Vocal Rites and Broken Theologies

Cleaving to Vocables in R. Israel Ba'al Shem Tov's Mysticism

Moshe Idel

• Publisher: PublishDrive
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780824550257
• eBook ISBN: 9780824550264
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

Vocal Rites and Broken Theologies deals with the central practices of the founder of Hasidism, Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov—known as the Besht—and its sources in the Safedian Kabbalah of Rabbi Moses Corovero. These include the loud pronunciation of the vocables during prayer, study of the Torah, and eventually profane speech, as conducive to some form of union with the divine. Many traditions in his name allow the reconstruction of the specific importance of these vocal rituals, including an architecture of the "Hebrew" sounds. From the historical point of view, Moshe Idel shows that some forms of Greek/Hellenistic magic reached the Muslim culture, and were translated into Hebrew in the 13th century, thus enriching Kabbalistic views, especially in Renaissance Kabbalah and in the Safedian Kabbalah of Cordovero and his many followers. They have been adopted in Hasidism by its founder, and were put in relief. Provided the linguistic nature of this practice, it was adapted by popular circles in the mid-18th century, which conjugated it with a variety of theological motifs stemming from different types of theologies, which have been adapted to the vocal practices. This less theological and more ritual linguistic practice is an explanation for the wide adoption of Hasidism by popular circles and its ensuing success.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Vocables and Devequt in Scholarship of Early Hasidism
• 2. Reconstructing Multiple Modes of Cleaving to Vocables according to the Besht
• 3. R. Meir Margoliot Harif of Ostrog's Tradition
• 4. Cleaving to Utterances in the Ba‘al Shem Tov‘s Holy Epistle
• 5. R. Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye‘s Beshtian Traditions on Cleaving to Letters/Sounds
• 6. Beshtian Traditions on Cleaving to Vocables in the School of the Great Maggid
• 7. R. Moshe Shoham of Dolina‘s Quote of the Besht
• 8. Seeing Lights within Speeches
• 9. The Ba‘al Shem Tov and the Mystical-Magical Model
• 10. Intensification, Contact, and Effects
• 11. Between Letters‘ Shapes and Their Sounds
• 12. The Apotheosis of Speech-Acts and the Complexity of the Besht‘s Thought
• 13. On Contemplation, Symbolism, and Scholarship of Jewish Mysticism
• 14. Orality and the Emergence of Hasidism as a Movement
• 15. Concluding Remarks
• Appendix A: Forlorn Unitive Views of the Besht?
• Appendix B: The Besht and R. Abraham Azulai‘s Hesed le-‘Avraham
• Appendix C: Drawing Down Spiritual Force, and Palaces in Cordovero
• Appendix D: Ruhaniyyut ha-‘Otiyyot: Drawn Down or Inherent?
• Appendix E: Spiritual Forces, Vitality, and Immanentism in Early Hasidism
• Appendix F: The Concept of Tzaddiq and Astral Magic
• Notes
• Abbreviations
• Sources
• Studies