This lecture (about 30 min.) surveys and maps the various ways in which New Age and Judaism meet and mix together.
The full name of the lecture was: “Jewish Spirituality in the New Age – Emerging Jewish-Israeli Phenomena in the Junction with New Age Culture”.
It presents ten “types” of these meeting places, accompanied by many examples, while presenting a relevant theoretical background, and discussing the characteristics and trends of this emergent multifaceted space, one of them being the exotization of Judaism process in the New Age realm.
The lecture took part in the international workshop on “Kabbalah and Contemporary Spiritual Revival: Historical, Sociological and Cultural Perspectives”, at Ben Gurion University, March 20-23, 2008.
Below please find the lecture’s presentation as well as audio record.
The conference brought together major important researchers in the fields of contemporary Kabbalah and contemporary spiritualities from Israel anr from abroad, includinf Boaz Huss (who organized the event), Yoram Bilu, Wauter Hanegraaff, Graham Harvey, Chava Weisler, Eliot Wolfson, James Lewis, Zvi Mark, Jehonathan Garb, Yaakov Ariel, Adam Klin Oron, and more. For the full program – click here.
Article in English and in Hebrew represent this research project. See links below, describing these articles and entailing more materials.
The ten “types” indicated in the lecture are:
1. Kabbalistic doctrines based upon the Ashlag school
2. Neo-Hassidism and Jewish Renewal
3. Alternative Calendar and Commentaries
4. Channeling of Jewish Teachings and Entities
5. Jewish Shamanism, Paganism, Magic and Eco-Feminism
6. Jewish New Agey Syncretistic Schools
7. New Jewish Theoretical Systems
8. Soul-Body oriented Jewish Practices
9. Jewish Spiritual Consultation
10. New Jewish Ritual Objects”
I’ve coined the term Jew Age to describe those Jewish New Age phenomena, and used it also in other researches. See links to further items below.
Below is the lecture’s audio record:
Below is the audio record of the Q&A after the lecture:
Lecture's abstract:
New Age culture is situated at the crux of an intense cultural revolution, based upon a shift from “religious” values to “spiritual” ones. This is illustrated, for example, in the movement’s harsh criticism of traditional, religious institutions and its preference for the Perennialist philosophy. This distinction proves fertile for analyzing recent spiritual phenomena emerging in the crossroads of Jewish identity (primarily Israeli) and New Age culture; phenomena that are usually non-religious, in the traditional, orthodox sense, yet at the same time, mostly non-“secular.”
In this lecture, I shall discuss new forms of Jewish identity that are currently emerging in the (Israeli) encounter with New Age culture. I shall define ten types of spiritual movements that have yet to be examined (apart from the first two) in current research in the field of Jewish identity formation. They are: Kabbalistic doctrines based upon the Ashlag school; Neo-Hasidism and Jewish renewal; alternative Sabbath & Festivals celebrations and biblical interpretation; Channeling of Jewish teachings, personalities, and entities; Jewish/Hebrew shamanism, paganism, magic and eco-feminism; Jewish New Agey syncretistic schools; new Jewish theoretical systems; soul-body oriented Jewish practices; Jewish spiritual consultation/mentoring; new Jewish ritual objects.
Defining and examining these ten types reveals the emphases, contents and ideals of the new Jewish identity that is now being formed in the spirit of New Age, and the current reinvention of Jewish tradition.
Language
Hebrew
Academic/Non-academic
Academic item
Bibliographical citation
One is advised to refer to the relevant article, see links below.
