With us more than ever: making the absent Rebbe present in messianic Chabad
"The messianic surge that engulfed Chabad (the Lubavitch Hasidic movement) in the last generations hardly subsided after the 1994 death of the movement's last leader and designated Messiah. Focusing on the radically messianic Hasidim (meshichistim) who deny that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schne...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
2020
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| In: | Year: 2020 |
| Reviews: | [Rezension von: Bilu, Yoram, With us more than ever] (2022) (Ṭṿoreḳ, Ṿoyṭeḳ, 1981 -)
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| Further subjects: | B
Schneerson, Menachem Mendel
B Habad Customs and practices B Schneerson, Menachem Mendel (1902-1994) Cult B Electronic books B Hasidism B Hasidism 21st century B Jewish messianic movements B Habad ; Customs and practices B Cults |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | "The messianic surge that engulfed Chabad (the Lubavitch Hasidic movement) in the last generations hardly subsided after the 1994 death of the movement's last leader and designated Messiah. Focusing on the radically messianic Hasidim (meshichistim) who deny that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneershon has ever died, this book investigates the ways followers make their absent Rebbe present. It shows how the meshichistim, recurring to a rich repertoire of both traditional and ultramodern means, are able to engage in ongoing dialogue with the Rebbe, to render him "portable" and embodied, and even to see and hear him. Their toolkit includes the dialectical mysticism of Chabad, which denies the ontological status of the world; practices of embodiment, based on a ritual ecology replete with signs and traces of the Rebbe; and a visual culture that makes the Rebbe's ubiquitous portraits and videos the focus of an elaborate cult. The virtual Rebbe that emerges as a result-one who is multiple, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized-helps us chart the religious horizons open to a twenty-first-century messianic movement"-- Chabad and the messianic idea -- Meshichist sociology -- Writing to the Rebbe : the holy letters oracle -- Sensing the Rebbe : traces and practices of embodiment -- Seeing the Rebbe I : Chabad's visual culture -- Seeing the Rebbe II : dream and waking apparitions -- Schneersoncentrism : the Rebbe steers the world -- The apotheosis of the Rebbe -- "To make many more Menachem Mendels" : creation and procreation in messianic Chabad -- Holy place and holy time in Meshichist Chabad -- The omnipresence of absence : messianism in the technological age -- Meshichists, Christians, Sabbateans, and popular culture heroes -- From tzadik to Messiah : comparing Chabad and Breslov. |
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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| ISBN: | 1503612422 |