BIBLIOMANCY AND JUDAISM: THE CASE OF THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE

Autori

  • Simon Dein Goldsmiths College, University of London, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v12i5.2304

Cuvinte cheie:

epistemic hegemony, knowledge systems, epistemological pluralism, methodological anarchism, symbiotic dialogue

Rezumat

This paper examines bibliomancy in Judaism. Following a historical overview of this topic, it focuses upon the late Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Igros Kodesh as a form of bibliomancy. To receive the Rebbe’s counsel and blessings, Lubavitchers insert questions and requests into this text. They find a response by opening the same page at which it is inserted. Advocates of this practice see it as an opportunity for miraculous guidance, maintaining that the Rebbe's soul transcends physical boundaries and that it is Divine Providence which guides the seeker to the exact page containing the necessary advice. Using a trawl of the internet, it presents four narratives pertaining to the practice of bibliomancy in this group.

Biografie autor

  • Simon Dein, Goldsmiths College, University of London, United Kingdom
    Professor Simon Dein holds a PhD in social anthropology from University College London, where he studied religious healing among Lubavitcher Hasidim. He is Visting Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has written widely on religion and health among Hasidic Jews, Evangelical Christians and Sunni Muslims in the UK. He is founding editor of the journal Mental Health, Religion and Culture.

Referințe

“Igros Kodesh: Have a Story to Share?” Available online: http://www.chabadtalk.com/forum/showthread.php3?t=43&pp=15&highlight=igros+stories&page=7 (Accessed 21/5/26)

Cearns, J. (2025). Divining Truth: Towards an Epistemology of AI. Journal of Extreme Anthropology, 8(2), 54-73. https://doi.org/10.5617/jea.11847

Dein, S. (2002). The Power of Words: Healing Narratives among Lubavitcher Hasidim. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 16: 41-63. https://doi.org/10.1525/maq.2002.16.1.41

Dein, S. (2010). A Messiah from the Dead: Cultural Performance in Lubavitcher Messianism. Social Compass 57:4. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768610383372

Dein, S. (2012). Internet Mediated Miracles: The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Online Igros Kodesh. Jewish Journal of Sociology 54(1) 27-45

Dein, S. (2016). Miracles, Media, Mezuzot: Storytelling among Chabad Hasidim. Religions, 7(9), 119. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7090119

Hurwitz S. (2019). Divination: It’s More Jewish Than You Think. Divination: It’s More Jewish Than You Think | Jewish Women's Archive. (Accessed 26/5/26). Available online: https://jwa.org/blog/divination-its-more-jewish-you-think

Kaplan, A. (1995). Meditation and Kabbalah. Jason Aronson, Inc. (UK). Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Meditation_and_Kabbalah.html?id=29elBYdecTwC&redir_esc=y

McCook, K. (2025). Bibliomancy: Deciding Everything with Books. Ebla to e-books. Available online: https://kathleenmccook.substack.com/p/bibliomancy

Raz, S Rax, S., & Wengrov, C. (1978). "A Tzaddik in Our Time: The Life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin," pp. 111-117). Available online: https://books.google.ro/books/about/A_Tzaddik_in_Our_Time.html?id=eQgmAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

Shraga Bar-On, "If You Seek to Take Advice from the Torah, It Will Be Given: Jewish Bibliomancy through the Generations," in Unveiling the Hidden—Anticipating the Future, ed. Josefina Rodríguez-Arribas and Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum (Leiden: Brill, 2021), 161–191. Available online: https://brill.com/display/book/9789004445703/BP000006.xml?language=en&srsltid=AfmBOooBfoocCPrgkmO448dKdj3sc5T783iCrz4K3dMa5aOEarXsWPQV

Shraga Bar-On, "Jewish Traditions and Practices in the Medieval World," in Prognostication in the Medieval World, ed. Matthias Heiduk, Klaus Herbers, and Hans-Christian Lehner (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 453–467. Available online: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110499773-023/html?srsltid=AfmBOopreZ4i1zGgPDPKRucuaSbhZdlMgIztgHTyFmJKHP84OsMcaZU7

Tervanotko, H. (2024). Jewish Divination in the Greco–Roman Era. Religion Compass, 18. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.70008

Van der Horst, P. W. (2000). Ancient Jewish Bibliomancy. Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism. Volume 1: pp. 9–17. Available online: https://research-portal.uu.nl/en/publications/ancient-jewish-bibliomancy/

Zeitlyn, D. (2021). Divination and ontologies: a reflection. Social Analysis, 65(2), 139–160. https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2021.650208

Descărcări

Publicat

2026-09-02

Număr

Secțiune

Articles