.
Cohen, David Engel, Gershon David Hundert, Paula Hyman, Maud
Mandel, David Nirenberg, Moshe Rosman, David B. Ruderman, Daniel
Soyer
A must-read book for understanding this vibrant and influential
modern Jewish movement Hasidism originated in southeastern Poland,
in mystical circles centered on the figure of Israel Ba'al Shem
Tov, but it was only after his death in 1760 that a movement began
to spread. Today, Hasidism is witnessing a remarkable renaissance
around the world. This book provides the first comprehensive
history of the pietistic movement that shaped modern Judaism.
Written by an international team of scholars, its unique blend of
intellectual, religious, and social history demonstrates that, far
from being a throwback to the Middle Ages, Hasidism is a product of
modernity that forged its identity as a radical alternative to the
secular world.
Ada Rapoport-Albert has been a key player in the profound
transformation of the history of hasidism that has taken shape
since the 1970s. She has never lacked the courage to question
conventional wisdom, but neither has she overturned it lightly. The
essays in this volume show the erudition and creativity of her
contribution to rewriting the master-narrative of hasidic history.
Thanks to her we now know that eighteenth-century hasidism evolved
in a context of intense spirituality rather than political, social,
economic, or religious crisis. It did not represent the movement's
'classic period' and was not a project of democratization,
ameliorating the hierarchical structuring of religion and
spirituality. Eighteenth-century hasidism is more accurately
described as the formative and creative prelude to the mature
movement of the nineteenth century: initially neither
institutionalized nor centralized, it developed through a process
of differentiation from traditional ascetic-mystical hasidism. Its
elite leaders only became conscious of a distinctive group identity
after the Ba'al Shem Tov's death, and they subsequently spent the
period from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century
experimenting with various forms of doctrine, literature,
organization, leadership, and transfer of authority. Somewhat
surprisingly there was no attempt to introduce any revision of
women's status and role; in the examination of this area of
hasidism Rapoport-Albert's contribution has been singularly
revealing. Her work has emphasized that, contrary to hasidism's
thrust towards spiritualization of the physical, the movement
persisted in identifying women with an irredeemable materiality:
women could never escape their inherent sexuality and attain the
spiritual heights. Gender hierarchy therefore persisted and,
formally speaking, for the first 150 years or so of hasidism's
existence women were not counted as members of the group.
Twentieth-century Habad hasidim responded to modernist feminism by
re-evaluating the role of women, but just as Habad appropriated
modern rhetorical strategies to defend tradition, so it adopted
certain feminist postulates in order to create a counter-feminism
that would empower women without destabilizing traditional gender
roles. The essays in this volume are a fitting statement of
Professor Rapoport-Albert's importance to the study of hasidism, to
Jewish studies as a whole, and to the academic scrutiny of
religion. Written over a period of forty years, they have been
updated for this volume with regard to significant detail and to
take account of important works of scholarship written after they
were originally published.
The Jews of Pinsk, 1506-1880 is the first part of a major scholarly
project about a small city in Eastern Europe where Jews were a
majority of the population from the end of the eighteenth century.
Pinsk boasted both traditional rabbinic scholars and famous Hasidic
figures, and over time became an international trade emporium, a
center of the Jewish Enlightenment, a cradle of Zionism and the
Jewish Labor movement, and a place where Orthodoxy struggled
vigorously with modernity. The two volumes of Pinsk history were
originally part of a literature created by Jews who survived the
Holocaust and were determined to keep in memory a vital world that
flourished for half a millennium. In this case, the results are
extraordinary: no town of Eastern Europe has been described in such
fascinating detail, invaluable to Jewish and non-Jewish historians
alike. For the second volume of this two-volume collection, see The
Jews of Pinsk, 1881-1941.
Moshe Rosman's revolutionary approach has become a cornerstone of
Polish Jewish historiography. Challenging conventions, he asserts
that the 'marriage of convenience' between the Jews and the
Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dynamic relationship that,
though punctuated by crisis and persecution, developed into a saga
of overall achievement and stability. With that fundamental message
this book forges a thematic survey of Jewish history in early
modern Poland. These essays, written by Rosman over the course of a
distinguished career, have all been updated and enhanced with new
detail and nuanced arguments, taking account not only of new
archival material and research but also of the ongoing evolution of
the author's own knowledge and perspectives. Some appear here in
English for the first time. The volume's structure highlights key
topics for understanding the Polish Jewish past: relations between
Jews and other Poles; Jewish communal life; Polish Jewish women;
and hasidism. One section analyses how this past has been presented
in both scholarly and popular modes. The essays are crafted to
place them in dialogue with each other. Analytical introductions
weigh their significance in the light of modern and postmodern
Jewish and Polish historiography. An extensive general introduction
sets the context of the history portrayed here, while a thoughtful
conclusion elucidates the larger motifs that emerge.
|
Hasidism - A New History (Hardcover)
David Biale, David Assaf, Benjamin Brown, Uriel Gellman, Samuel Heilman, …
|
R1,320
R1,121
Discovery Miles 11 210
Save R199 (15%)
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
The first comprehensive history of the pietistic movement that
shaped modern Judaism This is the first comprehensive history of
the pietistic movement that shaped modern Judaism. The book's
unique blend of intellectual, religious, and social history offers
perspectives on the movement's leaders as well as its followers,
and demonstrates that, far from being a throwback to the Middle
Ages, Hasidism is a product of modernity that forged its identity
as a radical alternative to the secular world. Hasidism originated
in southeastern Poland, in mystical circles centered on the figure
of Israel Baal Shem Tov, but it was only after his death in 1760
that a movement began to spread. Challenging the notion that
Hasidism ceased to be a creative movement after the eighteenth
century, this book argues that its first golden age was in the
nineteenth century, when it conquered new territory, won a mass
following, and became a mainstay of Jewish Orthodoxy. World War I,
the Russian Revolution, and the Holocaust decimated eastern
European Hasidism. But following World War II, the movement enjoyed
a second golden age, growing exponentially. Today, it is witnessing
a remarkable renaissance in Israel, the United States, and other
countries around the world. Written by an international team of
scholars, Hasidism is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand
this vibrant and influential modern Jewish movement.
The Jews of Pinsk is the most detailed and comprehensive history of
a single Jewish community in any language. This second portion of
this study focuses on Pinsk's turbulent final sixty years, showing
the reality of life in this important, and in many ways
representative, Eastern European Jewish community. From the 1905
Russian revolution through World War One and the long prologue to
the Holocaust, the sweep of world history and the fate of this
dynamic center of Jewish life were intertwined. Pinsk's role in the
bloody aftermath of World War One is still the subject of scholarly
debates: the murder of 35 Jewish men from Pinsk, many from its
educated elite, provoked the American and British leaders to send
emissaries to Pinsk. Shohet argues that the executions were a
deliberate ploy by the Polish military and government to intimidate
the Jewish population of the new Poland. Despite an increasingly
hostile Polish state, Pinsk's Jews managed to maintain their
community through the 1920s and 30s—until World War Two brought a
grim Soviet interregnum succeeded by the entry of the Nazis on July
4th, 1941. For the first volume of this two-volume collection, see
The Jews of Pinsk, 1506-1880.
BThe religious communities of early modern Eastern
Europe--particularly those with a mystical bent--are typically
studied in isolation. Yet the heavy Slavic imprint on Jewish
popular mysticism and pervasive Judaizing tendencies among
Christian dissenters call into question the presumed binary quality
of Jewish-Christian interactions. In Holy Dissent: Jewish and
Christian Mystics in Eastern Europe, editor Glenn Dynner presents
twelve essays that chart contacts, parallels, and mutual influences
between Jewish and Christian mystics. With cutting-edge research on
folk healers, messianists, Hasidim, and Christian sectarians, this
volume presents instances of rich cultural interchange and bold
border transgression. Holy Dissent is divided into two sections:
"Jewish Mystics in a Christian World" and "Christianizing Jews,
Judaizing Christians." In these essays, readers learn that Jewish
and Christian folk healers consulted each other and learned from
common sources; that the founder of Hasidism, Rabbi Israel Ba'al
Shem Tov, likely drew inspiration from Christian ascetics; that
Christian peasants sought and obtained audience with Hasidic
masters; that Jewish mystics openly Christianized; and that
Christian mystics openly Judaized. In contrast to prevailing models
that present Jewish and Christian cultures as either rigidly
autonomous or ambiguously hybrid, Holy Dissent charts specific
types of religio-cultural exchange and broadens our conception of
how cultures interact. The scholarship in this volume is notably
fresh and significant and makes an important contribution across
disciplines. Jewish and Christian studies scholars as well as
historians of Eastern Europe will benefit from the analysis of Holy
Dissent.
The eighteenth-century Polish-Jewish mystic, Israel ben Eliezer -
known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, or the Besht - is one of the key
figures in Jewish history. As the progenitor of Hasidism and the
perceived spokesman for the warm, humane side of Jewish religious
observance, he profoundly influenced the shape of modern Judaism.
To understand the Besht is to understand an essential element in
the making of modern Jewish life. The Ba'al Shem Tov is an elusive
subject for historians because documentary evidence about his life
is scanty and equivocal. Much of what is believed about him is
based on stories that were compiled in Shivhei Ha-Besht (In Praise
of the Besht) more than a generation after his death. Human
forgetfulness and the hagiographic objectives of the storytellers
and the editors have assured that many of these stories serve more
to mythologize than to describe the Besht. Rosman's study casts a
bright new light on the traditional stories about the Besht,
confirming and augmenting some, challenging others. Most important,
it overturns the widespread belief that the Ba'al Shem Tov was a
religious revolutionary and a rebel against the clerical and
communal establishment. Rosman finds, on the contrary, that the
Besht was quite representative of the existing social, religious,
and political order, a holy man who conformed to expected patterns
of behavior. The evidence indicates that he made moderate changes,
which led eventually to the development of Hasidism's mature
institutions.
|
|