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Jay Michaelson is an award-winning journalist, meditation teacher, podcast host, and author of ten books.

Major Trends in Sabbatean and Frankist Research | jaymichaelson.net Jay Michaelson is an award-winning journalist, meditation teacher, podcast host, and author of ten books. MENUMENUBooks The Secret that is not a Secret:Ten Heretical Tales The Heresy of Jacob Frank:From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth Enlightenment by Trial and ErrorTen years on the Slippery Slopes of Jewish Spirtuality, Postmodern Buddhism, and Other Mystical Heresies The Gate of TearsSadness and the Spiritual Path Evolving DharmaMeditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment Redefining Religious LibertyThe Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights God vs Gay?The Religious Case for Equality Everything is GodThe Radical Path of Nondual Judaism Another Word for SkyPoems God in your BodyKabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice isHeretical Jewish Blessings and Poems AnthologiesAnthologies featuring Jay Michaelson Articles Law/Politics/ReligionSpirituality/Meditation/JudaismLGBTQAcademic workReviewsboth/and (newsletter) Multimedia Law/Politics/ReligionSpirituality/Meditation About About JaySpeaker Booking InfoOfficiant InfoAcademic CVPressStore Connect Upcoming EventsContact Jay FacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeLinktreeAmazon AuthorSubstack Major Trends in Sabbatean and Frankist Research Sun, Dec 18 2022 Free to conference attendees at Association for Jewish Studies Boston, MAMore Info / RegistrationPanel at the 2022 Association for Jewish Studies conference:  Major Trends in Sabbatean and Frankist Research Sabbateanism and its offshoots continue to be a very active area of academic research, particularly in the United States and Israel. This session brings together some of the latest explorations of these messianic studies. The papers emphasize the radical shifts in Judaism itself which emerged out of traditional Jewish theology. From the very inception of the movement, months earlier than previously known, to its latest radical stages in Europe and the Ottoman Empire, these papers reveal facets of messianism which would certainly have been unimaginable within traditional Judaism. David Sclar opens our session with an image printed in a 1665 Venetian book which shows Sabbatai Zevi riding on a lion, itself a radical idea adopted from Midrash. This book was published months before scholars previously thought that the news about Sabbatai had reached Europe. We then move forward to the two major Sabbatean offshoots: the Ottoman Dönme sect and the European Frankists. Hadar Feldman Samet discusses the concept of extreme love as it was manifested in Dönme rituals and prayers, especially those formulated by the saintly Judah Levi Tovah. Jay Michaelson shows the shifting commitments of Jacob Frank, held together by a vision of a God who disdains law, glorying instead in human expressions of power and sexuality. Matt Goldish follows this theme by placing Frankism and Izbica Hasidim in the tradition of the Heresy of the Free Spirit, a medieval Christian heterodoxy which centered on extreme antinomianism.   Dr. Michaelson’s session: Jacob Frank: A Sensual Utopia Freed from Law One of the most curious utopian visions in Jewish history was that of Jacob Frank (1726-1791), the antinomian heretic who, in the wake of the Sabbatean movement, led the largest apostasy in Jewish history. The nature of this utopia changed during Frank’s long and bizarre career, from an autonomous enclave within Poland, to the overthrow of Christian dominion, to a “privatized” messianism involving an esoteric quest for immortality.  But throughout, the central conception was almost reformist in nature: religious law thwarts personal flourishing, theodicy is nonexistent, and the lines demarcating forbidden and permitted are meaningless. Frank’s messianic vision is of a sensual utopia free from law, in which human beings’ personal strength, sexual pleasure, and temporal power can be unleashed.  His God loves transgression and the crossing of boundaries.  And his Messiah is a feminine personage, known as the Maiden, who incarnates throughout history and embodies sensuality and sexual expression. Recent Articles The university presidents were right and American Jews’ moral panic is wrong Dec 12th, 2023 in Forward Elise Stefanik’s Calculated Demagoguery on Antisemitism and Free Speech Dec 6th, 2023 in Daily Beast The Ascent of Chana Rivka Kornfeld Dec 5th, 2023 in Both/And It’s time for Israel’s far right to go Nov 30th, 2023 in Forward Psychedelics in a World at War Nov 30th, 2023 in Both/And more... Upcoming Events Dec 24th, 2023 The 2023 Adamah Meditation Retreat Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT more... jaymichaelsoninsta In the newsletter this week: untangling the thread A blessing from #johnodonohue I'm happy to report that @jdforward has done away It's disturbing to see a lot of folks cheer on a w An excerpt from one of the stories in my new book, It’s publication day! My tenth book, and first o Are there limits to American, and American Jewish, For 28 years, I've sent out a poem on the first sn On the interfaces and tensions between immediate p Is this the Jay Michaelson/ @babaramdass mashup we Gratitude isn't opposed to yearning and longing, o Thanksgiving is a practice -- which means it can b In a conflict marked by moral absolutism, today's I've long been familiar with #walterbenjamin 's co We all need a break from the hard stuff. So, join It now appears that Hamas is basing military insta From "Come Healing" by #leonardcohen This week in the Both/And newsletter: Why are we b Tell me about it. It's always a good break from current affairs to t Load More Follow on Instagram   ©2023 Search for: Website design by Simon Abramson & upgrades by Springthistle