Yoram Bilu

With Us More Than Ever (eBook, ePUB)

Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the charismatic leader of the Chabad Hasidic movement and its designated Messiah. Yet when he died in 1994, the messianic fervor he inspired did not subside. Through traditional means and digital technologies, a group of radical Hasidim, the Meshichistim, still keep the Rebbe palpably close-engaging in ongoing dialogue, participating in specific rituals, and developing an ever-expanding visual culture of portraits and videos. With Us More Than Ever focuses on this group to explore how religious practice can sustain the belief that a messianic figure is both present and accessible.

Yoram Bilu documents a unique religious experience that is distinctly modern. The rallying point of the Meshichistim-that the Rebbe is "with us more than ever"-is sustained through an elaborate system that creates the sense of his constant and pervasive presence in the lives of his followers. The virtual Rebbe that emerges is multiple, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized, the epicenter of a truly messianic movement in the twenty-first century. Combining ethnographic fieldwork and cognitive science with nuanced analysis, Bilu documents the birth and development of a new religious faith, describing the emergence of new spiritual horizons, a process common to various religious movements old and new.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 344
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. Juli 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781503612426
• Artikelnr.: 59529228

Autorenporträt

Yoram Bilu is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of The Saints' Impresarios: Dreamers, Healers, and Holy Men in Israel's Urban Periphery (2009) and Without Bounds: The Life and Death of Rabbi Ya'aqov Wazana (2000).

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: Introduction
chapter abstract
The messianic surge that swept Chabad in the late 20th century has not
subsided following the death in 1994 of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson,
the last president of Chabad and the designated Messiah in the eyes of most
Hasidim. Since then, the movement has been able to maintain its popularity
and dominance despite the catastrophic loss. Focusing on the Meshichistim
("messianists"), the radical Hasidim who deny the Rebbe's death, the
introduction documents the means they employ to fill the void of the
Rebbe's "occlusion." The book makes use of a media-studies approach to
examine how these means fill the critical role of making the absent Rebbe
present. The data are based on interviews with Meshichists, participant
observations in their gatherings, and meticulous perusal of messianic
publications, primarily periodicals. The discussion includes a description
of the charged interrelationships that developed between the author and the
Hasidim during fieldwork.
1Chabad and the Messianic Idea
chapter abstract
The chapter follows the vicissitudes of the messianic idea in Chabad from
the movement's inception to the stormy years of the seventh and last
leader, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. As shaped by its founder, Rabbi Schneur
Zalman, Chabad was less prone to messianic tension than were other Hasidic
sects. The fifth admor, Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber, resorted to messianic
discourse in the late 19th century in order to battle the lure of secular
ideologies such as communism and Zionism. His son and successor, Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchak, viewed the horrors of the Holocaust as messianic
tribulations. But it was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who generated
acute messianic turbulence by advancing to his Hasidim the notion of
imminent redemption. The Rebbe's messianic vision, kept alive by the
Hasidim after his departure, forms the background for the means and
practices that constitute the messianic ecology in contemporary Chabad.
2Meshichist Sociology
chapter abstract
The chapter presents the major sociological features of the Meshichists.
The Meshichists are more prevalent in the movement's periphery. Of Chabad's
two main centers, they are more strongly represented in Israel than in the
U.S. and more among the younger Hasidim in either place. -. In accord with
the enthusiasm and high commitment typically displayed by religious
immigrants and converts anywhere, new Chabadniks, coming from secular or
other religious backgrounds, are overrepresented among the Meshichists. As
a result of their outreach activities, Chabadniks anywhere tend to be more
socially and politically involved in the wider society than are other
ultraorthodox Jews, and the Meshichists all the more so. One indication of
their assimilation into Israeli society is their use of military language
in articulating their ideas and activities.
3Writing to the Rebbe: The Holy Letters Oracle
chapter abstract
This chapter discusses the bibliomantic device the Hasidim developed to
continue the dialogue with the absent Rebbe. The technique is based on
inserting a petition randomly into one of the thirty-two volumes of the
Rebbe's collected letters. Even though these letters were written to other
people at other times, the petitioners maintain that the answers they
receive are germane to their own pleas. The veridicality of the answers is
redoubled when they play out in the real world. Following the miraculous
stories associated with the Holy Letters Oracle, the chapter discusses its
growing popularity and accounts for its success. The popularity and success
of the technique seem to confirm the assertion of the Meshichistim that
despite his occlusion, the invisible Rebbe is more accessible than ever.
4Sensing the Rebbe: Traces and Practices of Embodiment
chapter abstract
How do the Hasidim perceive the absent Rebbe as close and involved? This
chapter discusses a broad range of signs or "traces" of the Rebbe, such as
the Rebbe's abode, his armchair, the dollar bills he distributed for
charity, and the water from his ritual bath, which the Hasidim are adamant
to keep intact and, where possible, to replicate. Primarily in Chabad
headquarters in Crown Heights, but also in Chabad Houses all over the world
and in the Meshichists' homes, these artifacts serve as focal points for
ritual practices that involve the Rebbe as an active participant. The
traces and practices interweave to produce a "messianic ecology" that
actualizes the Rebbe among his followers. In the religion-media paradigm,
these traces and practices are conductors of his presence.
5Seeing the Rebbe I: Chabad's Visual Culture
chapter abstract
Chapter Five is devoted to Chabad's visual culture as evidenced by the
widespread use of still photographs and film footage of the Rebbe, which
bolster his visual salience to an unprecedented extent in Judaism. The
elaborate cult that has been developing around the Rebbe's images borders
on iconophilia. The pictures serve as focal points for this wide-ranging
visual cult. They are used as amulets, thwarting threats and curing
maladies; as magnets drawing and attaching passersby to the Rebbe; and as
icons triggering the elaborate ritual encounters between the Rebbe and his
devotees. The chapter discusses the Rebbe's iconic picture, in which he is
shown waving his hand in encouragement, and how it has taken on a life on
its own.
6Seeing the Rebbe II: Dream and Waking Apparitions
chapter abstract
Chapter Six maps the Rebbe's apparitions in dreams and then moves to
reports of apparitions in normal waking states. The author proposes a
psychocultural model to account for these apparitions, deeming them
evidence of contextual accomplishment rather than psychopathological
deficit. Two distinct clusters of apparition experiences emerge, one
associated with ritual and the other with mundane settings. In comparison
to Christian visionary experiences, the Rebbe's apparitions are
hyper-realistic, literal reinforcements of the claim that the Rebbe is
alive. While this claim is audacious ontologically, it limits the
epistemological horizons of the messianic imaginary and detracts from its
significance as a "taste" of the redemption.
7Schneersoncentrism: The Rebbe Steers the World
chapter abstract
For the Meshichistim, the invisible Rebbe is the center of the world.
Chapter Seven conveys this conviction through the notion of
"Schneersoncentrism," the belief that the Rebbe steers the world and
navigates its events. It discusses two broad domains where the Rebbe's
imprint on the world is indelible, according to the Hasidim: natural
disasters, which the Rebbe is able to stop, and manmade political
upheavals, which the Rebbe can rectify. According to his followers, the
Rebbe's fingerprints are evident in key historical moments such as the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the Exodus of its Jews, and the American
victory in the second Gulf War.
8The Apotheosis of the Rebbe
chapter abstract
Chapter Eight deals with the sensitive issue of the Rebbe's deification, a
corollary of his centrality in the universe. While the Chabad mainstream
argues that attempts to deify the Rebbe are limited to the movement's
lunatic fringes, it shows that activists in the Meshichist camp are not
hostile to these attempts and, under special circumstances, are even
willing to give them a voice. The mystical doctrine of the tzadik in
Hasidism, which views him as part of the divine system of emanations, and
the messianic shturem in Chabad today help attenuate the deep-seated
resistance in Judaism to glorifying a human being.
9"To Make Many More Menachem Mendels": Creation and Procreation in
Messianic Chabad
chapter abstract
Chapter Nine illustrates the divine role accorded to the Rebbe in the
fantasy lives of some of his followers by zooming in on his alleged role in
one domain of human misery: infertility and birth problems. Drawing on a
small sample of dreaming and waking apparitions, the chapter shows how the
childless Rebbe "reproduces" himself by providing childless couples with
children in his image. In these reports the Rebbe appears as a creator no
less than as a progenitor.
10Holy Place and Holy Time in Meshichist Chabad
chapter abstract
Chapter Ten discusses the spatial and temporal dimensions of holiness in
the messianic religion. For the Meshichists, who ordinarily refrain from
frequenting the Rebbe's sanctuary in Old Montefiori Cemetery in Queens, the
most sacred site is the Rebbe's abode on 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown
Heights, Brooklyn, dubbed "770." Viewed as the house of the Messiah and a
wing of the future third Temple, 770 is the Meshichist hub, where the life
routine with the Rebbe is kept intact. Replicas of 770 have been built in
scores of places across the globe. The Meshichist emphasize two dates in
Chabad's ritual calendar: Yod-Aleph (11) Nissan, the Rebbe's birthday, and
Gimel Tammuz, the date of the Rabbi's disappearance, euphemistically called
the Day of Redemption.
11The Omnipresence of Absence: Messianism in the Technological Age
chapter abstract
Chapter Eleven discusses the present-absent virtual Rebbe, maintained in
part by the magic of technology. In analyzing the properties of his
virtuality, it is suggested that the Rebbe is multiple (reproduced), close
and palpable, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized. The fact that
the virtual Rebbe can be directly accessed and equally shared by all
Hasidim poses a potential threat to Chabad's hierarchical structure and
cohesion.
12Meshichists, Christians, Sabbateans, and Popular Culture Heroes
chapter abstract
The dynamic common to past and present messianic movements is the focus of
Chapter Twelve. It considers the struggles of Chabad's messianism in light
of the Christian and Sabbatean precedents. It also poses a speculative
comparison between the cult of the Rebbe that emerges from Chabad's visual
culture and the adoration of charismatic entertainment and political
celebrities in global popular culture.
13From Tzadik to Messiah: Comparing Chabad and Bratslav
chapter abstract
Chapter Twelve proposes a systematic comparison of Chabad and Bratslav
Hasidism. Both of these Hasidic movements lack the defining feature of a
classic Hasidic sect, a serving tzadik-admor, yet they are enjoying
unprecedented success. Can the flourishing of these two movements be
attributed to the messianic expectations they both nurture? In support of
this supposition, the chapter seeks to decipher the enigma of the growing
popularity of these two "anomalous" Hasidic sects by dwelling on their
propensity for border-crossing in various domains.
Conclusion
chapter abstract
The messianic surge that swept Chabad in the late 20th century has created
the opportunity for studying the religious imagination at large, and as a
subject in its own right. Messianic movements expand the boundaries of
proper religious conduct and bring to the fore modes of action and
experience the religious establishment shuns as extreme or subversive. The
media and the practices that Meshichists employ to make the absent Rebbe
present were born in this fertile, enabling ecology. More daring and
pronounced than ordinary institutionalized religious beliefs and rites,
they differ only in degree. The conclusion discusses the unprecedented
extent to which the Rebbe-cum-Messiah is glorified, the boundless energy
his elevated status generates in his followers, and their capacity to cope
with the disappointment of his occlusion by sustaining a virtual Rebbe that
is palpable and close.