{"product_id":"kabbalah-and-the-rupture-of-modernity-an-existential-history-of-chabad-hasidism-hardback-9781503642072","title":"Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity; An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism (Hardback) 9781503642072","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eKabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eAn Existential History of Chabad Hasidism\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eEli Rubin (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781503642072, Stanford University Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 25 March 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e446 pages, 1 halftone\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 3.6 cm, 0.802 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Rubin's book offers an exciting new way of thinking about Jewish modernity, making this one of the most original and interesting books in Jewish Studies of our time.\"\u003cbr\u003e  —Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College \"Chabad's rich intellectual history and its place in the broad existential currents of modernity finally get their due with Rubin's stupendous book, which like its author, is a wonder of erudition, insight, and humility.\"\u003cbr\u003e  —Yehudah Mirsky, Brandeis University \"Eli Rubin's book is the first full-length statement of Chabad's philosophical program for an American audience. It makes the remarkable—and defensible—assertion that Jewish thought, and specifically the sixteenth-century Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, opens possibilities for modern science that are closed to the old determinism of pre-quantum science.\"—David P. Goldman, \u003ci\u003eLaw \u0026amp; Liberty\u003c\/i\u003e \"Rubin weaves Chabad metaphysics and significant events so they illuminate one another, taking us through the forks in the roads to better understand the path that forged forward ... It's an approach that presents a major leap forward in the study of Chabad history and philosophy.\"—Tzvi Freeman, \u003ci\u003eChabad\u003c\/i\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eKabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e is a rich resource, pairing philosophical and theological exegesis with a lively historical narrative. For readers of Judaic Studies who want an introduction to Chabad's intellectual underpinnings, Rubin's work is essential.\"—Daniel Kalish\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eKabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e provides a comprehensive intellectual and institutional history of Chabad Hasidism through the Kabbalistic concept of \u003ci\u003eṣimṣum\u003c\/i\u003e. The onset of modernity, Eli Rubin argues, was heralded by this startling idea: existence itself is predicated on a self-inflicted \"rupture\" in the infinite assertion of divinity. Centuries of theoretical disputations concerning \u003ci\u003eṣimṣum\u003c\/i\u003e ultimately morphed into religious and social schism. These debates confronted the meaning of being and forged the animating ethos of Chabad, the most dynamic movement in modern Judaism. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChabad's distinctive character and self-image, Rubin shows, emerged from its spirited defense of Hasidism's interpretation of \u003ci\u003eṣimṣum\u003c\/i\u003e as an act of love leading to rapturous reunion. This interpretation ignited a literal conflagration, complete with book burnings, denunciations, investigations, and arrests. Chabad's subsequent preoccupation with \u003ci\u003eṣimṣum\u003c\/i\u003e was equally significant for questions of legitimacy, authority, and succession, as for existential questions of being and meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUnfolding the story of Chabad from the early modern period to the twentieth century, this book provides fresh portraits of the successive leaders of the movement. Innovatively integrating history, philosophy, and literature, Rubin shows how Kabbalistic ideas are crucially entangled in the experience of modernity and in the response to its ruptures. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eNote on Citation and Transliteration\u003cbr\u003e  Preamble: Conflagration and Cosmic Rupture\u003cbr\u003e  Part I: Being as Rupture (1572–1801)\u003cbr\u003e  Introduction: What Does \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003ci\u003e Mean?\u003cbr\u003e  1. The Ari as a Herald of Modernity\u003cbr\u003e  2. Love and Rupture in Early Hasidism\u003cbr\u003e  3. \"\u003cbr\u003eDue to This, the Known Book Was Burned\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  4. \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003ci\u003e, Soul-Knowledge, and the Function of Parable\u003cbr\u003e  Epilogue: \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003ci\u003e and the Institutionalization of Chabad\u003cbr\u003e  Part II: Being as Nothing (1792–1866)\u003cbr\u003e  Introduction: Does the World Exist?\u003cbr\u003e  5. Cosmic Construction as Cosmic Effacement\u003cbr\u003e  6. The Chabad Sermon: Articulating Singularity\u003cbr\u003e  7. Being, Nothing, and Chabad's First Succession Controversy\u003cbr\u003e  8. Rereading Rashaz, Rereading Reality\u003cbr\u003e  Epilogue: Opening and Closing the Door on Acosmism\u003cbr\u003e  Part III: Being as Infinity (1865–1884)\u003cbr\u003e  Introduction: A Tale of Two Brothers\u003cbr\u003e  9. Dynastic Rupture and Cosmological Recalibration\u003cbr\u003e  10. The \u003ci\u003eHemshekh\u003ci\u003e: A New Literary Collage\u003cbr\u003e  11. The Finite Trace of Unruptured Infinity\u003cbr\u003e  12. Chabad's Internal \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003ci\u003e Split\u003cbr\u003e  Epilogue: History and the Metaphysics of Materialism\u003cbr\u003e  Part IV: Being as Innovation (1882–1915)\u003cbr\u003e  Introduction: The Ruin and Renaissance of Lubavitch\u003cbr\u003e  13. Rediscovering \u003ci\u003eMalkhut\u003ci\u003e, the Cosmic Womb\u003cbr\u003e  14. Why? Innovation and the Purpose of \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003cbr\u003e  15. Desire, Pleasure, and the Transcendence of Sense\u003cbr\u003e  16. Three Paths to Essential Originality\u003cbr\u003e  Epilogue: Rashab, Freud, and the Meanings of Modernity\u003cbr\u003e  Part V: Being as Humanity (1915–1994)\u003cbr\u003e  Introduction: Undergoing and Overcoming Dislocation and Catastrophe\u003cbr\u003e  17. Letter Writing and the Soviet \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003cbr\u003e  18. \u003ci\u003eBati Legani\u003ci\u003e and the Triumph of Humanity\u003cbr\u003e  19. Wissenschaft, \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003ci\u003e, and Midcentury Succession\u003cbr\u003e  20. Messianic Faith in the Shadow of the Holocaust\u003cbr\u003e  21. \"\u003cbr\u003eMany-Worlds\"\u003cbr\u003e and \"\u003cbr\u003eUncertainty\"\u003cbr\u003e in \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003ci\u003e and Science\u003cbr\u003e  Epilogue: Living for the Sake of \u003ci\u003eṢimṣum\u003cbr\u003e  Postscript: The Art of Being\u003cbr\u003e  Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e  Notes\u003cbr\u003e  Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e  Index\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52656089628952,"sku":"9781503642072","price":45.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/kabbalah-and-the-rupture-of-modernity-an-existential-history-of-chabad-hasidism-hardback-9781503642072","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}