Solomon Schechter's Art of Hasidism
Tradition, Parody, and Transmission
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5349239 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David B Starr, Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Yohanan Petrovsky‐shtern |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 108 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 449-488 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Jewish Quarterly Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-6682 • E-ISSN: 1553-0604 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jqr.2018.0029 |
| OpenAlex | W2901220920 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
This paper introduces and explores the earliest extant work by Solomon Schechter (1847-1915). The conventional reading of Schechter presents him as a scholar, a practitioner of the Science of Judaism. However, Schechter's parody of the Hasidic movement, its masters and its adherents, written in the mid-late 1870's, suggests that even as Schechter engaged in rigorous scholarship he also worked as a creative artist. He associated with Jewish thinkers, writers and activists such as Peretz Smolenskin, and like them he created art for the sake of wrestling with the vital issues in Jewish life. His writing experiments enhanced his self-discovery. The text enables us to glimpse Schechter at an early period of his journey from his Romanian Hasidic family and community to a modern self, one with multiple identities, the relations of which shifted over time. His parody drew from the tradition of literary mystifications and was in dialogue simultaneously with the Sipurei Ma'asiyot, hagiographic stories about Hasidic masters, and with Joseph Perl's anti-Hasidic satire Megaleh temirin (Revealer of Secrets). Schechter's parody of Hasidism ironically contained both appreciation of this major modern movement of religious enthusiasm and criticism of its foes, revealing Schechter's eclectic nature and discomfort with committing fully to any trends in his contemporary Judaism
Art · Enthusiasm · Extant taxon · Judaism · Literature · Scholarship · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy
Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia, The
Parody in Jewish Literature
The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph
The Discovery and Publication of Joseph Perl’s Yiddish Writings
On Solomon Schechter in the Pages of JQR
Joseph Perl's Escape From Biblical Epigonism through Parody of Ḥasidic Writing
Asceticism, Mysticism, and Messianism
Reclaiming His Past
The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other Essays in Jewish Spirituality
Against the Current
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |