Sabbatarianism

This study investigates the religious group calling itself the Seventh-day Apostolic Church in relation with the Security Services of communist Romania. The paper follows the evolution of the group since it came to the attention of the Security with the submission of a Memorandum for official recognition as a religious cult, in 1970. Also, the study focuses on the activities of the Security pertaining to this group following its outlawing. The elaboration of this paper was undertaken based mostly on archival research. The information gathered was extracted from the reports and notes of the Security Services. The result reveals the former security acting in accordance with the stipulations of the totalitarian regime. The citizens were supervised, and the analysis of the security's actions highlights the profile of the religious group. Being considered opponents of social progress, the followers were forced to change their religious perceptions. The Security has been used to create, deepen and intensify dissensions through specific means. In addition, it warned all "hostile elements" through the police and fined the citizens. The analysis confirms the abusive involvement of the Romanian communist regime in the religious life of its citizens. The study also reveals treacherous methods used by the Security to discourage and influence members of this religious group.

There exists a growing trend among followers of Yeshua (Jesus) to embrace elements of Torah observance and live out their faith in a Jewish and/or Hebraic context. This phenomenon can be categorized into two primary movements: (1) the Messianic Jewish movement, which is the movement of Jewish believers in Yeshua toward embracing and maintaining their Jewish identity, and (2) the Torah movement, which is the movement of (primarily non-Jewish) believers in Yeshua toward Torah observance. While much has been written on the former, very little research has been conducted on the latter. There is significant overlap and interrelation between these two movements. The approach of this thesis is to view them as representing a spectrum—herein labeled the Messianic Torah movement—rather than discrete entities. Moreover, this thesis contends that neither of these two movements can be properly understood in isolation from the other.

The primary issue that divides the Messianic Torah movement concerns the roles of Jews and non-Jews and the theology of Torah. There is a wide diversity of opinions on these issues, but one can generalize a difference in approach between the Messianic Jewish movement and the Torah movement in this regard. The Messianic Jewish movement approaches Torah as a matter of Jewish identity and emphasizes a distinction between Jewish and non-Jewish believers. By contrast, the Torah movement approaches Torah as a matter of obedience to Scripture and emphasizes the unity between Jewish and non-Jewish believers. Both sides routinely misunderstand and misrepresent the other side, with the result that there is much confusion and animosity between them. For progress to be made, it is essential that both sides come to better understand one another even amid disagreement.

גרשם שלום -- תולדות התנועה השבתאית // 
History of the Sabbatian Movement was the first attempt by one of the giants of scholarship on Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem (1897-1982), to present a comprehensive picture of Sabbatianism as a single narrative. The book is based on the series of lectures given at the Hebrew University during 1939-1940, which are of special importance in that they laid the foundation for all of Scholem’s research in the years to come, including his extensive monograph Sabbatai Sevi: the mystical Messiah, 1626-1676, first published in 1957. What follows is a sketch of the massive History of the Sabbatian Movement, over which Gershom Scholem toiled his whole life but never completed. The lectures are presented here for the first time based on the original manuscripts, alongside the text of an additional series of lectures that Scholem gave as part of the “Month of Study” organized by Berl Katznelson in 1941. These long-hidden texts reveal new facets of the Sabbatian movement and its history, as well as of Gershom Scholem as a historian, and serve as prologue to any further study of this most stormy and complicated episode in Jewish history. The new edition includes a comprehensive introduction by the editors on all of Gershom Scholem’s studies on Sabbatianism. //---//

Table of Contents:
“The Open Book” - Jonatan Meir and Shinichi Yamamoto /
Introduction /
Chapter One: The Faces of the Generation /
Chapter Two: The Messianic Movement from its Beginnings to its Height /
Chapter Three: The Twists and Turns of the Sabbatian Movement /
Chapter Four: The Historical Development of Sabbatianism /
Appendix A: Messianism from the Spanish Expulsion to the Eve of Emancipation (Month of Study, 1941) /
Appendix B: The Sabbatian Movement: Its Roots, Its Development, and its Aftermath (Introduction, 1942-45 /
Appendix C: Bibliography of Works by Gershom Scholem on Sabbatianism /
Index /
Notes on the Cover Image (from the collection of Paweł Maciejko)

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Gregory Skovoroda (1722-1794) became a symbolic figure for the culture and philosophy of Eastern Europe in modern times. This is a well-known theologian, poet, teacher, and philosopher-mystic, lived in XVIII century in Russian Empire. Skovoroda considered the Bible as the basis of his worldview and drew life inspiration from it. For nowadays, many studies have been written on various aspects of the philosophical teaching of Gregory Skovoroda. But not so many researchers investigate it from theological point of view, as if forgetting that Skovoroda's worldview was purely religious. Moreover, none of the researchers tried to comprehend systematically his interpretation of the basic Christian doctrines. The word “субота” [Sabbath] is mentioned 53 times in his writings, ranging from a simple reference to mentioned idea to its extensive explanation. The purpose of this study is to consider the perception and interpretation of the biblical concept of the Sabbath in the worldview of Gregory Skovoroda.

Unter den Christen Afrikas sind mehr als 15 Millionen Sabbatarier. Anhand von Zeugnissen über die Sabbatpraxis dieser Christen zeigt dieser Beitrag drei zentrale Aspekte der Sabbattheologie jüngerer afrikanischer Kirchen. Die Sabbatfeier stellt eine rituelle Theologie dar; gleichzeitig wirkt sich die Heiligung dieses Tages gemeinschaftsbildend aus. Vorschriften zur Gestaltung des heiligen Tages wiederum stehen symbolisch für ein ethisches Systems, das das Evangelium im afrikanischen Kontext Wirklichkeit werden lassen will.

Jonatan Meir, “The Politics of Printing the Book Sefer Likutei Tefilot"

This essay discusses one of the more astounding books produced by Bratslav Hasidism – Likutei Tefilot, composed by R. Nathan Sternharz of Nemirov between 1822 and 1827. Notable enough for its content alone, the book also established a whole new genre in Bratslav literature, a fact requiring examination of the book’s genesis, the context of its printing, and its primary goals, as well as the controversy that erupted around it. The new Bratslav theology that emerged upon the death of Rabbi Nahman at the end of 1810[, and which was articulated in Likutei Tefilot,] carried with it a number of ramifications for the small group that had begun to gather around the tsadik, including the eruption of disputes, both internal and external, over [the role and character of] Rabbi Natan of Nemirov. This is a particularly obscure chapter in the history of Bratslav Hasidism, which as a whole remains under-explored by modern scholars; a careful examination of the initiation and crystallization of Bratslav Hasidism in its early stages will shed light on the movement as it exists today in all its diversity, both ideological and social.

Thomas Tillam was one of the most noted Judaizers of the seventeenth century. Together with Christopher Pooley, he established a community of Jewish-Christians at Lobbach on the outskirts of Heidelberg. He argued for the restoration of the Saturday Sabbath, the rite of circumcision, the separation of meats and many other Jewish ritual practices. Typically, the phenomenon of Godly Judaizing has been ascribed to a wider, Protestant philosemitism, to a renewed interest in Jews stimulated by the rise of Judeocentric millenarianism, or simply to over-zealous scripturalism. In this article, I offer a complimentary account, suggesting that the rites and rituals that Tillam observed denoted an ethos of Godly ‘singularity.’ This ethos is the primary theme of a work that he published shortly before the establishment of the Lobbach community. This text was entitled The Temple of Lively Stones.

The article explores the crossroads of two surviving groups of
“old Russian sectarianism” — Molokan Jumpers and Jehovists-
Il’intsy — for whom the anticipation of the millennial kingdom
on earth was a central doctrinal tenet. Researchers in the past,
as well as modern scholars of religion, usually have not paid attention
to the connection between the two movements, which was
at one time quite substantial both in the doctrinal and the practical
sense. Handwritten, typed and unofficially published sources
gathered by the author during field work served as the principal
material for the article. They include letters of Nikolai Il’in to
his followers and his other writings, the memoirs of Molokan elders,
and the historical accounts found among the Molokans of Armenia
and the USA.

Gershom Scholem, Be-ikvot Mashiah, Jerusalem 1944
גרשם שלום, בעקבות משיח, ירושלים תש"ד

Numbered bibliophile edition of 125 copies

Forthcoming
דפים לדוגמא מתוך ספר אודות ד"ר משה שפיצר והוצאת ספרי תרשיש
Tarshish Book Exhibition and Catalogue, eds. Ada Vardi and Meron Eren, Jerusalem: Mineged, 2016, pp. 50-55

Jewish mysticism has many forms. In his epochal Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom Scholem however defined Luranic Kabbalah, Sabbatianism, and Hasidim as three different stages in the same process of mystical articulation. In his wake, various scholars of Jewish Thought have since pursued the interrelationship of the two latter ones: Wherein lie the possible origins and sources of the Hasidic movement within the Sabbatean movement? How and which respect can the formation of the Hasidic movement be understood as a (critical) response to the Sabbatean and Frankist movements? And what role played the Baal Shem Tov, the paradigmatic figure and founder of Hasidism, and his circle in this regard?
The aim of this workshop is to shed light on these questions by an attempted close reading of a central and foundational source of Hasidism, the Shivhei ha-BeSHT (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov).

The workshop will be held by Prof. Dr. Jonatan Meir of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Prof. Meir is currently associate professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His
research interests include the History of the Jews in Eastern Europe, Jewish Polemics, Jewish Mysticism, the Haskalah Movement, Hasidism, and Contemporary Kabbalah. Among his most recent publications are: Rehovot ha-Nahar: Kabbalah and Exotericism in Jerusalem (1896-1948), Jerusalem, 2011; Michael Levi Rodkinson and Hasidism, Tel Aviv, 2012; Imagined Hasidism: The Anti-Hasidic Writings of Joseph Perl, Jerusalem, 2013.

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The paper provides the first attempt of a comparative study of the two forms of Judaizers phenomenon: the Russian Subbotnik movement and the Transylvanian Sabbatarianism. The study reveals a number of shared features in their origin, development, social make‑up, religious ideas and practices as well as their relationships with the authorities. The genesis of the Transylvanian Szombatosok is directly correlated to the European Reformation, and Russian Judaizers are included in the context of the so called Protestantizing movement. Both movements were ultra‑radical, spread mostly among peasants, and created similar survival strategies and identities; both experienced gradual de‑Christianization and a growing impact of Judaic tradition. However, there were serious differences between the two groups: European intellectual and social elite played a key role in the genesis and early history of Transylvanian Sabbatarianism, which was, to an extent, a specific “construct” within the scope of the European religious thought of the 16th‑17th centuries; in the Russian case, by contrast, the Judaizers emerged in the low social strata and had their roots in popular movements.

The article focuses on the analysis of Sabbatarianism, i.e. on clarifying the meaning of the term, identifying various kinds of this phenomenon, as well as researching its history. The topicality of the work stems from both uncertainty of the definitions of the concept under consideration and the lack of works in Russian religious studies that deal with the problem of Sabbatarianism. During the study the author comes to the conclusion that the term ‘Sabbatarianism’ is polysemantic. First, it implies special attention to the fourth commandment of the Decalogue in the Christian tradition, in which, since the period of the early Church, there were different practices of observing the first and/or the seventh day of the week in the East and West of the Christian world. Second, we call Sabbatarian specific religious movements that emerged in Europe during the Modern Era and had genetic connection with the Reformation. The author divides them into Christian (Protestant) and Judaizing, noting the challenge and even the failure of differentiating between both in some cases. The first type is subdivided, in turn, into the First-day Sabbatarians, who did not constitute a particular religious movement, and the Seventh-day ones, who made up separate Protestant denominations. The second type includes sects that are guided to varying degrees by the Old Testament texts.
The study of the Judaizers’ history reveals that their genesis is correlated to the Radical Reformation. They arose among the Anabaptists, Unitarians and Puritans, forming an ultraradical stream in the religious scene of the Modern Era. At the same time, these movements were often millenarian. The most vivid model of Judaizing Sabbatarianism was the phenomenon of Transylvanian Sabbath keepers, who evolved from the Protestant Anti-Trinitarians to the Orthodox Jews.
The paper is the first attempt at a special research on the phenomenon of Sabbatarianism in Russian religious studies. Its results are significant for understanding the history of the Reformation, various religious trends within the latter (especially radical), as well as the relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
Статья посвящена анализу саббатарианства: уяснению содержания термина, выявлению типов данного феномена, а также изучению его истории. Актуальность работы обусловлена как нечёткостью определений исследуемого понятия, так и дефицитом трудов, уделяющих внимание саббатарианству, в рос-сийском религиоведении. В процессе исследования автор приходит к заключению,  что термин «саббатарианство» полисемантичен. Во-первых, он подразумевает особенное внимание к четвёртой заповеди Декалога в христианской традиции, в которой, начиная с эпохи ранней Церкви, встречаются разные практики празднования первого или/и седьмого дня недели на Востоке и Западе христианского мира. Во-вторых, саббатарианскими именуются специфические религиозные движения, возникавшие в Европе в эпоху Нового времени и генетически связанные с Реформацией. Автор разделяет их на христианские и иудаизирующие, отмечая при этом сложность, а в некоторых случаях-и невозможность осуществления данной дифференциации. Среди движений первого типа, в свою очередь, выделяются саббатариане первого дня, не составившие самостоятельного религиозного движения, и саббатариане седьмого дня, образовавшие отдельные протестантские конфессии. Ко второму классу относятся течения, ориентирующиеся в той или иной степени на ветхозаветные тексты. Анализ истории иудействующих показывает, что их генезис связан с радикальной Реформацией. Они возникали среди анабаптистов, унитариев и пуритан, образуя ультрарадикальную струю в религиозном пространстве эпохи Нового времени. При этом данные движения нередко носили милленаристский характер. Наиболее яркой моделью иудаизирующего саббатарианства стал феномен трансильванских сомбатошок, проделавших эволюцию от антитринитарного направления внутри протестантизма к ортодоксальному иудаизму. Статья является первой попыткой специального исследования феномена саббатарианства в отечественном религиоведении. Его результаты значимы для понимания истории Реформации, различных религиозных направлений внутри последней (в особенности радикальных), а также взаимоотношений христианства и иудаизма.

Bogáti Fazakas Miklós életműve a XVI. század magyar költészetében a legjelentősebbek közé tartozik. A kötet az erdélyi unitárius szerző nagyrészt kiadatlan históriás énekeit és bibliai parafrázisait tartalmazza, tizenöt profán, illetve vallásos szerzeményt: antik görög történeteket és dialógusokat, az ószövetségi líra gyöngyszemeiből készült parafrázisokat, Eszter históriáját, mózesi diadalverseket, valamint egy Szkenderbégről szóló epikus hőskölteményt. Az életmű a következő, XIII/B kötettel válik majd teljessé, ebben jelenik meg Bogáti főműve, a teljes magyar Psalterium, valamint teológiai munkásságának összegzése, az Apocalypsis-kommentár.

This course will delve into the major moments of Sabbatianism movement from its founding until the 19th century. Through a study of central Sabbatean texts we will evaluate the daring theological picture that negotiated change in relation to a shifting reality. In the first semester we will read from the works of Sabbatai Sevi, Nathan of Gaza, Israel Hazan, Cardozo and others, and in the second we will study the development of Sabbatianism through the 18th and 19th centuries (including texts of Hayyon, Ramhal and Eybeschutz) until the radical expression of Sabbatianism amongst Jacob Frank and the Doenmeh.).

Please download at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3415227

I originally presented a version of this talk at a gathering in the city of Sighet, Maramures County, in Transylvania, Romania. Sighet once had a large and vibrant Jewish community, making up almost half the population of the city. In May 1944, the Jews of Sighet were deported to Auschwitz, where most were gassed on arrival. Elie Wiesel was also born in Sighet. He survived the death camps and insisted that the world never forget.

Jewish tradition has long tried to suppress the sort of “cult of the dead” found in other cultures. Indeed, Parshat Emor emphasizes that the kohanim, the religious functionaries of pre-Rabbinic times, were ritually excluded from involvement with the rituals of death.

There is one momentous exception, however, to this Jewish diffidence about death. That exception is collective tragedy. The horrors that have too often blasted their way into Jewish history have all powerfully and poignantly shaped Jewish religious life, ceremony, and liturgy. Yet there is something remarkable about the Jewish rituals of collective tragedy. They are never left to marinate in their own bitterness. The tradition consistently juxtaposes them against expressions of hope or even redemption.

These juxtapositions are profoundly mysterious. Our expressions of hope do not negate our tragedies. They do not elevate them. Nothing can perfume over the stink of death. We must not fall into the heresy of claiming that tragedy and horror and suffering are somehow redemptive. But Jewish tradition does demand that we attach them, however hard and paradoxical it is, into a larger story of redemption.

In exploring this theme, my talk engaged with Elie Wiesel’s insistence that, even in our despair over the Holocaust, we “must invent a thousand and one reasons to hope.” It also called on important insights from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Czech Christian theologian Tomáš Halík, and the American philosopher Josiah Royce.