Holiness and Law

Kabbalistic Customs and Sexual Abstinence in Hasidism
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-3-11-135897-0
Verlag: De Gruyter

Buch, Englisch, Band 129, 232 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 466 g

Reihe: Studia Judaica

Hasidic groups have myriad customs. While ordinary Jewish law (halakhah) denotes the “bar of holiness” mandated for the ordinary Jew, these customs represent the higher threshold expected of Hasidim, intended to justify their title as hasidim (“pious”). How did the hasidic masters perceive the enactment of these new norms at a time in which the halakhah had already been solidified? How did they explain the normative power of these customs over communities and individuals, and how did they justify customs that diverged from the positive halakhah? This book analyzes the answers given by nineteenth-century hasidic authors. It then examines a test case: kedushah (“holiness”), or sexual abstinence among married men, a particularly restrictive norm enacted by several twentieth-century hasidic groups. Through the use of theoretical tools and historical contextualization, the book elucidates the normative circles of hasidic life, their religious and social sources and their interrelations.

Zielgruppe

Forschende aus den Bereichen Jüdische Studien/Judaistik, Rechtsge

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brown, Benjamin

Bra?un, Binyamin

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Leben & Praxis, Soziale Aspekte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte des Judentums (Diaspora)
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Benjamin Brown, Hebräische Universität Jerusalem, Israel.

Benjamin Brown, Hebräische Universität Jerusalem, Israel.