Hope, Despair, and Longing in Jewish Thought

Catalog description

What does messianism try to name in Jewish thought? From the divergence with Christianity, to the disappointed expectation of the 17th-century messiah Sabbatai Zvi and the rise of Hasidism and its reverence for the saintly (zaddik); from questions of justice, equality, and revolution to the interpretation of Jewish Statehood through the lens of supernal redemption, the messianic idea provides a window onto how Jews have made sense of exile and suffering, hope and longing. This class will introduce students to the history of Jewish thought through the lens of messianism, asking about the emotions and attachments that have become identified with the messianic idea and how this idea might help us understand political and ethical despair and longing in a world of human suffering.