With Us More Than Ever: Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad

Yoram Bilu

Published by Stanford University Press 2020

With Us More Than Ever

Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad

Yoram Bilu

In the series Spiritual Phenomena

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503612426

Overview
Contents

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

David Biale:
"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."

Thomas J. Csordas:
"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."

David Biale, University of California:
"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."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
FIGURES Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Chabad’s Messianism
Chapter 1. CHABAD AND THE MESSIANIC IDEA Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Chapter 2. MESHICHIST SOCIOLOGY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Part II. Meshichist Phenomenology
Chapter 3. WRITING TO THE REBBE The Holy Letters Oracle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Chapter 4. SENSING THE REBBE Traces and Practices of Embodiment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Chapter 5. SEEING THE REBBE I Chabad’s Visual Culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Chapter 6. SEEING THE REBBE II Dream and Waking Apparitions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
Part III. Meshichist Cosmology
Chapter 7. SCHNEERSONCENTRISM The Rebbe Steers the World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Chapter 8. THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE REBBE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Chapter 9. “TO MAKE MANY MORE MENACHEM MENDELS” Creation and Procreation in Messianic Chabad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Chapter 10. HOLY PLACE AND HOLY TIME IN MESHICHIST CHABAD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Chapter 11. THE OMNIPRESENCE OF ABSENCE Messianism in the Technological Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Part IV. The Meshichists from a Comparative Perspective
Chapter 12. MESHICHISTS, CHRISTIANS, SABBATEANS, AND POPULAR CULTURE HEROES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Chapter 13. FROM TZADIK TO MESSIAH Comparing Chabad and Bratslav Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
CONCLUSION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 344
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 30
Keywords: Book Keywords: Messianism; Chabad; Meshichistim. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson; media studies; virtuality; Meshichist phenomenology; Meshichist cosmology

eBook

Published: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781503612426