Hasidism Incarnate: Hasidism, Christianity, and the Construction of Modern Judaism

289 Pages·2014·1.82 MB·English

by  Shaul Magid

H ASI DISM I NCA R NAT E
encountering traditions
Stanley Hauerwas, Peter Ochs, Randi Rashkover, and Maria Dakake
editors
Nicholas Adams, Rumee Ahmed, and Jonathan Tran
series board
H A S I D I S M I N C A R N A T E
Hasidism, Christianity,
and the Construction of Modern Judaism
SHAUL MAGID
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2015 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of
Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Magid, Shaul, 1958- author.
Hasidism incarnate : Hasidism, Christianity, and the construction of modern
Judaism / Shaul Magid.
pages cm.--(Encountering traditions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8047-9130-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Hasidism--Doctrines. 2. Incarnation. 3. Mysticism--Judaism--History.
4. Judaism--Relations--Christianity. 5. Judaism--History--Modern period, 1750-
I. Title.
bm198.2.m34 2014
296.8'332--dc23
2014035430
isbn 978-0-8047-9346-9 (electronic)
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10/14 Minion
To Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
in memoriam
תושפנ רמוש ,ינרות רקוח
Excavator of Torah, Pastor of Souls

The most accurate theology is the most dangerous.
Franz Rosenzweig, “Yehuda Ha-Levi”
Christ was a man worthy to rebel against, for he was rebellion itself.
Patti Smith, Just Kids
There is no reconciliation between Judaism and Christianity;
Judaism is the anti-Christian principle pure and simple.
Leo Strauss, Philosophie und Gesetz
The same is the same only in being affected by the other,
only by becoming the other of the same.
Jacques Derrida, Speech and Phenomena

CON T EN TS
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction:
Incarnation and Incarnational Thinking 1
1 Divinization and Incarnational Thinking in Hasidism:
An Overview 15
2 Charisma Speaking:
Uniqueness, Incarnation, and Sacred Language
(Lashon ha-Kodesh) in Nahman of Bratslav’s Self-Fashioning 31
3 Jewish Ethics Through a Hasidic Lens:
Incarnation, the Law, and the Universal 51
4 Malkhut as Kenosis:
Malkhut and the Zaddik in Ya’akov Koppel Lifshitz
of Mezritch’s Sha’arei Gan Eden 81
5 “Brother Where Art Thou?”
Reflections on Jesus in Martin Buber and the
Hasidic Master Shmuel Bornstein of Sochaczev 113
6 Liberal Judaism, Christianity, and the Specter of Hasidism 137
Postscript 171
Notes 179
Bibliography 233
Index 263