Nathaniel Deutsch | |
---|---|
Occupation | Professor |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Jewish studies,religious studies |
Institutions | University of California,Santa Cruz |
Nathaniel Deutsch is a professor at the University of California,Santa Cruz,where he holds the Baumgarten Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. He is also the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and the Director of the Humanities Institute.
Deutsch attended the University of Chicago,where he received his Ph.D. as well as his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees.
Deutsch was formerly a professor at Swarthmore College,a visiting professor at Stanford University,and the Workmen's Circle/Dr. Emanuel Patt Visiting Professor in Eastern European Jewish Studies at the YIVO Institute. In 2006,Deutsch was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to support his research on the Jewish ethnographer S. An-sky.
In 2007, The New York Times ran an op-ed piece in which Deutsch called for the Bush administration to take immediate action to preserve the Iraqi Mandean community. [1]
Along with Michael Casper,Deutsch is the co-author of A Fortress in Brooklyn:Race,Real Estate,and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg,which was published in May 2021 by Yale University Press and won the National Jewish Book Award for American Jewish Studies.
Gnosticism is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the proto-orthodox teachings,traditions,and authority of religious institutions.
Kabbalah or Qabalah is an esoteric method,discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal.
A Rebbe or Admor is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement,and the personalities of its dynasties. The titles of Rebbe and Admor,which used to be a general honorific even before the beginning of the movement,became,over time,almost exclusively identified with its Tzadikim.
Metatron,or Matatron,is an angel in Judaism,Christianity,and Islam. Metatron is mentioned three times in the Talmud,in a few brief passages in the Aggadah,the Targum,and in mystical Kabbalistic texts within Rabbinic literature. The figure forms one of the traces for the presence of dualist proclivities in the otherwise monotheistic visions of both the Tanakh and later Christian doctrine. In Rabbinic literature,he is sometimes portrayed as serving as the celestial scribe. The name Metatron is not mentioned in the Torah or the Bible,and how the name originated is a matter of debate. In Islamic tradition,he is also known as Mīṭaṭrūn,the angel of the veil.
Mandaeans,also known as Mandaean Sabians or simply as Sabians,are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practice baptism,as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism,a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives today. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic,an Eastern Aramaic language,before they nearly all switched to Mesopotamian Arabic or Persian as their main language.
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn,bordered by Greenpoint to the north;Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south;Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east;and the East River to the west. It was an independent city until 1855,when it was annexed by Brooklyn;at that time,the spelling was changed from Williamsburgh to Williamsburg.
The Dybbuk,or Between Two Worlds is a play by S. An-sky,authored between 1913 and 1916. It was originally written in Russian and later translated into Yiddish by An-sky himself. The Dybbuk had its world premiere in that language,performed by the Vilna Troupe at Warsaw in 1920. A Hebrew version was prepared by Hayim Nahman Bialik and staged in Moscow at Habima Theater in 1922.
S. An-sky,born Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport,was a Jewish author,playwright,researcher of Jewish folklore,polemicist,and cultural and political activist. He is best known for his play The Dybbuk or Between Two Worlds,written in 1914,and for Di Shvue,the anthem of the Jewish socialist Bund. In 1912-1914,he led the Jewish Ethnographic Expedition to the Pale of Settlement.
Academic study of Jewish mysticism,especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941),draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these,Kabbalah,which emerged in 12th-century southwestern Europe,is the most well known,but it is not the only typological form,nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism,and Ashkenazi Hasidim around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.
Raziel, also known as Gallitsur is an angel within the teachings of Jewish mysticism who is the "Angel of Secrets" and the "Angel of Mysteries”. He is also called "Keeper of All Magic." He is one of the angels associated with the sephirah Chokmah of Kabbalah,alongside Jophiel.
Mandaeism,sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism,is a Gnostic,monotheistic and ethnic religion with Greek,Iranian,and Jewish influences. Its adherents,the Mandaeans,revere Adam,Abel,Seth,Enos,Noah,Shem,Aram,and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam,Seth,Noah,Shem and John the Baptist prophets,with Adam being the founder of the religion and John being the greatest and final prophet.
The Maiden of Ludmir,Hannah Rachel Verbermacher,also known rarely as the Ludmirer Rebbe,was the only independent female rebbe in the history of Hasidic Judaism.
Alan Franklin Segal was a scholar of ancient religions,specializing in Judaism's relationship to Christianity. Segal was a distinguished scholar,author,and speaker,self-described as a "believing Jew and twentieth-century humanist." Segal was one of the first modern scholars to write extensively on the influences of Judaism on Paul of Damascus.
Birger A. Pearson is an American scholar and professor studying early Christianity and Gnosticism. He currently holds the positions of Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of California,Santa Barbara and Professor and Interim Director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of California,Berkeley.
A firzogerin,,alternately vorsangerin,foreleiner,zugerin,or zugerke,was a historic role in the synagogue for a learned Jewish woman leading women in prayer from the weibershul as a precentress,parallel to the main service led by a male chazzan.
Mandaean cosmology is the Gnostic conception of the universe in the religion of Mandaeism.
In Mandaeism,Manda d-Hayyi or Manda ḏ-Hiia is an uthra sent by the Great Life as a messenger to John the Baptist. Manda d-Hayyi is considered to be the most important uthra,since he is the one bringing manda to Earth (Tibil).
A Fortress in Brooklyn:Race,Real Estate,and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg is a nonfiction book by Jewish studies professor Nathaniel Deutsch and historian Michael Casper,published by Yale University Press in May,2021. It has been favorably reviewed in NYBooks,The Jewish News of Northern California,and The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
The Jewish Ethnographic Expedition (1912–1914) was a project to document and preserve the traditional Jewish culture of the Pale of Settlement,a region in the Russian Empire where Jews were legally restricted to live. Led by the writer and social activist S. An-sky,the expedition was motivated by concerns that the modernization of Eastern European Jewish life was rapidly erasing centuries-old customs,folklore,and religious practices. The Pale of Settlement,home to millions of Jews,was seen as a critical area for capturing authentic Jewish traditions that had been largely insulated from the influences of urbanization and assimilation.