Menachem Lorberbaum (Tel Aviv): To Knowingly Sin. Sabbatianism and Hasidism Revisited

Second collaborative event held by the ZfL research projects Poetics and Jewish Philosophy. Gershom Scholem Edition  and Language Criticism as a Critique of Morals. The Unclaimed Legacy of Karl Kraus and the Minerva Institute for German History, Tel Aviv University.

The Lecture
Gershom Scholem understood intentional sinning to be a hallmark of Jewish messianic antinomianism in the form of Sabbatianism and understood 18th century Hasidism to be a reaction to this dark moment of Jewish mysticism. This conception has been highly influential and controversial and yet has lacked adequate textual evidence in so far as the founding moments of Hasidism are concerned. This lecture will present a series of teachings attributed to Israel Ba'al Shem Tov (the Besht) from 1780 that touch directly upon Sabbatean teachings. These teachings have been hitherto overlooked by existing research, and their analysis will enable a reassessment of the relation between these two movements.

Moderator: Gal Hertz (ZfL)

The Speaker
Menachem Lorberbaum is Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He has chaired the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University (2004) and is the founding chair of the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies (2004-2008). Lorberbaum is also a founding member of the Shalom Hartman Institute Jerusalem where he currently heads the Beit Midrash program.

Publications (Selection)
Politics and the Limits of Law (Stanford 2001; Hebrew transl. 2006) and We Are Dazzled by His Beauty (Hebrew, Ben-Zvi Institute 2011). He is senior co-editor of the Jewish Political Tradition series (Yale UP, vol. 1 »Authority«, 2000, Hebrew transl. 2007; vol. 2 »Membership«, 2003; vol. 3 »Community«, forthcoming).

Also of interest:
Wednesday, 9.2.2016, 10 am - 4 pm
Workshop Middat ha-din and middat ha-rahamim in Scholem’s Poetics. Sources and Implications