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The Faith of the Mithnagdim is the first study of the theological roots of the Mithnagdic objection to Hasidism. Allan Nadler's pioneering effort fills the void in scholarship on Mithnagdic thought and corrects the impression that there were no compelling theological alternatives to Hasidism during the period of its rapid spread across Eastern Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century.
Nadler recovers the work of Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon, Gaon of Vilna; Rabbi Phinehas ben Judah, Maggid of Polotsk; and other figures who established Mithnagdism as an influential movement in Jewish religious thought. Their extensive writings on religious ethics, philosophy, and exegesis make it clear that the Mithnagdim were much more than negative, narrow critics of the Hasidim.
In Nadler's account; Mithnagdism emerges as a highly developed religious outlook that is essentially conservative, deeply dualistic, and profoundly pessimistic about humanity's spiritual potential - all in stark contrast to Hasidism's optimism and aggressive encouragement of mysticism and religious rapture among its followers.
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Previews available in: English
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1
The Faith of the Mithnagdim: Rabbinic Responses to Hasidic Rapture (Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies)
June 17, 1999, The Johns Hopkins University Press
Paperback
in English
- New Ed edition
0801861829 9780801861826
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2
The faith of the Mithnagdim: rabbinic responses to Hasidic rapture
1997, Johns Hopkins University Press
in English
0801855608 9780801855603
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-249) and index.
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First Sentence
"The vast literature of Mithnagdic polemics against Hasidism contains surprisingly little material of a genuinely theological nature."
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