Hasidism on the Margin: Reconciliation, Antinomianism and Messianism in Izbica/ Radzin Hasidism Shaul Magid

Hasidism on the Margin explores one of the most provocative and radical traditions of Hasidic thought, the school of Izbica and Radzin that Rabbi Gershon Henokh originated in nineteenth-century Poland. Shaul Magid traces the intellectual history of this strand from medieval Jewish philosophy through centuries of Kabalistic texts to the nineteenth century and into the present. He contextualizes the Hasidism of Izbica-Radzin in the larger philosophy and history of religions and provides a model for inquiry into other forms of Hasidism. Magid argues that Izbica-Radzin Hasidism presents a subversive reading of the Hebrew Bible through its conception pf a messianic personality who lives on the margin of Jewish society. Adherents of this tradition take the radical view that this figure can overcome the law without causing pure antinomianism, and they claim this view is rooted in medieval Jewish philosophy, particularly the world view of Maimonides. Magid also suggests that Hasidism's principle contribution to Jewish literature is its subtle hermeneutics, deployed to deconstruct them in Hasidism's own image. The book addresses the messianic implications of this Hasidic re-writing of tradition and places messianism at the center of the Hasidic project. Shaul Magid is associate professor in the Department of Jewish Philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is editor of God's Voice through the Void and coeditor of Beginning/Again: Toward a Hermeneutic of Jewish Texts and Journal of Textual Reasoning.