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- Title
Hermeneutics and Hasidic Thought: The Izbica-Radzyn Reading of the Joseph Stories.
- Authors
Wiskind-Elper, Ora
- Abstract
Academic interest in the teachings developed in the Hasidic school of Izbica-Radyzn has focused almost exclusively on the radical, controversial, antinomian, anarchical, and 'heretical' contentions that modern and post-modern scholars have discerned in them. This paper offers an alternative evaluation of the ideology voiced in lzbica-Radzyn tradition by examining it within a broader horizon and adopting a different methodology than is commonly used. It seeks to characterize the unique hermeneutical approach that underlies these teachings and to demonstrate that this approach is an important component of their innovative ideology. The textual focus of discussion is the extended and coherent reading of the narratives concerning Joseph in the book of Genesis, as it takes form in the teachings of R. Mordecai Joseph of Izbica recorded in Mei ha-Shiloah, and of his son, R. Ya'akov of Izbica-Radzyn recorded in Beit Ya'akov. Attention is paid to rhetorical, literary, and formal aspects of these texts, in light of the recognition that they belong to the traditional genre of homiletic literature, or derashah. As such, their interpretation of the biblical text is expressed through dialogue, via inter-textual allusion, with earlier commentaries, including rabbinical and kabbalistic sources. The figure of Joseph portrayed in Izbica-Radzyn teachings proves to be a dynamic personality with psychological depth and complexity, who is compelled to engage actively in making sense of his life through the 'texts' he encounters - his dreams, the dreams of others, and additional coded messages he must interpret. Joseph's 'story' thus models, stage by stage, a vital process of personal spiritual-religious development that can take place only through hermeneutical activity, promising ultimately to lead to metaphysical repair (tikkun). This discussion makes clear that an authentic appreciation of the novel ideology of this Hasidic school can be gained only through sustained and contextualized examination of its teachings.
- Subjects
HASIDIM; HERMENEUTICS; HASIDISM; READING; ANTINOMIANISM; TEACHING; IDEOLOGY; HISTORY
- Publication
Tarbiz / Trbyṡ, 2012, Vol 80, Issue 4, p595
- ISSN
0334-3650
- Publication type
Article