Taubman Symposium Talk: Messianism in Post-Schneerson Chabad

Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Psychology at Hebrew University/Jerusalem, Yoram Bilu is a psychological anthropologist who focuses on Israeli society and Jewish traditional culture. His research interests include the anthropology of religion, culture and mental health, the sanctification of space in Israel, and Maghrebi Jewish culture. His perspective is consistently two-fold, as he seeks to highlight the interface between, on one hand, social actors as individuals, and on the other, the collective level of social norms, cultural symbols and political ideologies. Professor Bilu’s Taubman Symposium, “Messianism in Post-Schneerson Chabad,” emanates from his 2020 book, With Us More than Ever: Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad, which won the 2015 Goldberg Prize for the best academic book-length manuscript in Hebrew. Taking into account the cultural toolkit used by the Hasidim to make their absent Rabbi (and designated messiah) present, Bilu explores the messianic fervor that seized the Hasidic movement of Chabad-Lubavitch on the 1994 passing of the widely revered Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Zoom attendance link here

Cosponsored by the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies and Department of Religious Studies