Post on 22-Dec-2015
transcript
Wed.
• Rise of Reform:
• Reformers: know why you are reforming...– Goals. – Questions will be asked…
• Everyone else: plan your responses!
Mysticism and Messiah
• Isaac Luria 1534-1572• taught that a saintly teacher could redeem
a generation
• Revolutionary Messiah replaced by Heroic messiah
Lurianic Kabalah
• Tzimzum:
Ein Sof (GOD) contracts to open a space for creation
remnant of divine light preserved in jars.
Lurianic K.
• Breaking the vessels Light cannot be contained.
Shards of vessels are root of evilLight scattered and surrounded by
matter
Lurianic K.
• TIKKUN: Repair.
Separating divine sparks from shards.
Obedience to torah etc: Elevating world to original purity
Luria:
Gradual redemption.
Acts of righteousness prepare the way for Messiah
Jews have special obligation to help bring Messiah
Breslauer, p. 100
• Torah a secret code– Open to any interpretation outside of Oral Torah
• Prayer has magical power– New prayers will replace the old
• Disorder is fundamental to nature– Descent into disorder necessary to restore
cosmos
• Leader is essential to salvation.– Small step to Messiah
Sabbatai Zevi 1626-1676
• 1648 Claimed to be Messiah.• Overturned traditional Halakhah
• Turks forced conversion to Islam.• Died in prison as an apostate
• Many followers saw his “descent into sin” part of mystical repair of the universe.
17th -18th century
• Increasing violence against Jews in East Europe
• Jewish economy falters
• Considerable poverty
Jacob Frank (1726-1791)
• Polish
• Claimed to be Messiah
• Overturned sexual ethics.
• Rejected by Rabbinic leadership,
• Converted to Christianity.
• Speaks against Judaism– Incites further violence.
Jewish classes differences
• Poor Jews feel they are made to bear the burden of supporting the wealthy and the rabbinical schools.
• Rabbinical schools not providing spiritual leadership for the larger community:– Elitist
Alternative religion• Many Askenazi Jews in Poland
• Turn to mystically influenced religious teachers
astrologymagic
• Miracle-workers manipulate divine name.
• Belief in demons, spirits etc grows.
Baal Shem Tov1700-1760
• Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer
• Massive legendary material
• Herbal Doctor “Baal Shem”
Good Name
• Distinguishes him from magicians.
TeachingsEmotion over intellect
Intuition more important than even Talmud
God’s immanence“sparks of holiness”
In nature & simple objects
Joy in life and worship
antidote to bigotry
Songs, dancing drinking
Folksongs seen as religious allegories.
BeshT (B. Shem Tov)
Prayer
• Clinging: continual awareness of God’s presence
• Ecstasy / Enthusiasm: Traditional prayer regulations ignored
spontaneous.
BeshT on Messiah: 2 theories.
• His teachings were a prelude to redemption by Messiah.
• Downplays “eschatology” (end of the world)
• Reaction to false messiahsSees eschatology as allegory of
personal transformation.
Legend
• 1747 BeshT sees Messiah“When will you come?”
• “When every Jews is as spiritual as you”
• Mission: to bring the Messiah.
Modern Denominations
Is Messiah a person
or
Is there only a “messianic period” when justice will prevail?
Successors
• Tzaddik “righteous”
• Rebbe
• Disciples of BeshT who form their own schools.
• Became dynastic
R. Zalman of Ladi1745-1812
• Habad (Chabad)– Lubavitch Hasid
• Integrated Mysticism with renewed emphasis on Oral Torah
Backlash
• Rabbinic Elite challenges Hasids
• “Mitnagdim”
• Elijah ben Solomon Zalman 1720-97
“Gaon of Vilna”
Modernity
• Hasidic Judaism: anti-modernist in many respects.
• Return to tradition, and Judaism as a special people
• Rejected rise of modern “citizenship”
Irony
• Mitnagdim taught Hasidism was a dangerous innovation
• Hasidism rejected modernity and became a force for orthodoxy.