A New Hasidism: Roots

Description

Neo-Hasidism applies the Hasidic masters'spiritual insights—of God's presence everywhere, of seeking the magnificent within the everyday, in doing all things with love and joy, uplifting all of life to become a vehicle of God's service—to contemporary Judaism, as practiced by men and women who do not live within the strictly bounded world of the Hasidic community. This first-ever anthology of Neo-Hasidic philosophy brings together the writings of its progenitors: five great twentieth-century European and American Jewish thinkers—Hillel Zeitlin, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Shlomo Carlebach, and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi—plus a young Arthur Green. The thinkers reflect on the inner life of the individual and their dreams of creating a Neo-Hasidic spiritual community. The editors'introductions and notes analyze each thinker's contributions to Neo-Hasidic thought and influence on the movement. Zeitlin and Buber initiated a renewal of Hasidism for the modern world; Heschel's work is quietly infused with Neo-Hasidic thought; Carlebach and Schachter-Shalomi re-created Neo-Hasidism for American Jews in the 1960s; and Green is the first American-born Jewish thinker fully identified with the movement. Previously unpublished materials by Carlebach and Schachter-Shalomi include an interview with Schachter-Shalomi about his decision to leave Chabad-Lubavitch and embark on his own Neo-Hasidic path. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Editors’ Note 1. Hillel Zeitlin Introduction What Is Yavneh? (Untitled Manuscript, ca. mid-1920s) What Does Yavneh Want? (1924) Admonitions for Every True Member of Yavneh (1924) The Fundaments of Hasidism (1910) Mystery of Thought (1928) Suggestions for Further Reading 2. Martin Buber Introduction The Life of the Hasidim (1908) Spirit and Body of the Hasidic Movement (1922) Interpreting Hasidism (1963) Suggestions for Further Reading 3. Abraham Joshua Heschel Introduction Pikuah Neshamah: To Save a Soul (1949) Hasidism as a New Approach to Torah (1972) Dissent (Date Unknown) Suggestions for Further Reading 4. Shlomo Carlebach Introduction Introduction to “The Torah of the Nine Months” The Torah of the Nine Months (Undated, 1970s) Suggestions for Further Reading 5. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Introduction Hasidism and Neo-Hasidism (1960) Toward an “Order of B’nai Or”: A Program for a Jewish Liturgical Brotherhood (1964) Foundations of the Fourth Turning of Hasidism: A Manifesto (2014) Selections from an Interview with Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (ca. 2000) Suggestions for Further Reading 6. Arthur Green Introduction Notes from the Jewish Underground: On Psychedelics and Kabbalah (1968) After Itzik: Toward a Theology of Jewish Spirituality (1971) “Where Are We Going?”: An Address to the Neo-Hasidism Conference, New York City (2003) Suggestions for Further Reading Source Acknowledgments Notes