Bernard Hu
Biographic Data
| ID | 147128 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bernard Hu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bernard |
| FAMILY NAME | Hu |
| SIGNATURE | HU B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ben-Gurion University of the Negev |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0244-1630 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 125 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1931 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Good citizens: Legitimization strategies of new religious movements in Israel
The presence of new religious movements (NRMs) is often fraught with tensions and confrontations. Depicted as foreign elements and “cults” they face opposition demanding to restrict their activities. NRMs in Israel, despite small numbers, raised concerns and objections, attributed among other things to the dominance and power of Orthodox religion. Gradually, however NRMs managed to establish themselves in Israel and to successfully deflect the op…
Between Safed and Vienna: Chajim Bloch’s the Memoires of the Kabbalist Vital
In 1927, a small book titled Lebenserinnerungen des Kabbalisten Vital (The Memoires of the Kabbalist Vital) was published in Vienna. Its author was Chajim Bloch (1881–1973), a Rabbi, independent scholar, translator, author, and erstwhile forger. The book includes a German rendition of Sefer ha-Hezyonot (The Book of Visions), the memoirs and dream diary of the famous 16th century Kabbalist Hayyim Vital (1542–1620), along with introductions and pos…
Fighting for Legitimacy
This article examines the links between alternative spirituality and Israeli militarism in the context of the confrontations between new religious and spiritual movements and Israeli society and state, and the efforts of such movements to gain legitimation through participation in republican citizenship practices and adaptations of Israeli cultural values. The article discusses the representation of alternative religious and spiritual movements a…
Kabbalah
For the Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life”: Halakha Versus Kabbalah in the Study of Jewish Mysticim1
In the 19th century, some Jewish scholars of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement presented Kabbalah as the vital, spiritual and mystical aspect of Judaism, and juxtaposed it to legalistic, conservative, and petrified Halakha. Jewish neo-romantic and Zionist thinkers adopted this perception, which Christian Kabbalists and Hebraists first formulated in the Renaissance period. The assumption concerning the distinction and tension between Jewish …
Cosmic Philosophy and the Arts
This article discusses the nexus between art and occultism in the Idéal et Réalité group, which was active in Paris in the third decade of the twentieth century and attracted many prominent writers, poets, actors, and artists. The Idéal et Réalité group emerged from the early twentieth-century esoteric Le Mouvement Cosmique, and it was much influenced by its Cosmic Philosophy. The Cosmic Movement was founded by Max Théon and his wife Théona (Mary…
Zohar: Reception and Impact
From its first appearance, the Zohar has been one of the most sacred, authoritative, and influential books in Jewish culture. Many scholarly works have been dedicated to its mystical content, its literary style, and the question of its authorship. This book focuses on different issues: it examines the various ways in which the Zohar has been received by its readers and the impact it has had on Jewish culture, including the fluctuations in its sta…
Madame Théon, Alta Una, Mother Superior: The Life and Personas of Mary Ware (1839–1908)
The Cosmic Movement was founded in the early 20th century by two mysterious esoteric teachers, Max Théon, and his wife, Madame Théon. Madame Théon, who was also known as Una and Alma, had a leading role in the movement—but, her disciples did not know her real name, her origins, or her history before she met Théon. This article shall introduce new information concerning the early history of Madame Théon, which enables to determine with precision h…
The Sacred is the Profane, Spirituality is not Religion
The review essay of The Sacred is The Profane takes up the challenge of the authors to offer a historical analysis and contextualization of the discourse that is critical of the concept of religion. The essay observes that criticisms of “religion” emerged and gained significant power in the context of the growing influence of critical theories in the humanities and social sciences in the last decades. Yet, apart from the obvious impact of critica…
Kabbalah and the Politics of Inauthenticity: The Controversies over the Kabbalah Center
This article examines the controversies and polemics against the Kabbalah Center, and probes the cultural significance of the denunciations of the kc as “inauthentic.” The study shows that the accusation of inauthenticity is directed both at the kc ’s modern features, which are perceived as incompatible with “authentic” Kabbalah, as well as against the kabbalistic practices and doctrines of the kc which are perceived as incompatible with “authent…
New Age Culture in Israel
On 17 June 2014, in the heart of the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion) in the West Bank, the site of the abduction of three Israeli teens by Palestinian terrorists the week before, an unusual event took place. Several Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, a few rabbis, and a Muslim Sufi sheikh gathered in order to pray for the safe return of the kidnapped youths. The group prayed both in Hebrew and Arabic, reciting psalms and Quran-based Muslim…
Spirituality: The Emergence of a New Cultural Category and its Challenge to the Religious and the Secular
The present article examines spirituality as an emergent new cultural category that challenges the binary opposition of the religious and secular realms of life. The article probes the cultural significance of the popular phrase 'spiritual, but not religious' and examines the emergence of New Age spirituality within the framework of late capitalism and postmodern culture. It offers a new perspective on the debate of the secularization theory and …
Forward, to the East: Napthali Herz Imber's Perception of Kabbalah
Naphtali Herz Imber is famous as the author of the Jewish national anthem, “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”). He is also quite well known for his non-conformism, vagabond lifestyle, and excessive drinking. However, his interest in the occult and Kabbalah are much less known. Imber wrote several articles on Jewish mysticism, translated some kabbalistic texts, and published the first journal on Kabbalah—Uriel: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Cabbalistic Scienc…
The Theologies of Kabbalah Research
It is commonly accepted today that Gershom Scholem’s study of Kabbalah was shaped within the framework of his national and anarchic theology (although there remain scholars who dismiss this claim).1 In this article I would like to expand the discussion on the theological perspectives of the study of Jewish mysticism beyond the discussion of Scholem’s theological positions and their influence on his studies. In the following, I will suggest that t…
Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations
The persistence of kabbalistic groups in the twentieth century has largely been ignored or underestimated by scholars of religion. Only recently have scholars began to turn their attention to the many-facetted roles that kabbalistic doctrines and schools have played in nineteenth- and twentieth-century culture. Often, and necessarily, this new interest and openness went along with a contextualization and re-valuation of earlier scholarly approach…
Kabbalah and modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations
Introduction. Kabbalah And Modernity
This introduction chapter talks about how other chapters are arranged in this book, which is based on an international conference on Kabbalah and Modernity held at the University of Amsterdam in July 2007. The book brings together leading representatives of the ongoing debate on kabbalah and modernity, in order to break new ground for a better understanding and conceptualization of the role of kabbalah in modern religious, intellectual, and polit…
"Authorized Guardians": The Polemics Of Academic Scholars Of Jewish Mysticism Against Kabbalah Practitioners
In this chapter the author examines the polemics of academic scholars against contemporary kabbalah practitioners, and analyzes its social and cultural significance. He suggests that the polemical stance of these academic scholars is an expression of the ideological and theological perspective of scholars engaged in the field of Jewish mysticism, who aspire not only to study kabbalah as a historical and sociological phenomenon, but also to determ…
The New Age of Kabbalah: Contemporary Kabbalah, the New Age and postmodern spirituality
In recent years, a remarkable revival of interest in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism has taken place in Israel, the United States and other, mostly Western, countries. This revival, which includes a resurgence of kabbalistic and hasidic doctrines and practices and an integration of kabbalistic themes in various cultural fields, coincides with the emergence of the New Age and other related spiritual and new religious movements in the Western world i…
Ask No Questions: Gershom Scholem and the Study of Contemporary Jewish Mysticism
All You Need Is LAV: Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah
Madonna studies Kabbalah and integrates Kabbalistic themes in her recent cultural productions. Her video-clip promo to James Bond's 'Die Another Day', features the Hebrew letters LAV, which are, according to an ancient Jewish tradition, part of the 72 names of God. Madonna studies Kabbalah at the Kabbalah center, the largest contemporary Kabbalistic group, headed by R. Philip Berg, who developed a postmodern version of the communist Kabbalah of t…
Sefer ha-Zohar as a Canonical, Sacred and Holy Text: Changing Perspectives of the Book of Splendor between the Thirteenth and Eighteenth Centuries
בשערי הקבלה של ר' משה קורדובירו (The Kabbalah of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero)
The Evolution of the South African Native Mind
Opening Paragraph'One must be a native in order to understand the native.' So we are categorically told by one of our prominent native leaders. Justified race-pride of an awakening people may have prompted that leader to say so, but he can hardly have meant to say that the native mind shall for ever be a sealed book to us. Otherwise we could retort and claim that one must be a European in order to understand the European mind which finds its expr…
Spirituality: The Emergence of a New Cultural Category and its Challenge to the Religious and the Secular
The present article examines spirituality as an emergent new cultural category that challenges the binary opposition of the religious and secular realms of life. The article probes the cultural significance of the popular phrase 'spiritual, but not religious' and examines the emergence of New Age spirituality within the framework of late capitalism and postmodern culture. It offers a new perspective on the debate of the secularization theory and …
The New Age of Kabbalah: Contemporary Kabbalah, the New Age and postmodern spirituality
In recent years, a remarkable revival of interest in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism has taken place in Israel, the United States and other, mostly Western, countries. This revival, which includes a resurgence of kabbalistic and hasidic doctrines and practices and an integration of kabbalistic themes in various cultural fields, coincides with the emergence of the New Age and other related spiritual and new religious movements in the Western world i…
New Age Culture in Israel
On 17 June 2014, in the heart of the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion) in the West Bank, the site of the abduction of three Israeli teens by Palestinian terrorists the week before, an unusual event took place. Several Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, a few rabbis, and a Muslim Sufi sheikh gathered in order to pray for the safe return of the kidnapped youths. The group prayed both in Hebrew and Arabic, reciting psalms and Quran-based Muslim…
Ask No Questions: Gershom Scholem and the Study of Contemporary Jewish Mysticism
The Theologies of Kabbalah Research
It is commonly accepted today that Gershom Scholem’s study of Kabbalah was shaped within the framework of his national and anarchic theology (although there remain scholars who dismiss this claim).1 In this article I would like to expand the discussion on the theological perspectives of the study of Jewish mysticism beyond the discussion of Scholem’s theological positions and their influence on his studies. In the following, I will suggest that t…
All You Need Is LAV: Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah
Madonna studies Kabbalah and integrates Kabbalistic themes in her recent cultural productions. Her video-clip promo to James Bond's 'Die Another Day', features the Hebrew letters LAV, which are, according to an ancient Jewish tradition, part of the 72 names of God. Madonna studies Kabbalah at the Kabbalah center, the largest contemporary Kabbalistic group, headed by R. Philip Berg, who developed a postmodern version of the communist Kabbalah of t…
Good citizens: Legitimization strategies of new religious movements in Israel
The presence of new religious movements (NRMs) is often fraught with tensions and confrontations. Depicted as foreign elements and “cults” they face opposition demanding to restrict their activities. NRMs in Israel, despite small numbers, raised concerns and objections, attributed among other things to the dominance and power of Orthodox religion. Gradually, however NRMs managed to establish themselves in Israel and to successfully deflect the op…
For the Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life”: Halakha Versus Kabbalah in the Study of Jewish Mysticim1
In the 19th century, some Jewish scholars of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement presented Kabbalah as the vital, spiritual and mystical aspect of Judaism, and juxtaposed it to legalistic, conservative, and petrified Halakha. Jewish neo-romantic and Zionist thinkers adopted this perception, which Christian Kabbalists and Hebraists first formulated in the Renaissance period. The assumption concerning the distinction and tension between Jewish …
The Sacred is the Profane, Spirituality is not Religion
The review essay of The Sacred is The Profane takes up the challenge of the authors to offer a historical analysis and contextualization of the discourse that is critical of the concept of religion. The essay observes that criticisms of “religion” emerged and gained significant power in the context of the growing influence of critical theories in the humanities and social sciences in the last decades. Yet, apart from the obvious impact of critica…
Forward, to the East: Napthali Herz Imber's Perception of Kabbalah
Naphtali Herz Imber is famous as the author of the Jewish national anthem, “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”). He is also quite well known for his non-conformism, vagabond lifestyle, and excessive drinking. However, his interest in the occult and Kabbalah are much less known. Imber wrote several articles on Jewish mysticism, translated some kabbalistic texts, and published the first journal on Kabbalah—Uriel: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Cabbalistic Scienc…
The Evolution of the South African Native Mind
Opening Paragraph'One must be a native in order to understand the native.' So we are categorically told by one of our prominent native leaders. Justified race-pride of an awakening people may have prompted that leader to say so, but he can hardly have meant to say that the native mind shall for ever be a sealed book to us. Otherwise we could retort and claim that one must be a European in order to understand the European mind which finds its expr…
Sefer ha-Zohar as a Canonical, Sacred and Holy Text: Changing Perspectives of the Book of Splendor between the Thirteenth and Eighteenth Centuries
בשערי הקבלה של ר' משה קורדובירו (The Kabbalah of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero)
Ask No Questions: Gershom Scholem and the Study of Contemporary Jewish Mysticism
All You Need Is LAV: Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah
Madonna studies Kabbalah and integrates Kabbalistic themes in her recent cultural productions. Her video-clip promo to James Bond's 'Die Another Day', features the Hebrew letters LAV, which are, according to an ancient Jewish tradition, part of the 72 names of God. Madonna studies Kabbalah at the Kabbalah center, the largest contemporary Kabbalistic group, headed by R. Philip Berg, who developed a postmodern version of the communist Kabbalah of t…
"Authorized Guardians": The Polemics Of Academic Scholars Of Jewish Mysticism Against Kabbalah Practitioners
In this chapter the author examines the polemics of academic scholars against contemporary kabbalah practitioners, and analyzes its social and cultural significance. He suggests that the polemical stance of these academic scholars is an expression of the ideological and theological perspective of scholars engaged in the field of Jewish mysticism, who aspire not only to study kabbalah as a historical and sociological phenomenon, but also to determ…
The New Age of Kabbalah: Contemporary Kabbalah, the New Age and postmodern spirituality
In recent years, a remarkable revival of interest in Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism has taken place in Israel, the United States and other, mostly Western, countries. This revival, which includes a resurgence of kabbalistic and hasidic doctrines and practices and an integration of kabbalistic themes in various cultural fields, coincides with the emergence of the New Age and other related spiritual and new religious movements in the Western world i…
Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations
The persistence of kabbalistic groups in the twentieth century has largely been ignored or underestimated by scholars of religion. Only recently have scholars began to turn their attention to the many-facetted roles that kabbalistic doctrines and schools have played in nineteenth- and twentieth-century culture. Often, and necessarily, this new interest and openness went along with a contextualization and re-valuation of earlier scholarly approach…
Kabbalah and modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations
Introduction. Kabbalah And Modernity
This introduction chapter talks about how other chapters are arranged in this book, which is based on an international conference on Kabbalah and Modernity held at the University of Amsterdam in July 2007. The book brings together leading representatives of the ongoing debate on kabbalah and modernity, in order to break new ground for a better understanding and conceptualization of the role of kabbalah in modern religious, intellectual, and polit…
Forward, to the East: Napthali Herz Imber's Perception of Kabbalah
Naphtali Herz Imber is famous as the author of the Jewish national anthem, “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”). He is also quite well known for his non-conformism, vagabond lifestyle, and excessive drinking. However, his interest in the occult and Kabbalah are much less known. Imber wrote several articles on Jewish mysticism, translated some kabbalistic texts, and published the first journal on Kabbalah—Uriel: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Cabbalistic Scienc…
The Theologies of Kabbalah Research
It is commonly accepted today that Gershom Scholem’s study of Kabbalah was shaped within the framework of his national and anarchic theology (although there remain scholars who dismiss this claim).1 In this article I would like to expand the discussion on the theological perspectives of the study of Jewish mysticism beyond the discussion of Scholem’s theological positions and their influence on his studies. In the following, I will suggest that t…
New Age Culture in Israel
On 17 June 2014, in the heart of the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion) in the West Bank, the site of the abduction of three Israeli teens by Palestinian terrorists the week before, an unusual event took place. Several Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, a few rabbis, and a Muslim Sufi sheikh gathered in order to pray for the safe return of the kidnapped youths. The group prayed both in Hebrew and Arabic, reciting psalms and Quran-based Muslim…
Spirituality: The Emergence of a New Cultural Category and its Challenge to the Religious and the Secular
The present article examines spirituality as an emergent new cultural category that challenges the binary opposition of the religious and secular realms of life. The article probes the cultural significance of the popular phrase 'spiritual, but not religious' and examines the emergence of New Age spirituality within the framework of late capitalism and postmodern culture. It offers a new perspective on the debate of the secularization theory and …
Madame Théon, Alta Una, Mother Superior: The Life and Personas of Mary Ware (1839–1908)
The Cosmic Movement was founded in the early 20th century by two mysterious esoteric teachers, Max Théon, and his wife, Madame Théon. Madame Théon, who was also known as Una and Alma, had a leading role in the movement—but, her disciples did not know her real name, her origins, or her history before she met Théon. This article shall introduce new information concerning the early history of Madame Théon, which enables to determine with precision h…
The Sacred is the Profane, Spirituality is not Religion
The review essay of The Sacred is The Profane takes up the challenge of the authors to offer a historical analysis and contextualization of the discourse that is critical of the concept of religion. The essay observes that criticisms of “religion” emerged and gained significant power in the context of the growing influence of critical theories in the humanities and social sciences in the last decades. Yet, apart from the obvious impact of critica…
Kabbalah and the Politics of Inauthenticity: The Controversies over the Kabbalah Center
This article examines the controversies and polemics against the Kabbalah Center, and probes the cultural significance of the denunciations of the kc as “inauthentic.” The study shows that the accusation of inauthenticity is directed both at the kc ’s modern features, which are perceived as incompatible with “authentic” Kabbalah, as well as against the kabbalistic practices and doctrines of the kc which are perceived as incompatible with “authent…
Cosmic Philosophy and the Arts
This article discusses the nexus between art and occultism in the Idéal et Réalité group, which was active in Paris in the third decade of the twentieth century and attracted many prominent writers, poets, actors, and artists. The Idéal et Réalité group emerged from the early twentieth-century esoteric Le Mouvement Cosmique, and it was much influenced by its Cosmic Philosophy. The Cosmic Movement was founded by Max Théon and his wife Théona (Mary…
Zohar: Reception and Impact
From its first appearance, the Zohar has been one of the most sacred, authoritative, and influential books in Jewish culture. Many scholarly works have been dedicated to its mystical content, its literary style, and the question of its authorship. This book focuses on different issues: it examines the various ways in which the Zohar has been received by its readers and the impact it has had on Jewish culture, including the fluctuations in its sta…
Kabbalah
For the Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life”: Halakha Versus Kabbalah in the Study of Jewish Mysticim1
In the 19th century, some Jewish scholars of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement presented Kabbalah as the vital, spiritual and mystical aspect of Judaism, and juxtaposed it to legalistic, conservative, and petrified Halakha. Jewish neo-romantic and Zionist thinkers adopted this perception, which Christian Kabbalists and Hebraists first formulated in the Renaissance period. The assumption concerning the distinction and tension between Jewish …
Fighting for Legitimacy
This article examines the links between alternative spirituality and Israeli militarism in the context of the confrontations between new religious and spiritual movements and Israeli society and state, and the efforts of such movements to gain legitimation through participation in republican citizenship practices and adaptations of Israeli cultural values. The article discusses the representation of alternative religious and spiritual movements a…
Between Safed and Vienna: Chajim Bloch’s the Memoires of the Kabbalist Vital
In 1927, a small book titled Lebenserinnerungen des Kabbalisten Vital (The Memoires of the Kabbalist Vital) was published in Vienna. Its author was Chajim Bloch (1881–1973), a Rabbi, independent scholar, translator, author, and erstwhile forger. The book includes a German rendition of Sefer ha-Hezyonot (The Book of Visions), the memoirs and dream diary of the famous 16th century Kabbalist Hayyim Vital (1542–1620), along with introductions and pos…
Good citizens: Legitimization strategies of new religious movements in Israel
The presence of new religious movements (NRMs) is often fraught with tensions and confrontations. Depicted as foreign elements and “cults” they face opposition demanding to restrict their activities. NRMs in Israel, despite small numbers, raised concerns and objections, attributed among other things to the dominance and power of Orthodox religion. Gradually, however NRMs managed to establish themselves in Israel and to successfully deflect the op…
Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (17 works) · Philosophy (15 works) · Theology (15 works) · Judaism (14 works) · Kabbalah (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Jewish mysticism (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Art (7 works)