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Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _____________________________ _____________ Michael Karlin Date “To Create a Dwelling Place for God” Life Coaching and the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Movement in Contemporary America By Michael Karlin Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Division of Religion American Religious Cultures ______________________________________ Don Seeman, Advisor ______________________________________ Joyce Flueckiger Committee Member ______________________________________ Eric Goldstein Committee Member ______________________________________ Gary Laderman Committee Member ______________________________________ Bobbi Patterson Committee Member “To Create a Dwelling Place for God” Life Coaching and the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Movement in Contemporary America By Michael Karlin M.A., Georgia State University, 2007 Advisor: Don Seeman, PhD An abstract of a dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Division of Religion, American Religious Cultures 2014 Abstract “To Create a Dwelling Place for God” Life Coaching and the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Movement in Contemporary America By Michael Karlin Chai Life International and The Method for Self Mastery are two life coaching programs created within the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community. Chai Life tried to implement mainstream life coaching practices and beliefs directly into a Chabad environment and experienced many conflicts between these two belief systems. These tensions are one reason Chai Life ultimately failed. The Method, by contrast, developed over a period of twenty years, and more fully integrated the cultural and psychological resources it relies upon with Chabad cosmology, rituals and language, thereby, presenting a much more unified system of religious and psychological healing. By investigating why Chai Life International struggled to integrate mainstream life coaching into a Chabad environment, this dissertation suggests mainstream life coaching is like religion in many ways, embedding its own ontology of the self, theory of agency, value structure and sacred narratives. This “religion” is unmarked as religion as such, as they are conveyed through the contemporary language of “spirituality,” reflecting life coaching’s roots in the human potential movement. The Method, by contrast, utilizes its own conceptions of self, agency, values and sacred narratives, drawn from Chabad cosmology and blended with psychological theories, methods, and language, as well as other cultural resources. Through this system, the Method works to try and transform the moral subjectivity of its participants, giving them a new way to understand themselves and their place in the world. “To Create a Dwelling Place for God” Life Coaching and the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Movement in Contemporary America By Michael Karlin M.A., Georgia State University, 2007 Advisor: Don Seeman, PhD A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Division of Religion, American Religious Cultures 2014 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my dissertation committee—Joyce Flueckiger, Eric Goldstein, Gary Laderman, and Bobbi Patterson—for reading multiple drafts of this dissertation and providing me with their support, guidance and constructive criticism along the way. This dissertation is significantly better because of their feedback. I especially want to thank Don Seeman, my committee chair, for working so closely with me during the past several years, from the first inception of this project to the final draft. Don has been a teacher, advisor, mentor and friend. There are no words to express my deep gratitude for all of the time and effort he has put into this project and advancing my career. Next I would like to thank all of the individuals who helped me with my research. This includes all of the Chai Life International coaches and coaches who agreed to allow me to interview them for this project. I also want to thank Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman and Ben Pargman for welcoming me into the planning and execution of Chai Life International and being so open with me during their meetings. I especially want to thank Ben, a long-time friend, who spent countless hours meeting with me individually to discuss his thoughts and experiences in creating Chai Life. Without Ben, this project never would have happened, since it was my encounter with him that gave me the idea to launch this study in the first place. Thank you too to all of the women who participated in the Method for Self Mastery. You never made me feel self-conscious for being one of only two male participants and were open to my participation in the program as a researcher. In particular, I am deeply grateful to the women who became the detailed case studies of this project. They spent hours participating in interviews with me and sharing with me often very difficult and painful life experiences. Your stories make up the bulk of this dissertation and form the basis for my conclusions. Thank you for trusting me with your stories. Although he is not a subject of this dissertation, I want to thank Rabbi Shmuel Elbinger. Shmuel and I spoke almost every week for the year I participated in the Method for Self Mastery, as he became my coaching partner for the program. We worked through all of the exercises together each week, and I came to understand the Method in much greater detail because of my experiences working with Shmuel, and his deep knowledge of Jewish law, kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy. I especially want to thank Shimona Tzukernik, the Kabbalah Coach. Shimona has been remarkably generous and patient with me throughout this process. She has shared with me her voluminous body of work, including written, audio and video pieces, and been available to me to answer all of my questions. She also gave me full access to the Method for Self Mastery, allowing me to participate fully in the program and encouraging other participants to take part in my study. She was also very open with me about her own life and how her life effected the development of the Method. Her amount of generosity towards me and my project were staggering. Clearly, this project could have never been accomplished without this generosity, and for this I am deeply grateful. I would like to thank my family—my daughter Rose, two sons Benjamin and Dov, and my wife Ann—for their love and support. When I decided at the age of thirty-nine to set out on a journey to achieve my Ph.D., I knew it would be a tremendous amount of work and that it would impact my family. Despite my crazy hours, often high stress levels, and need to travel, they have been incredibly supportive. My children always encouraged me to get my homework done and patiently listened as I told them all that I was learning, despite what I am sure was a complete lack of interest. My wife Ann has always been there for me as I have dragged her down many winding twists and turns in my endless journey along the path of life. Like always, when it came to getting my Ph.D. she was incredibly patient, supportive, understanding and loving. I cannot thank her enough for enabling me to live my dreams. Finally, I want to thank my late grandfather, Bernard Margolius, the smartest person I’ve ever known. He was the one who always told me how important it is to be educated and to work hard in school. I did not heed his advice as a child or young adult, but his words and example sank in nonetheless. Fortunately, he lived to be ninety-six years old and got to see me embark on this path, but he is not alive today to see me finish it. In many ways, this Ph.D. is for him. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHABAD-LUBAVITCH HASIDIC MOVEMENT .......................................................... 6 CHABAD AND LIFE COACHING ................................................................................................................................. 9 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................... 19 MORAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE MORAL LABORATORY ............................................................................. 25 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS .....................................................................................................................................
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