Join us in-person at IIJS for a lecture by Elly Moseson, the Warren and Susan Stern Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Thought and Lecturer in Religion at Columbia University.
One of the most foundational and controversial doctrines of the Hasidic movement was the immanence of the divine within all material beings. This talk will focus on one particularly radical formulation of the doctrine of divine immanence attributed to the purported founder of Hasidism, Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, according to which even gentiles embody the divine presence. It will trace the transmission and reception of this teaching and discuss the political, ideological and literary responses it provoked both within the movement and without.
Elly Moseson is the Warren and Susan Stern Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Thought at the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and Lecturer in the Religion department at Columbia University. Moseson earned his B.A. at Columbia University where he studied literature and philosophy and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Boston University. He has been a Visiting Professor at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Hamburg, Tel Aviv University and Haifa University. His research interests include early modern Jewish movements and literatures, the cultural and political functions of texts, and the intersection of literature, psychoanalysis and religion. He is currently working on a monograph on the role of literature in the formation of the Hasidic movement and a series of studies on dreams and magic in Jewish culture.
Supported by the generosity of Warren and Susan Stern.
While all IIJS events are free and open to the public, we do encourage a suggested donation of $10.