Hasidism Beyond Modernity: Essays in Habad Thought and History(The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

The Habad school of hasidism is distinguished today from other hasidic groups by its famous emphasis on outreach, on messianism, and on empowering women. Hasidism Beyond Modernity provides a critical, thematic study of the movement from its beginnings, showing how its unusual qualities evolved. Topics investigated include the theoretical underpinning of the outreach ethos; the turn towards women in the twentieth century; new attitudes to non-Jews; the role of the individual in the hasidic collective; spiritual contemplation in the context of modernity; the quest for inclusivism in the face of prevailing  schismatic processes; messianism in both spiritual and political forms; and the direction of the movement after the passing of its seventh rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1994. Attention is given to many contrasts: pre-modern, modern, and postmodern conceptions of Judaism; the clash between maintaining an enclave and outreach models of Jewish society; particularist and universalist trends; and the subtle interplay of mystical faith and rationality. Some of the chapters are new; others, published in an earlier form, have been updated to take account of recent scholarship. This book presents an in-depth study of an intriguing movement which takes traditional hasidism beyond modernity. 

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I. From the Ba’al Shem Tov to Modern Outreach 1. Hippy in the Mikveh: The Hasidic Ethos and the Schisms of Jewish Society 2. The Ba’al Shem Tov’s ‘Sacred Epistle’ and Contemporary Habad Outreach Part II. 3. The Hasid and the Other 4. Reason and Beyond Reason 5. Finding the Individual 6. Habad Contemplation in Context 7. Women and the Dialectic of Spirituality in Hasidism 8. From ‘Ladies’ Auxiliary’ To ‘Shluchos Network’: Women’s Activism in Twentieth-Century Habad 9. Habad Messianism: A Combination of Opposites 10. ‘From the Source of Raḥamim’: Graveside Prayer in Habad Hasidism 11. Habad, the Rebbe, and the Messiah in the Twenty-First Century Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Naftali Loewenthal is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London, and the director of the Chabad Research Unit. He is the author of Communicating the Infinite: The Emergence of the Habad School (1990).

Review :
'Chabad has become a global movement, powered by dedicated emissaries fuelled by a belief in the sacredness of their task and holy potential of every individual, whether Jew or Gentile. Dr Loewenthal masterfully links these ideals and the activism they inspire to their theological roots.' Dr Harris Bor, The Jewish Chronicle 'Loewenthal has dug deep into the heart of Chabad’s philosophy... his work is destined to be more than another dusty tome read only by a select cohort of colleagues in his field. Throughout the book, he maintains his humanity, a personal voice that compromises neither his objectivity nor his convictions. The observations of the scholar are considered side-by-side with the insights of school girls. There is no more moving testament to the challenge and the resilience of a postmodern movement; the prior categories exploded, the either/or thinking rejected, while the nucleus—present since the inception—is retained.' Chana Silberstein, Lubavitch Magazine