Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity provides a comprehensive intellectual and institutional history of Chabad Hasidism through the Kabbalistic concept of ?im?um. 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 ?im?um 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. Chabad's distinctive character and self-image, Rubin shows, emerged from its spirited defense of Hasidism's interpretation of ?im?um 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 ?im?um was equally significant for questions of legitimacy, authority, and succession, as for existential questions of being and meaning. 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.
Eli Rubin is a contributing editor at Chabad.org. He received his PhD from the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London.
Note on Citation and Transliteration Preamble: Conflagration and Cosmic Rupture Part I: Being as Rupture (1572-1801) Introduction: What Does ?im?um Mean? 1. The Ari as a Herald of Modernity 2. Love and Rupture in Early Hasidism 3. "Due to This, the Known Book Was Burned" 4. ?im?um, Soul-Knowledge, and the Function of Parable Epilogue: ?im?um and the Institutionalization of Chabad Part II: Being as Nothing (1792-1866) Introduction: Does the World Exist? 5. Cosmic Construction as Cosmic Effacement 6. The Chabad Sermon: Articulating Singularity 7. Being, Nothing, and Chabad's First Succession Controversy 8. Rereading Rashaz, Rereading Reality Epilogue: Opening and Closing the Door on Acosmism Part III: Being as Infinity (1865-1884) Introduction: A Tale of Two Brothers 9. Dynastic Rupture and Cosmological Recalibration 10. The Hemshekh: A New Literary Collage 11. The Finite Trace of Unruptured Infinity 12. Chabad's Internal ?im?um Split Epilogue: History and the Metaphysics of Materialism Part IV: Being as Innovation (1882-1915) Introduction: The Ruin and Renaissance of Lubavitch 13. Rediscovering Malkhut, the Cosmic Womb 14. Why? Innovation and the Purpose of ?im?um 15. Desire, Pleasure, and the Transcendence of Sense 16. Three Paths to Essential Originality Epilogue: Rashab, Freud, and the Meanings of Modernity Part V: Being as Humanity (1915-1994) Introduction: Undergoing and Overcoming Dislocation and Catastrophe 17. Letter Writing and the Soviet ?im?um 18. Bati Legani and the Triumph of Humanity 19. Wissenschaft, ?im?um, and Midcentury Succession 20. Messianic Faith in the Shadow of the Holocaust 21. "Many-Worlds" and "Uncertainty" in ?im?um and Science Epilogue: Living for the Sake of ?im?um Postscript: The Art of Being Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
"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." -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." -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, Law & Liberty "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, Chabad "Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity 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
