Mini-lectures on Hasidism to be held at Kiev-Mohyla Academy

Ilya Lurie, a scholar from the Chaise Center at the Jewish University in Jerusalem, will read a mini-course in Kiev on the topic “Hasidism: between the heavenly and the earthly”.

The lectures will be held with the support of the “Judaica” master’s program of the National University of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, the Chaise Center at the Jewish University in Jerusalem, the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine, the Judaica Ukrainica journal and Laurus publishing house.

According to Lurie, there is no sphere in the life of the Jewish community of Eastern Europe which has not been influenced by the Hasidic movement. It has had an effect on the perception of classical religious texts, national rituals and beliefs, and also the social organization and the public and political activity of the Jews.

Hasidism arose among Kabbalist mystics in the 18th century in the region of Podolia, Volyn and Red Ruthenia, and by the early 19th century had become a mass movement encompassing various groups of the Jewish community, fundamentally changing its social, cultural and religious face.