{"product_id":"kabbalah-and-the-rupture-of-modernity-9781503642072","title":"Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity","description":"\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\u003e  Chabad'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\u003e  Unfolding 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","brand":"Eli Rubin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43357027893366,"sku":"9781503642072","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0671\/1374\/6550\/files\/CoreSourceHub_bb441c48-e4e2-4103-8aeb-5593d3f43609.jpg?v=1779572420","url":"https:\/\/ingramacademic.com\/products\/kabbalah-and-the-rupture-of-modernity-9781503642072","provider":"Ingram Academic \u0026 Professional","version":"1.0","type":"link"}