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With Us More Than Ever

Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2020

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

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).

Reviews

"With Us More than Ever is an important book for readers interested in Chabad, Hasidism, and contemporary Judaism. Its focus on the 'messianic ecology' yields a nuanced and dispassionate image of the acute messianism of the Meshichists—a community, or, perhaps, a state of mind, that has been discussed, criticized, and ridiculed, but hardly ever researched either quantitatively or qualitatively."—Wojciech Tworek, Association for Jewish Studies Review --- "This ethnographic exploration of the religious imagination in Chabad demonstrates that there is no one better equipped than Yoram Bilu to provide a theoretically sophisticated and phenomenologically sensitive account of the movement's messianic devotion to its deceased yet ever-present Rebbe."—Thomas J. Csordas, University of California, San Diego --- "In this fascinating study, Yoram Bilu, Israel's foremost scholar of Jewish popular religion, has succeeded in penetrating the world of Chabad's messianic subculture. He offers a brilliant analysis of how these Hasidim use visual media, apparitions, and letters to their deceased leader to create an 'apotheosis' of the Rebbe."—David Biale, University of California, Davis

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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  • Publicly Available

    CONTENTS

    vii
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    FIGURES

    ix
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    PREFACE

    xi
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    Introduction

    1
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  • Part I. Chabad’s Messianism
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    Chapter 1. CHABAD AND THE MESSIANIC IDEA

    29
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    Chapter 2. MESHICHIST SOCIOLOGY

    37
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  • Part II. Meshichist Phenomenology
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    Chapter 3. WRITING TO THE REBBE

    47
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    Chapter 4. SENSING THE REBBE

    74
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    Chapter 5. SEEING THE REBBE I

    98
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    Chapter 6. SEEING THE REBBE II

    135
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  • Part III. Meshichist Cosmology
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    Chapter 7. SCHNEERSONCENTRISM

    175
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    Chapter 8. THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE REBBE

    188
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    Chapter 9. “TO MAKE MANY MORE MENACHEM MENDELS”

    197
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    Chapter 10. HOLY PLACE AND HOLY TIME IN MESHICHIST CHABAD

    206
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    Chapter 11. THE OMNIPRESENCE OF ABSENCE

    215
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  • Part IV. The Meshichists from a Comparative Perspective
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    Chapter 12. MESHICHISTS, CHRISTIANS, SABBATEANS, AND POPULAR CULTURE HEROES

    229
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    Chapter 13. FROM TZADIK TO MESSIAH

    241
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    CONCLUSION

    258
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    NOTES

    267
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    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    297
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    INDEX

    309
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 28, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9781503612426
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
344
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503612426
eBook ISBN: 9781503612426
Keywords for this book
Book Keywords: Messianism; Chabad; Meshichistim. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson; media studies; virtuality; Meshichist phenomenology; Meshichist cosmology
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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