Elliot R. Wolfson dedicates his book, Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menaḥem Mendel Schneerson, to Chabadnik rock 'n roll musician, Bob Dylan.
The book's epigraph is two quotes one from Shneur Zalman of Liadi and the other from Bob Marley.
(p. 1) The Introduction of the book begins with another quote, this one from the Gnostic Gospel of Philip.
(p.2) “In Schneerson, we find an instantiation of the primary precept that animates the religious philosophy he devotedly transmitted and subversively transformed, the coincidentia oppositorum”
(pp. 5-6) Magick; descent for ascent; conceal and reveal; cult of the rebbe.
(p. 7) According to the Tanya and Zohar the righteous dead (Schneerson) are living and the world would not exist for even a moment if not for their prayers. #TotalInsanity
(p. 7) “Relying on the authority of the zoharic text, Shneur Zalman takes seriously the claim that the righteous person is accorded greater efficacy and providential sway over the physical world after the death of the body.”
(p. 7) “The typological parallel between the first and the final redeemer, a theme notably pronounced in the strata of zoharic literature...had a profound impact on later generations of kabbalists, ... Safedian revival, ... Sabbatianism, and Ḥasidic masters”
(pp. 8-11) “Schneerson emphasized, does not mean that the particular Rebbe is simply a spark of Moses, but rather that he is the “totality” of his being (der gantser moshe), indeed, the “very same” person (der zelber moshe), albeit reincarnated in a different body.” #Insanity
(pp. 11-12) Schneerson about himself being the reincarnated Moses, the role of the shekinah, the talmud, the messiah, and descent for ascent.
(pp. 17-20) Schneerson believed the rebbe before him was not only Moses reincarnated but also the messiah. Scheerson considered himself the messiah as he was an extension of the 6th rebbe.
#SilkRoadInsanity
(p. 20) “ If Schneerson attributed a messianic status to his predecessor and imagined he was nothing but his extension, it seems incontrovertible to conclude that he harbored messianic pretensions of his own.”
(p. 21) Schneerson, “is better viewed as a repository, a vessel overflowing with the gnosis he received from the six masters who preceded him.”
(p. 23) The novel man-made teachings of the rebbes and hasidim are divine because Israel (rebbes & hasidim) reveals the divine that has been hidden
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