Hasidism

Moshe Idel examines the eighteenth-century Hasidic movement by situating it within a long history of Jewish mystical and magical models. He argues that Hasidism drew on a mystico-magical paradigm in which the righteous leader, through ecstatic communion with the divine, could draw down spiritual power for the benefit of the community. The work challenges narrower readings of Hasidism and is aimed at advanced students of Jewish mysticism and religious history.