September, 2012
Professor G. Hundert Office: 3438 McTavish, 2nd fl. Hours: WF 11-12 and by app’t Telephone: (398-) 6542 [email protected]
HIST477/HIST677
Messianic Movements and Millenarian Thinking
NOTE: CLASS CANCELLED WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26
Course Requirements
1. Several presentations of secondary and/or primary materials. These will be submitted in writing and, in aggregate, will count for 30%
2. Punctual completion of all reading assignments; attendance at class meetings. Students are expected to prepare for and participate in class discussion. The incentive for this will be the assignment of 10% of the final grade for such participation. 10%
3. Two brief in-class tests in November and February 10%
4. A substantial research paper (20 to 30 pp.) Final version due April 3 50%
PRESENTATIONS: This is a 10 to 15 minute discussion of a text, primary or secondary, presented to the class. The grade will be based on the written submission following oral presentation. The submission will normally be 4 to 6 pages in length. The number of presentations will be determined partly on the basis of the size of the class and the interests of the student.
RESEARCH PAPER: The research paper will be prepared in three stages, the first two of which, ideally, will be presented to the group and will benefit from comments by members of the seminar. The stages are:
1. Initial formulation of the question and preliminary bibliography. Ideally earlier, but no later than Feb. 16.
2. First draft of the paper. No later than March 16.
3. Final version due April 3.
2 Readings
Articles and books that everyone is to read are marked with an asterisk (*) Books on reserve in the library are in bold.
1. GENERAL READINGS
A. Z. Aescoly, Ha-tenu`ot hameshihiyot beyisra'el, 2d ed., Jerusalem, 1988. Michael Barkun, Disaster and the Millenium, New Haven, 1974. Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millenium, N.Y., 1961. Mircea Eliade, Cosmos and History: The Myth of Eternal Return, New York, 1959. Moshe Idel, “Jewish Apocalypticism, 670-1670,” The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism II (1999) 204-237. Moshe Idel, Messianic Mystics, Yale UP, 1998. Moshe Idel, Messianisme et mystique, Paris,1994. Moshe Idel, Messianisme et mystique, Paris: Cerf, 1994. Bernard McGinn (ed.), Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages, N.Y., 1979. *Marc Saperstein, Essential Papers on Messianic Movements and Personalities in Jewish History, N.Y., 1992. [includes various articles that appear on the syllabus] *Gershom Scholem, "Toward an Understanding of the Messianic Idea in Judaism," in his, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, N.Y., 1971. Yonina Talmon, "Millenarian Movements," Archives européenes de sociologie 7 (1966), 159-200. Yonina Talmon, "Pursuit of the Millenium," Archives européenes de sociologie 3 (1962), 124-148.
2. SECOND TEMPLE AND EARLY RABBINIC PERIOD
Martin G. Abegg, “Bibliography of messianism and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Qumran- Messianism: Studies On The Messianic Expectations In The Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. J. Charlesworth et al., Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 1998, 204-214. Albert I. Baumgarten, “The pursuit of the millennium in early Judaism,” in Tolerance And Intolerance In Early Judaism And Christianity, ed. G. N. Stanton, G. G. Stroumsa, Cambridge UP, 1998, 38-60. S. R. Eisenberg, "Millenarism in Greco-Roman Palestine," Religion 4 (1974), 26-46. Gerbern S.Oegema, The Anointed and His People: Messianic Expectations from Maccabees to Bar Kochba. Sheffield Academic Press, 1998. *Peter Schäfer, “Diversity and Interaction: Messiahs in Early Judaism,” in Toward the Millenium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco, ed. Peter Schäfer and Mark Cohen (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 15-35 Marcel Simon, Jewish Sects, Philadelphia, 1976.
3. TALMUDIC ERA
Philip S. Alexander, "The King Messiah in Rabbinic Judaism,” King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. John Day, Sheffield: Sheffield UP, 1998. (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Suppl. 270), 456-473. David Berger, "Three Typological Themes in Early Jewish Messianism," AJSreview 10 (no. 2, Fall, 1985), 141-164. Y. Even-Shmu'el, Midreshei ge'ulah, Jerusalem, 1968. Michael Fishbane, “Midrash and Messianism: Some Theologies of Suffering and Salvation,” Toward the Millenium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco, ed. Peter Schäfer and Mark Cohen (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 57-71. J. Heinemann, "The Messiah of Ephraim," Harvard Theological Review 68 (1975), 1-16. Robert Kirschner, “Apocalyptic and Rabbinic Responses to the Destruction of 70,” Harvard Theological Review 78 (1985): 27-46. Leo Landman, Messianism in the Talmudic Era, N.Y., 1979. 3 Chaim Milikovsky, "Trajectories of Return, Restoration and Redemption in Rabbinic Judaism," Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish and Christian Perspectives, ed. James M. Scott (Brill, 2001), 265-280. AND SEE: Berakhot 49:10; Sotah 9:15; Shabbat 63a, 118b; Sanhedrin 91b-99a; Avodah Zarah 8b-9b; Pesikta Rabbati, ch. 36; Koheleth Rabbah 1:9; ARN (Goldin) 137-138; Mekhilta de R. Ishmael (Laut.), 2:120; Shir ha-shirim Rabbah 2:13:4.
4. GAONIC PERIOD
Zvi Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium, N.Y., 1959. *S. W. Baron, A Social and Religious History, vol. 5 and in Saperstein. Yoram Erder, “The Doctrine of Abu Isa al-Isafahani and Its Sources,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 20 (1996), 162-199. Yoram Erder, The negation of the Exile in the messianic doctrine of the Karaite mourners of Zion. Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. 68 (1997), 109-140. Israel Friedlaender, "Jewish Arabic Studies," Jewish Quarterly Review, n.s. vols. 1, 2, 3, and in Saperstein. Amos Funkenstein, “Maimonides: Political Theory and Realistic Messianism,” in his Perceptions of Jewish History, California UP, 1993, 131-154. Bat Zion Eraqi Klorman, "The Yemeni Messiah in the Time of Maimonides: Prelude for Future Messiahs," From Iberia to Diaspora, ed. Y. Stillman and N. Stillman, Leiden: E J Brill, 1999, 129- 138 *Maimonides, "Epistle to Yemen," in Crisis and Leadership: Epistles of Maimonides, ed. Abraham Halkin, Phila, 1985. Leon Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, Yale, 1952. Joseph Sarachek, The Messianic Idea, N.Y., 1932. *Steven M. Wasserstrom, Between Muslim and Jew: The Problem of Symbiosis under Early Islam, Princeton UP, 1995, 47-89. ISLAMIC STUDIES LIBRARY
5. SPAIN
Abraham ibn Daud, The Book of Tradition, ed. G. Cohen, Phila, 1967. *A. Berger, "The Messianic Self-Consciousness of Abraham Abulafia," in Saperstein. David Berger, “Sephardic and Ashkenazic messianism in the Middle Ages: An assessment of the historiographical debate,” Cultures in Collision and Conversation; Essays in the Intellectual History of the Jews, [by] David Berger. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2011, 289-311. Elisheva Carlebach, "Between History and Hope: Jewish Messianism in Ashkenaz and Sepharad," Third Annual Lecture of the Victor J. Selmanowitz Chair, Touro College, May, 1998. *Gerson Cohen, "Messianic Postures of Ashkenazim and Sephardim," in Saperstein. Joseph Dan, "The Emergence of Messianic Mythology in 13th-Century Kabbalah in Spain," Occident and Orient, ed. R. Dan, Budapest-Leiden, 1988, pp. 57-68. Moshe Idel, “Abraham Abulafia: Ecstatic Kabbalah and Spiritual Messianism,” in his Messianic Mystics, Yale, 1998, 58-100. Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism.
6. ASHKENAZ
J. Gutmann, "When the Kingdom Comes: Messianic Themes in Medieval Jewish Art," Art Journal 27 (1967-1968). J. Gutmann, "The Messiah at the Seder: A Fifteenth-Century Motif in Jewish Art," Raphael Mahler Jubilee Volume, Tel Aviv, 1974, 29-38. Ivan Marcus, Piety and Society. Leiden: Brill, 1981. Peter Schäfer, "The Ideal of Piety of the Ashkenazi Hasidim and Its Roots in Jewish Tradition," Jewish History 4, no. 2 (1990). 4 *Yuval, Israel Jacob. Two nations in your womb: perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
7 (6a.) ASHER LEMLEIN
E. Kupfer, "Hezionotav shel R. Asher ben Me'ir ha-mekhuneh Lemlein," Kovets al yad 8 (18), 1976. David Tamar, “Al Asher Lemlein,” Zion 52 (1987), 390-401.
8 (6b.) RABBI LOEW OF PRAGUE (MAHARAL)
Ruth Gladstein, "Eschatological Trends in Bohemian Jewry during the Hussite Period," Prophecy and Millenarianism, ed. A. Williams, 1980, 239-256. Benjamin Gross, Le Messianisme juif: L'éternité d'Israel du Maharal de Prague, Paris, 1969. Byron Sherwin, Mystical Theology and Social Dissent: Judah Loew of Prague, 1982.
9. THE SPANISH EXPULSION AND THE CENTRE IN SAFED
John Edwards, “Elijah and the Inquisition: Messianic Prophecy among Conversos in Spain c1500,” Nottingham Medieval Studies 28 (1984): 76-94. Rachel Elior, "Messianic Expectations and the Spiritualization of Religious Life," REJ 145 (1989), 35-49. Also in Essential Papers on Jewish Culture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy, ed., David Ruderman. Matt Goldish, "Patterns in Converso Messianism," Millenarianism and Messianism in Early Modern European Culture, ed. M. Goldish, R. H. Popkin, Kluwer, 2001, v. 1, 41-63 Eleazar Gutwirth, “Jewish and Christian messianism in XVth-century Spain,” The Expulsion Of The Jews And Their Emigration To The Southern Low Countries, ed. L. Dequeker, W. Verbeke, Leuven: Leuven UP, 1998, 1-22. Moshe Idel, "Spanish Kabbalah after the Expulsion," Moreshet Sepharad: The Sephardi Legacy, ed. Haim Beinart, Jerusalem, 1992, pp. 166-178. Meyerson, Mark D., “Seeking the Messiah: Converso messianism in post-1453 Valencia,” The Conversos and Moriscos in Late Medieval Spain and Beyond, vol. I: “Departures and Changes,” ed. Keith Ingram, Brill, 2009, 51-82. Benzion Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel, Phila, 1972. *Gershom Scholem, "The Messianic Idea in Kabbalism," in his The Messianic Idea in Judaism or *see the excerpt in translation in Saperstein. Bruce Rosenstock, "Abraham Miguel Cardoso's messianism; a reappraisal," AJS Review 23,1 (1998) 63-104. Isaiah Tishby, Meshihiyut be-dor gerushei Sefarad, Jerusalem, 1985
10 DAVID REUVENI
A. Z. Aescoly, Ha-tenu`ot. A. Z. Aescoly, Sippur David HaReubeni, 2nd ed. with an Introduction by Moshe Idel, Jerusalem, 1993. A. Z. Aescoly, "David Reubeni in the Light of History," Jewish Quarterly Review 28 (1937-1938), 1- 45. Yitzhak Baer, "Hatenu`a hameshihit beSefarad betekufat hagerush," Zion 5 (1933), 71-77. Benmelech, Moti. “History, Politics and Messianism: David Ha-Reuveni’s Origin and Mission.” AJS Review 35 (2011), 35-60. E. Birnbaum, "David Reubeni's Indian Origin," Historia Judaica 20 (1958), 3-30. Campanini, Saverio “A Neglected Source Concerning Asher Lemmlein and Paride da Ceresara: Agostino Giustiniani,” European Journal of Jewish Studies, 2, 1, (2008), 89-110. M. D. Cassuto, "Who Was David Reuveni?" (Hebrew) Tarbiz (1962-1963), 339-358. [Miriam Eliav-Feldman, "Invented Identities: Credulity in the Age of Prophecy and Exploration," 5 Journal of Early Modern History 3 (1999), 203-232.] Amnon Linder, "L'éxpédition italienne de Charles VIII et les espérances messianiques des Juifs," REJ 137 (1978). I.S. Revah, "David Reubeni" (French), Revue des études juives 117 (1958), 128-135. Ira Robinson, "Messianic Prayer Vigils in Jerusalem in the Early 16th Century," Jewish Quarterly Review 72 (1981-1982), 32-42. Cecil Roth, "David Reubeni" (French), Revue des Etudes Juives 116 (1957), 93-95. *David Ruderman, "Hope against Hope: Jewish and Christian Messianic Expectations in the Late Middle Ages," Exile and Diaspora: Studies in the History of theJewish People Presented to Prof. H. Beinart, (Jerusalem, 1991), 185-202. Also in D. Ruderman (ed.), Essential Papers on Jewish Culture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy, N.Y., 1992. Léa Sestieri, David Reubeni: un ebreo d’Arabia in missione secreta nell’Europa del Cinquecento. Genes: Marietti, 1991. [Italian translation of the Journal]
11. THE ORDINATION CONTROVERSY
M. Benayahu, in Yitzhak Baer Jubilee Volume.248-269. *Jacob Katz, “The dispute between Jacob Berab and Levi ben Habib over renewing ordination, in Jacob Katz, Divine Law in Human Hands: Case Studies in Halakhic Flexibility, Jerusalem, Magnes Press, 1998 (also in Hebrew in Zion 16 (1951), 28-45.) H. Z. Dimitrovsky, Sefunot 10 (1966), 113-192.
12. SABBATAI SEVI
Cardozo, Abraham Miguel, Abraham Miguel Cardozo: Selected Writings.Translated and introduced by David J. Halperin. New York: Paulist Press, 2001. Elisheva Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy: Rabbi Moses Hagis and the Sabbatian Controversy, Columbia UP, 1990. *Elisheva Carlebach, "The Sabbatian Posture of German Jewry," The Sabbatian Movement and Its Aftermath: Messianism, Sabbatianism and Frankism [Mehkerei Yerushalayim Be- Mahshevet Yisra’el, vol. 16] ed. Rachel Elior, Jerusalem, 2001, v. 2, 1*-29*. Elisheva Carlebach, “Two Amens That Delayed the Redemption: Jewish Messianism and Popular Spirituality in the Post-Sabbatian Century,” Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 82, No. 3/4 (Jan. - Apr., 1992), 241-261. Paul B. Fenton, “Shabbatay Sebi and His Muslim Contemporary Muhammad An-Niyazi,” Approaches to Judaism in Medieval Times, vol. III, ed. David Blumenthal (Scholars Press: 1988), 81- 88. R Michał Galas, "Sabbatianism in the 17th-Century Polish Commonwealth: A Review of the Sources," The Sabbatian Movement and Its Aftermath: Messianism, Sabbatianism and Frankism [Mehkerei Yerushalayim Be-Mahshevet Yisra’el, vol. 16] ed. Rachel Elior, Jerusalem, 2001, v. 2, 51*-63*. David J. Halperin, “The son of the messiah: Ishmael Zevi and the Sabbatian Aqedah,” Hebrew Union College Annual 67 (1996), 143-218. David J. Halperin, Sabbatai Zevi: Testimonies to a Fallen Messiah.Translated, with notes and introductions, by David J. Halperin. Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2007. Michael Heyd, “The "Jewish Quaker": Christian perceptions of Sabbatai Zevi as an enthusiast,” In: Hebraica veritas? Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe. Ed. by Allison P. Coudert and Jeffrey S. Shoulson. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, 234-265 Yehuda Liebes, "Sabbatean Messianism" and "Sabbatai Sevi's Religious Faith," in his Studies in Jewish Myth and Messianism, Albany, 1993, pp. 93-113. Richard Popkin, "Jewish-Christian Relations in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: The Conception of the Messiah," Jewish History 6, no. 1-2 (1992), 163-177. Rosenstock, Bruce, “Abraham Miguel Cardoso's messianism; a reappraisal,” AJSReview 23,1 (1998) 63-104. 6 G. Scholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism. *G. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, Princeton, 1973. Or, at least, the excerpt in Saperstein. *Stephen Sharot, Messianism, Mysticism and Magic, Chapel Hill, 1982. Wijk, Jetteke van, “The Rise and Fall of Shabbatai Zevi as Reflected in Contemporary Press Reports,” Studia Rosenthaliana 33 (1999): 7-27.
12a. RaMHaL
*Isaiah Tishby, Messianic Mysticism: Moses Hayim Luzzatto and the Padua School, Oxford; Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2008.
12b. JACOB FRANK
Yehuda Liebes, "On a Secret Jewish-Christian Sect Originating with Sabbatianism" (Hebrew) Tarbiz 57 (1988), 349-384. Pawel Maciejko, “A Jewish-Christian sect with a Sabbatian background revisited,” Kabbalah, 14 (2006) 95-113. Paweł Maciejko, The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755-1816. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. Ada Rapoport-Albert, Women and the Messianic Heresy of Sabbatai Zevi 1666-1816 Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2011. B. Z. Wacholder, "Jacob Frank and the Frankists," Hebrew Union College Annual 53 (1983), 265- 293.
13. HASIDISM
Dan, Joseph, “The two meanings of hasidic messianism,” in Hesed ve-emet: Studies in Honor of Ernest S. Frerichs, ed. J. Magness, S. Gitin, Atlanta, Scholars Press, 1998, 391-407. Dauber, Jonathan V. “The Baal Shem Tov and the Messiah: A Reappraisal of the Baal Shem Tov's Letter to R. Gershon of Kutov,” Jewish Studies Quarterly, 16(2009), 210-241. *B. Dinur, Be-mifneh ha-dorot, 81-227 and in Saperstein. Zvi Mark. The Scroll of Secrets: The Hidden Messianic Vision of R. Nachman of Breslav. Brighton Brighton,MA: Academic Studies Press, 2010. *G. Scholem, "The Neutralization of the Messianic Element," in his The Messianic Idea in Judaism, 176-202. I. Tishby, "The Messianic Idea and Messianic Trends in the Development of Hasidism" (Hebrew), Zion 32 (1967), pp. 1-45. J. Weiss, "The Beginnings of Hasidism" (Hebrew), Zion 16 (1951), pp. 46-106. R.J.Z. Werblowsky, "Mysticism and Messianism: The Case of Hasidism," Man and His Salvation, ed. E. J. Sharpe, J. R. Hinnells, Manchester, 1973, pp. 305-314.
14. MORE RECENT TIMES
Israel Bartal, “Messianism and Nationalism: Liberal Optimism vs. Orthodox Anxiety,” Jewish History (2006) 20: 5–17. Abraham Duker, "The Tarniks," Joshua Starr Memorial Volume, N.Y., 1953, 191-229. B. Dinur, Be-mifneh ha-dorot, 229-354. Jonathan Frankel, Prophecy and Politics, N.Y., 1981. J. Gonen, The Psychohistory of Zionism, N.Y., 1975. Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea. Maurice Kriegel, “Nation et religion: aux origines des "neo-messianismes" dans l'Israel d'aujourd'hui,” Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales (1999), 54: 3-28. 7 Morgenstern, Arie, Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, Oxford UP, 2006. M. Saperstein, Essential Papers, 433-455; 475-518. S. Sharot, Messianism, Mysticism etc.
15. LUBAVITCH MESSIANISM
Simon Dein, A Messiah from the dead cultural performance in Lubavitcher messianism, Social Compass 57 (2010), 537-554. Simon Dein, "What Really Happens When Prophecy Fails. The Case of Lubavitch," Sociology of Religion 62 (2001), 383-401. *Rachel Elior, “The Lubavitch Messianic Resurgence: The Historical and Mystical Background 1939-1996,” Toward the Millenium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco, ed. Peter Schäfer and Mark Cohen (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 383-408. Tali Loewenthal, “Contemporary Habad and the paradox of redemption,” Perspectives On JewishThought And Mysticism, ed. A. I. Ivry, et al., Amsterdam, 1998, 381-402. A. Ravitzky, “The messianism of success in contemporary Judaism,” The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism III (1999) 204-229. Elliot R. Wolfson, Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menahem Mendel Schneerson, Columbia UP, 2009.