Title: Hasidism incarnate : Hasidism, Christianity, and the construction of modern Judaism /
Authors: Magid, Shaul, 1958-
Year: 2015
Subjects: Hasidism Doctrines.; Incarnation.; Mysticism Judaism History; Judaism Relations Christianity; Judaism History
Abstract: 'Hasidism Incarnate' argues that much of modern Judaism in the west developed under what it calls a 'Christian gaze', that is, reacting to Christianity by defending Judaism, positing that Judaism is unlike Christianity. This is done, ironically, while modern Judaism is being constructed as quite similar to Christianity in terms of its ethos, aesthetics, and attitude toward ritual and faith. Hasidism, unlike Judaism in Western Europe, is not developing under a 'Christian gaze' and thus does not need to be apologetic of its positions.
Contents: Introduction : incarnation and incarnational thinking -- Divinization and incarnational thinking in Hasidism : an overview -- Charisma speaking: uniqueness, incarnation, and sacred language (lashon ha-kodesh) in Nahman of Bratslav's self-fashioning -- Jewish ethics through a Hasidic lens: incarnation, the law, and the universal -- Malkhut as kenosis: malkhut and the zaddik in Yaʻakov Koppel Lifshitz of Mezritch's Shaʻarei Gan Eden -- "Brother where art thou?": reflections on Jesus in Martin Buber and the Hasidic master R. Shmuel Bornstein of Sochaczev -- Liberal Judaism, Christianity, and the specter of Hasidism.