religions Article Miracles, Media, Mezuzot: Storytelling among Chabad Hasidim Simon Dein Academic Department of Psychiatry, University College London, Charles Bell House, 67-73 Riding House St, London W1W 7JE, UK;
[email protected] Academic Editor: Malachi Hacohen Received: 9 May 2016; Accepted: 31 August 2016; Published: 13 September 2016 Abstract: In 1994 the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Schneerson, died leaving no successor. His group split into two groups: messianists who maintained that the Rebbe had not died and was Moshiach, the Jewish Messiah, and the non messianists who agreed that the Rebbe had died. This paper focuses upon a prominent Chabad practice; the role of storytelling. I propose the question, “Whose interests do these stories serve?” Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Lubavitch, I present a number of narratives pertaining to the Rebbe’s miraculous feats. Following his death, stories surrounding the Lubavitcher Rebbe not only bolster his “charisma” but lead to a sense of his continuing presence. These stories are produced predominantly by the messianic faction of Lubavitch and following his death are published regularly on messianic websites. Keywords: Rebbe; Lubavitch; narrative; miracle 1. Introduction: Storytelling Folklorists and anthropologists have a longstanding interest in collecting personal stories, the analysis of which deepens their understanding of culture. Anthropologist Thomas Eriksen [1] underscores the fact that: In contemporary anthropology, pleas for narrative have almost become a cliché. Our journals regularly bring theoretical discussions about the centrality of narrative, about narrative as a key to understanding life, about the ways in which the great narratives of history mirror the small narratives of personal lives, and so on; but we rarely get on with actually telling stories.