This page presents concentrated information about the research project of the liturgical poem Im Nin’alu (lit., “if were locked”), carried out by Omri Ruah-Midbar and Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro. The research…
cults, the anticult movement, academia, the scientific discourse, objectivity, values, predisposition, Nurit Zaidman
Yes, the liturgical poem (piyyut) “Im Nin'alu” signifies orientality. But what is Orientality? Is this traditional, perhaps even religious, Yemenite Judaism? Is this Yemen similar to exotic India? Is this a symbol of the mystical/spiritual "other" (as we already mentioned India...)? And maybe it is a symbol of Kabbalah, another contemporary "Other" that turns out to be similar to all the other "Others", including the "Other East"... In this article we follow the change process of “Im Nin'alu” as a symbol, which symbolizes different things each time. The peyote has - it turns out - gone a long way, erasing traditional Yemenite Judaism into the contemporary universal and spiritual-alternative space.
The liturgical poem “Im Nin'alu” got various popular musical adaptations in recent decades. These adaptations raise questions - and provide different answers - regarding authenticity, identity, tradition, and more. Each of them embodies a different way of coping with the postmodern situation. The article presents three different models of relation to traditional materials, which are different ways of dealing with the problems of individuals in relation to these questions.
For the west, the oriental is an object to project upon desires and fantasies. This is similar also in the spiritual context: New Age orientalism molds the "orient" (especially India) in its spirit, as an "Other" significant culture. Kabbalah undergoes a similar process, as an "Other" of the west. This lecture presents the meeting between the "Orient" and Kabbalah in a Yemenite (also "oriental") version - through an inquiry of contemporary performances of the liturgical Poem "Im Nin'alu".
We create our own reality - this is a major idea in the contemporary cultural discourse. But how? From the Matrix to a magic stick, from positive psychology to mind control technics. This lecture, in the framework of a seminar dedicated to New Age and Fantasy Literature at Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, surveys the discourse on the creation of reality.
One of the most prominent themes in the contemporary spiritual discourse, as well as in the general popular discourse, is that we are those who create our own world. This idea has various versions. For instance, the positive psychology version depicts how thoughts and expextations may create a reality through the change of behaviour; the science fiction version sees us as players in a virtual space that choose and shape their enviroment; the magical version teaches us to cast spells of reality; and more. This research analyses the popular spiritual discourse on the creation of reality, and thereby reviels a few insights on the contemporary cultural tendencies, the cultural contradictions, and the emergence of a new ethic.
The academia is a cultural player, and when it deals with a culturally controversial issue - the academic discourse actually plays a role in the cultural game and struggle between forces. This article - dealing with New Age Music - is a product of a scholarly cooperation between Omri and Marianna Ruah-Midbar, as a crossroad of their sceintific interests. It was published in Berkeley University's journal - Cultural Analysis.
In the postmodern condition, it's already cleae that there is no objective academic research. This is all the more truer when the research object is culturally disputed. Thus, one shouldn't expect New Age scholars to have no interests or agendas. This lecture surveys the public debates regarding the New Age in which its scholars are involved, and inquires the leaning and predispositions of the cintemporary research discourse of the field. It's full title was: "What Should One Expect When One Can’t Expect Objective Academic Research on Contemporary Spiritualities?"
This study compares the conventional bio-medicine's worldview with the one of complementary/alternative medicine, indicating the parallel lines between those worldviews to modernism and postmodernism (respectively). The studt identifies a new and innovative group of therapy, with a logic yet to exist - neiter in the modern nor the traditional world (thus we also present a comparative reference to traditional, pre-modern, therapy). The comparison's focus is the issue of language's role in the therapeutic process. The novel worldview isn't caracteristic to every new or alternative therapy, thus I named this innovative group of therapy methods "the new alternative medicine".