CONTINUING with Professor Cherry's lecture:
NOW NOT EVERYONE THOUGHT HASSISISM WAS A GOOD IDEA. THERE WERE OPPONENTS TO HASSIDISM CALLED "MITNAGDIM" (OPPONENTS), AND THEY WERE SKEPTICAL OF THE NEW MYSTICAL MOVEMENT, FOR TWO REASONS PRIMARILY - IT DID CONTAIN A HANDFUL OF INNOVATIONS, VERY MINOR HALAHIK INNOVATIONS; IT ALSO CHALLENGED THE SUPREMACY OF TALMUDIC STUDY.
THEY WERE TRADITIONALISTS IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, AND THEY THOUGHT THE RIGHT TO JEWISH PIETY WAS THROUGH TAMULD TORAH.
THERE'S ALSO SOME CONCERN AND SKEPTICISM, SOME WEARINESS, THAT THIS POPULAR MYSTICAL MOVEMENT MIGHT HAVE SOME ECHOS OF A PREVIOUS POPULAR MYSTICAL MOVEMENT THAT WENT WRONG. I'M TALKING ABOUT THAT MOVEMENT OF SHABBATAI TZVI (1626-1676) WHO WAS THE FALSE MESSIAH IN THE 17TH CENTURY. AND WE'RE NOT SO FAR AFTER THE 17TH CENTURY THAT THE MEMORY OF SHABBATAI TZVI IS COMPLETELY GONE.
SHABBATAI TZVI BROUGHT THIS MASS MOVEMENT OF MYSTICAL ELEMENTS AND HE BECAME A FALSE MESSIAH; HE CONVERTED TO ISLAM, AND THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF JEWS WERE LEFT STRANDED AND HOPELESS.
SO THE MITNAGDIM DID NOT WANT ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO HAPPEN AGAIN, SO THEY REALLY TRIED TO DAMPEN THE POPULARITY OF HASSISISM.
THERE WAS MUTUAL RECRIMINATIONS BETWEEN THEM AND THESE GROUPS. THERE WERE EXCOMMUNICATIONS OF ONE RABBI FROM ANOTHER. BUT EVENTUALLY THEY PERCEIVED THEY WERE BETTER SERVED AS ALLIES AGAINST THEIR COMMON FOES, THE MODERN ORTHODOX AND CERTAINLY THE REFORM.
TODAY IN CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE WE USE THE TERM "CHAREDI" (QUAKERS) - SOMEONE WHO QUAKES WITH THE FEAR OF GOD. TO INCLUDE WHAT WE'VE CALLED IN THIS LECTURE, THE HUNGARIAN ULTRA-ORTHODOX, THE EASTERN EUROPEAN HASSINEM, AS WELL AS THEIR OPPONENTS - THE MITNAGDIM.
THEY'RE ALL EASILY RECOGNIZABLE BY THEIR BLACK GARB, AND THE HERADIM TEND TO LIVE IN A FEW CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, THE UK, CONTINENTAL EUROPE, AND ISRAEL.
THE MOST FAMOUS SECT WITHIN HEREDI JUDAISM ARE THE LUBAVITCH (CHABAD), GER, AND BRATSLAV.
WHAT UNITED ALL THESE GROUPS IS THE COMMITMENT OF THE DIVINITY OF THE TORAH, AND THE BINDING QUALITY OF HALAHA. THAT'S WHAT LINKS THE ULTA-ORTHODOX TO THE MODERN ORTHODOX.
NOW THROUGHOUT THE 19TH CENTURY NEW JUDAISMS HAVE EMERGED, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, ONE CAN OPED OUT OF JUDAISM ALTOGETHER; IT'S NOT REALLY NEW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, BORAS MANOZIM IN THE 17TH CENTURY REPRESENTS THE OPTING OUT OF JUDAISM ALTOGETHER.
BUT AS WE SEE THESE NEW JUDAISMS EMERGE, THERE IS ONE MORE ANCIENT JEWISH YEARNING THAT EMERGES IN THIS AGE OF EUROPEAN NATIONALISM, AND I'M TALKING ABOUT ZIONISM.
AND THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF OUR NEXT LECTURE.
....................
VERY INTERESTING HAS BEEN THE LECTURE BY PROFESSOR CHERRY ON HOW JUDAISM MOVED AND CHANGED IN THE LAST 400 YEARS.
WE SEE THERE ARE CLEAR DIVISIONS IN JUDAISM AS THERE ARE IN CHRISTIANITY - VARIOUS SECTS - HOLDING VARIOUS DIFFERENT THEOLOGICAL IDEAS AND DIFFERENCES IN DAILY LIVING, DOWN TO THE CLOTHES YOU WEAR.
IT IS ALSO A FACT THAT ALL THESE RELIGIOUS JEWS BELIEVE THEY WIL "GET TO HEAVEN" TO DWELL WITH GOD, WITHOUT THE NEED FOR JESUS CHRIST TO BE THEIR SAVIOR. AS THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID, THEY HAVE A ZEAL FOR GOD, BUT WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE. AND AS PAUL WROTE IN THE 9TH TO THE 11TH CHAPTERS OF ROMANS, MOST JEWS AND ISRAELITES ARE STILL VERY MUCH BLINDED TO THE TRUTHS OF GOD'S WORD. THEY ARE NOT THE ELECTION OF GRACE. THEY ARE NOT BEING CALLED TO SALVATION. BUT THE DAY WILL COME WHEN THEY SHALL BE. AND THAT TRUTH IS COVERED IN MY STUDY CALLED "THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT" ON MY WEBSITE.
Keith Hunt
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