Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- PART ONE PROLOGUE
- PART TWO THE PARENT ORTHODOX MODERNIZING MOVEMENTS
- PART THREE THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT
- 4 The foundations of the Religious Kibbutz Movement
- 5 Charisma and rationalization
- 6 The halakhic–socialist collective
- 7 The confrontation between halakhah and external reality
- 8 Between heteronomous and autonomous authority
- Afterword
- Appendix A The Religious Kibbutz Federation settlements
- Appendix B About the religious kibbutz members quoted in this book
- Appendix C Ideological periodicals referred to in book
- Notes
- Index
5 - Charisma and rationalization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- PART ONE PROLOGUE
- PART TWO THE PARENT ORTHODOX MODERNIZING MOVEMENTS
- PART THREE THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT
- 4 The foundations of the Religious Kibbutz Movement
- 5 Charisma and rationalization
- 6 The halakhic–socialist collective
- 7 The confrontation between halakhah and external reality
- 8 Between heteronomous and autonomous authority
- Afterword
- Appendix A The Religious Kibbutz Federation settlements
- Appendix B About the religious kibbutz members quoted in this book
- Appendix C Ideological periodicals referred to in book
- Notes
- Index
Summary
In the last chapter I referred to the charismatic experiences that inspired members of the new religious primary groups to envisage a full and complete life within the religious communal framework. In this chapter I shall discuss the relationship between charisma as an ordering power and rationalization as an ordering process, as this relationship unfolded in the thrust of the Orthodox pioneers to build such a life. Insofar as it was rationalization that systematically ordered the social reality which was prompted by the charismatic vision, on both the ideational and behavioral levels, rationalization acted as an agent of charisma. The workings of primeval and institutionalized charisma, as well as the relationship between the two modes of charisma and rationalization, can be seen in the efforts of the RKF leaders to define the specific religious kibbutz role on earth, within the perspective of a worldview shaped by ideological and traditional religious values.
The numinous power of the charismatic religious experiences has been described by Hanokh Ahiman, a member of Kfar Etzion, as follows:
Primal influences exert a secret, almost mysterious power. Thought at certain moments of the primeval period of creation exerts influence for an extended period through an immense force of inspiration. The vast measure of awe before the manifestation of the creative and regenerative force greatly determines a person's attitude.
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- Information
- Judaism and Modernization on the Religious Kibbutz , pp. 81 - 100Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992