Lecture by Tsippi Kauffman

30 January 2018

Did the Hassidic movement’s revolution of the Jewish world include women? We will examine the case of Temer’l Sonenberg-Bergson, a patron of Polish tsaddikim. Using feminist criticism of religion studies, Iwill demonstrate the implications of the patriarchal approach to setting the boundaries of religious phenomena—in this instance, the question of whether this extraordinary woman may properly be called a hasida. A review of several Hassidic stories will show how Temer’l expressed her Hassidism and how she was viewed within Hassidic circles as a sort of hermaphrodite, with scepticism towards both her femininity and her religiosity.

Tsippi Kauffman is a faculty member of the Department of Jewish Thought at Bar-Ilan University, specialising in Hassidism and Kabbalah. She is the author of In All Your Ways Know Him: The Concept of God and Avodah be-Gashmiyut in the Early Stages of Hassidism (Hebrew).

Date and Time
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
18:15–19:45

Venue
Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies
Seminar Room 5060
Schlüterstraße 51 (5th Floor)
20146 Hamburg