Hasidism as Mysticism

Quietistic Elements in Eighteenth-Century Hasidic Thought

Rivka Schatz Uffenheimer, Jonathan Chipman

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780691608068
  9780691636559
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400872800
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

Offered here for the first time in English translation, Hasidism as Mysticism is a classic in its field. Using the tools of phenomenology, Rivka Schatz Uffenheimer places Hasidism squarely in the context of religious studies. Hasidism's theoretical texts have been largely ignored by historians of the movement, but Schatz Uffenheimer analyzes these materials fully, disclosing the mystical, quietistic tendencies that existed alongside Hasidism's more activist, popular elements. The author carefully reviewed this translation of her work; it includes a revised introduction with much new material, two new chapters, and an appendix containing a translation, history, and literary analysis of one of the few extant texts attributed to the Baal Shem Tov.

Schatz Uffenheimer's inquiry covers the full gamut of Hasidic life and thought, embracing such topics as the emphasis on joy and the concomitant ban on sadness and regret in Hasidism, the focus on contemplative rather than petitionary prayer, the subordination of the mizvot (commandments) to the spiritualistic goal of devequt (attachment to God), and the anarchic elements of Hasidism's approach to life within society. Also discussed are the problematic role of Torah study resulting from this spiritualistic emphasis, the movement's neutralization or internalization of the traditional concept of a historical messiah, and the transformation within Hasidism of traditional concepts borrowed from Kabbalah. The author's illuminating hints as to the affinity between Hasidism and Christian Quietism should be of particular interest to scholars in the field.

Rivka Schatz Uffenheimer (1927-1992) was the Edmonton Community Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. One of the outstanding students of Gershom Scholem, she forged her own path in the world of scholarship. Her research encompassed a wide range of areas: Zohar and Lurianic Kabbalah, Sabbatianism, Hasidism, and the typology of Jewish messianism. In addition, she was deeply involved in the ongoing discussion concerning the major spiritual and existential issues confronting contemporary Judaism and the State of Israel.

Originally published in 1993.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 The Basic Argument of Quietism
• 2 The Concept of Annihilation ('Ayin) And the Extinction of Human Will
• 3 The Standing of Existential Problems
• 4 Despair, Sadness, Regret and Their Connection with Sin
• 5 The Status of the Mizvot
• 6 Petitionary Prayer and Its Position in Hasidism
• 7 Contemplative Prayer
• 8 Divine Immanence and the Question of Prophecy
• 9 The World of Speech and the World of Thought
• 10 The Doctrine of Kavvanot and Its Place in Hasidism
• 11 Anarchic Manifestations in Hasidic Life
• 12 Habad: Anti-Spiritualism as a Quietistic Value
• 13 Diary of an Agnostic: "I Know Not" as a Quietistic Value
• 14 The Problem of Torah Study in Hasidism
• 15 History and National Redemption
• Afterword
• Appendix: The Ba'al Shem Tov's Commentary to Psalm 107: Myth and Ritual of the Descent to She'ol
• Bibliography
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects