RLGA02H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Moses Mendelssohn, Orthodox Judaism, Kabbalah
Document Summary
Kabbalah mysticism: not from the scriptures could lead to heresy: received tradition stems from the torah, created own texts called zohar, probably written in 13th century, kabbalah was rejected by many jews. Why: kabbalah did not support monotheism, yet, it has persisted because it explained evil as a result of a misalighnement of divine effulgence (brilliant light) and offers humans the hope that their action . Hasidism: founder was israel ben eliezer (1698-1759, a reaction to over-legalistic judaism, message was simple: best way of community with god was through humility, good deeds, prayer and joy, hasidism became very popular in eastern europe. Hasidic leader, a zaddick: not to be confused with orthodox jews. Conservative judaism: conservative judaism takes an intermediate position between reform and orthodoxy. If a particular custom can be shown to be fairly recent or secondary, then there is a precedent for further change or even elimination. For this reason hebrew is still used in prayer.
