I received my Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the Graduate Division of Religious Studies at Boston University in September 2017. My dissertation, “From Spoken Word to the Discourse of the Academy: Reading the Sources for the Teachings of the Besht,” traced the transmission of the teachings of the purported founder of Hasidism and its transition from an oral to a written tradition in manuscript and print. My subsequent research has explored the place of magic in Hasidic culture as well as psychological aspects of Hasidic thought and practice.
Late Hasidism was perceived and presented in research as a movement of institutionalization and entrenchment that lost the initial Hasidic renaissance, and even degenerated. Recently there have been changes in research and more complex methods and approaches have been introduced that find characteristics unique to late Hasidim.
