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The life and politics of an American Jewish activist who preached
radical and violent means to Jewish survival Meir Kahane came of
age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a
militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. Kahane founded
the Jewish Defense League in 1968, declaring that Jews must protect
themselves by any means necessary. He immigrated to Israel in 1971,
where he founded KACH, an ultranationalist and racist political
party. He would die by assassination in 1990. Shaul Magid provides
an in-depth look at this controversial figure, showing how the
postwar American experience shaped his life and political thought.
Magid sheds new light on Kahane’s radical political views, his
critique of liberalism, and his use of the “grammar of race” as
a tool to promote Jewish pride. He discusses Kahane’s theory of
violence as a mechanism to assure Jewish safety, and traces how his
Zionism evolved from a fervent support of Israel to a belief that
the Zionist project had failed. Magid examines how tradition and
classical Jewish texts profoundly influenced Kahane’s thought
later in life, and argues that Kahane’s enduring legacy lies not
in his Israeli career but in the challenge he posed to the
liberalism and assimilatory project of the postwar American Jewish
establishment. This incisive book shows how Kahane was a
quintessentially American figure, one who adopted the radicalism of
the militant Left as a tenet of Jewish survival.
"Hasidism Incarnate" contends that much of modern Judaism in the
West developed in reaction to Christianity and in defense of
Judaism as a unique tradition. Ironically enough, this occurred
even as modern Judaism increasingly dovetailed with Christianity
with regard to its ethos, aesthetics, and attitude toward ritual
and faith. Shaul Magid argues that the Hasidic movement in Eastern
Europe constitutes an alternative "modernity," one that opens a new
window on Jewish theological history. Unlike Judaism in German
lands, Hasidism did not develop under a "Christian gaze" and had no
need to be apologetic of its positions. Unburdened by an apologetic
agenda (at least toward Christianity), it offered a particular
reading of medieval Jewish Kabbalah filtered through a focus on the
charismatic leader that resulted in a religious worldview that has
much in common with Christianity. It is not that Hasidic masters
knew about Christianity; rather, the basic tenets of Christianity
remained present, albeit often in veiled form, in much kabbalistic
teaching that Hasidism took up in its portrayal of the charismatic
figure of the "zaddik," whom it often described in supernatural
terms.
Over the centuries, the messianic tradition has provided the
language through which modern Jewish philosophers, socialists, and
Zionists envisioned a utopian future. Michael L. Morgan, Steven
Weitzman, and an international group of leading scholars ask new
questions and provide new ways of thinking about this enduring
Jewish idea. Using the writings of Gershom Scholem, which ranged
over the history of messianic belief and its conflicted role in the
Jewish imagination, these essays put aside the boundaries that
divide history from philosophy and religion to offer new
perspectives on the role and relevance of messianism today.
Over the centuries, the messianic tradition has provided the
language through which modern Jewish philosophers, socialists, and
Zionists envisioned a utopian future. Michael L. Morgan, Steven
Weitzman, and an international group of leading scholars ask new
questions and provide new ways of thinking about this enduring
Jewish idea. Using the writings of Gershom Scholem, which ranged
over the history of messianic belief and its conflicted role in the
Jewish imagination, these essays put aside the boundaries that
divide history from philosophy and religion to offer new
perspectives on the role and relevance of messianism today.
Born in Slutzk, Russia, in 1805, Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik is a
largely forgotten member of the prestigious Soloveitchik rabbinic
dynasty. Before Hayyim Soloveitchik developed the standard Brisker
method of Talmudic study, or Joseph Dov Soloveitchik helped to
found American Modern Orthodox Judaism, Elijah Soloveitchik wrote
Qol Qore, a rabbinic commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
Qol Qore drew on classic rabbinic literature, and particularly on
the works of Moses Maimonides, to argue for the compatibility of
Christianity with Judaism. To this day, it remains the only
rabbinic work to embrace the compatibility of Orthodox Judaism and
the Christian Bible. In The Bible, the Talmud, and the New
Testament, Shaul Magid presents the first-ever English translation
of Qol Qore. In his contextualizing introduction, Magid explains
that Qol Qore offers a window onto the turbulent historical context
of nineteenth-century European Jewry. With violent anti-Semitic
activity on the rise in Europe, Elijah Soloveitchik was unique in
believing that the roots of anti-Semitism were theological, based
on a misunderstanding of the New Testament by both Jews and
Christians. His hope was that the Qol Qore, written in Hebrew and
translated into French, German, and Polish, would reach Jewish and
Christian audiences, urging each to consider the validity of the
other's religious principles. In an era characterized by fractious
debates between Jewish communities, Elijah Soloveitchik represents
a voice that called for radical unity amongst Jews and Christians
alike.
The life and politics of an American Jewish activist who preached
radical and violent means to Jewish survival Meir Kahane came of
age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a
militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. Kahane founded
the Jewish Defense League in 1968, declaring that Jews must protect
themselves by any means necessary. He immigrated to Israel in 1971,
where he founded KACH, an ultranationalist and racist political
party. He would die by assassination in 1990. Shaul Magid provides
an in-depth look at this controversial figure, showing how the
postwar American experience shaped his life and political thought.
Magid sheds new light on Kahane's radical political views, his
critique of liberalism, and his use of the "grammar of race" as a
tool to promote Jewish pride. He discusses Kahane's theory of
violence as a mechanism to assure Jewish safety, and traces how his
Zionism evolved from a fervent support of Israel to a belief that
the Zionist project had failed. Magid examines how tradition and
classical Jewish texts profoundly influenced Kahane's thought later
in life, and argues that Kahane's enduring legacy lies not in his
Israeli career but in the challenge he posed to the liberalism and
assimilatory project of the postwar American Jewish establishment.
This incisive book shows how Kahane was a quintessentially American
figure, one who adopted the radicalism of the militant Left as a
tenet of Jewish survival.
Against the gloomy forecast of "The Vanishing Diaspora", the end of
the second millennium saw the global emergence of a dazzling array
of Jewish cultural initiatives, institutional modalities, and
individual practices. These "Jewish Revival" and "Jewish Renewal"
projects are led by Jewish NGOs and philanthropic organizations,
the Orthodox Teshuva (return to the fold) movement and its
well-known emissary Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism, and alternative
cultural initiatives that promote what can be termed "lifestyle
Judaism." This range between institutionalized revival movements
and ephemeral event-driven projects circumscribes a diverse space
of creative agency, which calls for a bottom-up empirical analysis
of cultural creativity and the re-invention of Jewish tradition
worldwide. Indeed, the trope of a "Jewish Renaissance" has become
both a descriptive category of an increasingly popular and
scholarly discourse across the globe, and a prescriptive model for
social action. This volume explores the global transformations of
contemporary Jewishness, which give renewed meaning to identity,
tradition, and politics in our post secular world.
Piety and Rebellion examines the span of the Hasidic textual
tradition from its earliest phases to the 20th century. The essays
collected in this volume focus on the tension between Hasidic
fidelity to tradition and its rebellious attempt to push the
devotional life beyond the borders of conventional religious
practice. Many of the essays exhibit a comparative perspective
deployed to better articulate the innovative spirit, and
traditional challenges, Hasidism presents to the traditional Jewish
world. Piety and Rebellion is an attempt to present Hasidism as one
case whereby maximalist religion can yield a rebellious challenge
to conventional conceptions of religious thought and practice.
Against the gloomy forecast of "The Vanishing Diaspora", the end of
the second millennium saw the global emergence of a dazzling array
of Jewish cultural initiatives, institutional modalities, and
individual practices. These "Jewish Revival" and "Jewish Renewal"
projects are led by Jewish NGOs and philanthropic organizations,
the Orthodox Teshuva (return to the fold) movement and its
well-known emissary Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism, and alternative
cultural initiatives that promote what can be termed "lifestyle
Judaism." This range between institutionalized revival movements
and ephemeral event-driven projects circumscribes a diverse space
of creative agency, which calls for a bottom-up empirical analysis
of cultural creativity and the re-invention of Jewish tradition
worldwide. Indeed, the trope of a "Jewish Renaissance" has become
both a descriptive category of an increasingly popular and
scholarly discourse across the globe, and a prescriptive model for
social action. This volume explores the global transformations of
contemporary Jewishness, which give renewed meaning to identity,
tradition, and politics in our post secular world.
Piety and Rebellion examines the span of the Hasidic textual
tradition from its earliest phases to the 20th century. The essays
collected in this volume focus on the tension between Hasidic
fidelity to tradition and its rebellious attempt to push the
devotional life beyond the borders of conventional religious
practice. Many of the essays exhibit a comparative perspective
deployed to better articulate the innovative spirit, and
traditional challenges, Hasidism presents to the traditional Jewish
world. Piety and Rebellion is an attempt to present Hasidism as one
case whereby maximalist religion can yield a rebellious challenge
to conventional conceptions of religious thought and practice.
How do American Jews identify as both Jewish and American?
American Post-Judaism argues that Zionism and the Holocaust, two
anchors of contemporary American Jewish identity, will no longer be
centers of identity formation for future generations of American
Jews. Shaul Magid articulates a new, post-ethnic American
Jewishness. He discusses pragmatism and spirituality, monotheism
and post-monotheism, Jesus, Jewish law, sainthood and
self-realization, and the meaning of the Holocaust for those who
have never known survivors. Magid presents Jewish Renewal as a
movement that takes this radical cultural transition seriously in
its strivings for a new era in Jewish thought and practice.
In From Metaphysics to Midrash, Shaul Magid explores the
exegetical tradition of Isaac Luria and his followers within the
historical context in 16th-century Safed, a unique community that
brought practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into
close contact with one another. Luria's scripture became a theater
in which kabbalists redrew boundaries of difference in areas of
ethnicity, gender, and the human relation to the divine. Magid
investigates how cultural influences altered scriptural exegesis of
Lurianic Kabbala in its philosophical, hermeneutical, and
historical perspectives. He suggests that Luria and his followers
were far from cloistered. They used their considerable skills to
weigh in on important matters of the day, offering, at times, some
surprising solutions to perennial theological problems.
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