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Eli Rubin

@elirubin.bsky.social

2.4K followers 438 following 380 posts

"only humility is revolt" —Aaron Zeitlin Existential historian of religion, rupture, kabbalah, hasidism, philosophy, literature, and modernity 📘*Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism* elirubin.online

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Chabad Philosophy’s “Escalating Conceptual Drama” elirubin.substack.com/p/chabad-phi...

elirubin.substack.com

Chabad Philosophy’s “Escalating Conceptual Drama”

Daniel Reiser reviews Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Chabad Philosophy’s “Escalating Conceptual Drama” elirubin.substack.com/p/chabad-phi...

elirubin.substack.com

Chabad Philosophy’s “Escalating Conceptual Drama”

Daniel Reiser reviews Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Jeremy Dauber @jeremydauber.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This is a great book - very highly recommended if you're interested in the topic! (I will say that it may require some knowledge of the field to really appreciate, though.)

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hendel Leiberman's In the Succah (oil on canvas, 1964) captures the awesome blending of mystical power within domestic life enacted when the mitzvah of lulov is performed "in the sukkah"

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

“Prior to Sukkot, when teshuvah is motivated by fear, the sins are not counted at all, because they are still considered unwitting transgressions. However, on Sukkot, when teshuvah is motivated by love of G‑d, then G‑d indeed counts and enumerates our sins which are transformed into merits”

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Counting Sins as Merits On Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev and the Spirit of Sukkot elirubin.substack.com/p/counting-s...

elirubin.substack.com

Counting Sins as Merits

On Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev and the Spirit of Sukkot

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Counting Sins as Merits On Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev and the Spirit of Sukkot elirubin.substack.com/p/counting-s...

elirubin.substack.com

Counting Sins as Merits

On Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev and the Spirit of Sukkot

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Rebbetzin Rivkah’s Honey Cake An Erev Yom Kippur story from the court of Lubavitch, circa 1895

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“I only wish that the Holy One, blessed be He, will forgive all of us the same way that I forgive you!” elirubin.substack.com/p/rebbetzin-...

elirubin.substack.com

Rebbetzin Rivkah’s Honey Cake

An Erev Yom Kippur story from the court of Lubavitch, circa 1895

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“I only wish that the Holy One, blessed be He, will forgive all of us the same way that I forgive you!” elirubin.substack.com/p/rebbetzin-...

elirubin.substack.com

Rebbetzin Rivkah’s Honey Cake

An Erev Yom Kippur story from the court of Lubavitch, circa 1895

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Verdina Shlonsky's Memories of the Rebbe's Childhood Home elirubin.substack.com/p/verdina-sh...

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Chana Schneersohn, whos yortsayt is tonight, was engraved in the memory of Verdina Shlonsky as a queen, “beautiful, aesthetic, musical, and pure ... Chana was a very beautiful woman, always dressed elegantly, she loved company.”

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Leib Monossohn (1839–1896) of St. Petersburg and his Library This is my 32nd consecutive weekly post -- if you enjoy my work please consider subscribing! elirubin.substack.com/p/leib-monos...

elirubin.substack.com

Leib Monossohn (1839–1896) of St. Petersburg and his Library

A google search for Leib Monossohn brings up Leib Isaakovich Monossohn (1897–1967), who was born in Moscow but achieved fame as a popular singer in Weimer era Germany.

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Leib Monossohn (1839–1896) of St. Petersburg and his Library This is my 32nd consecutive weekly post -- if you enjoy my work please consider subscribing! elirubin.substack.com/p/leib-monos...

elirubin.substack.com

Leib Monossohn (1839–1896) of St. Petersburg and his Library

A google search for Leib Monossohn brings up Leib Isaakovich Monossohn (1897–1967), who was born in Moscow but achieved fame as a popular singer in Weimer era Germany.

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

“Against the erasure of time, Jews marked the Sabbaths and festivals in ways that were small but far from insignificant. Faith in a future, accordingly, was firmly anchored in these faithful inscriptions of the covenantal calendrical bonds between the Jewish people and G-d.”

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Beyond Holocaust Time elirubin.substack.com/p/beyond-hol...

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Beyond Holocaust Time elirubin.substack.com/p/beyond-hol...

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

“How splendid is the journey along the sea coast! It would be very worthy indeed to inscribe the splendid impressions made by such wonderful views as these, but time does not allow it.” elirubin.substack.com/p/reading-ra...

elirubin.substack.com

Reading Rayatz #1: The Returnee on the Paris-Petersburg Express

Excerpts from my translation-in-progress of an autobiographical tale by the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

“How splendid is the journey along the sea coast! It would be very worthy indeed to inscribe the splendid impressions made by such wonderful views as these, but time does not allow it.” elirubin.substack.com/p/reading-ra...

elirubin.substack.com

Reading Rayatz #1: The Returnee on the Paris-Petersburg Express

Excerpts from my translation-in-progress of an autobiographical tale by the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Working on a joint writing project and some people's idea of discussing different formulations is to copy and paste AI monologues into Google doc comments

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I read (most of) this over Shabbos A delightfully intimate and humorous portrait of an ecentric, iconoclastic, and stubborn chossid who spends his days and nights in the Aleksander Shtibel in Warsaw in the aftermath of Works War I

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

“Every person is obligated to say, when will my actions reach those of my forebears, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? [This] is [the] idea that we have these people whom we put on a pedestal, but we shouldn’t be afraid to emulate them. We shouldn’t have this misplaced humility.”

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

“Just as it was, or perhaps a little more perfect.”

Nabokov's Speak, Memory with a lake at dusk in the background

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Published today! www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ3z...

Eli Rubin: 'The Arizal was the first herald of modernity'

YouTube video by 18Forty

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Published today! www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ3z...

Eli Rubin: 'The Arizal was the first herald of modernity'

YouTube video by 18Forty

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

“Teshuvah begins as an experience of elemental emptiness, of profound lack. But this lack is filled with an infinite pregnancy.” elirubin.substack.com/p/on-the-ess...

elirubin.substack.com

On the "essential" rejuvenation of spiritual life

Elul thoughts on how the Rebbe Rashab teaches us to experience teshuvah every day

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

“Teshuvah begins as an experience of elemental emptiness, of profound lack. But this lack is filled with an infinite pregnancy.” elirubin.substack.com/p/on-the-ess...

elirubin.substack.com

On the "essential" rejuvenation of spiritual life

Elul thoughts on how the Rebbe Rashab teaches us to experience teshuvah every day

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

“To me, Reb Leivik was literally Moshiach… In my childhood, I was scared to death of fire. I remember that Reb Levik called me before Havdalah, held me, gave me matches, and told me to light them. I was afraid, but out of the power of my esteem for him, I lit them and succeeded.”

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Verdina Shlonsky's Memories of the Rebbe's Childhood Home elirubin.substack.com/p/verdina-sh...

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Sonia Gollance @sgollance.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

On Aug. 5th, I'll lead a Lower East Side walking tour for YIVO "In the Footsteps of Yiddish Women Writers." We'll learn about the Yiddish press and some of the best-known women writers, as well as some of the protagonists of my latest research. @uclhjs.bsky.social www.yivo.org/Women-Writer...

In the Footsteps of Yiddish Women Writers: A Walking Tour | YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

In this Lower East Side walking tour led by Dr. Sonia Gollance, participants will visit sites associated with both celebrated and less-familiar women writers.

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Must A Kohen Wear Tefillin? A Talmudic riddle with five paths of possible resolution chabad.org/7431953

Must A Kohen Wear Tefillin? - A Talmudic riddle with five paths of possible resolution

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Six Steps from Despondency to Joy

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Maytal Merary, a researcher at Bar-Ilan University, has recently published a groundbreaking study (in Hebrew) unearthing a consistent cognitive-behavioral model from within the Rebbe’s correspondence. I wrote about her paper in my latest substack. elirubin.substack.com/p/six-steps-...

elirubin.substack.com

Six Steps from Despondency to Joy

A new study of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's correspondence yields a consistent model of practical psychological guidance

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Maytal Merary, a researcher at Bar-Ilan University, has recently published a groundbreaking study (in Hebrew) unearthing a consistent cognitive-behavioral model from within the Rebbe’s correspondence. I wrote about her paper in my latest substack. elirubin.substack.com/p/six-steps-...

elirubin.substack.com

Six Steps from Despondency to Joy

A new study of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's correspondence yields a consistent model of practical psychological guidance

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Stanford University Press @stanfordpress.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Have you explored our summer sale yet? Plan your perfect summer reading escape! Take advantage of 40% off all in stock print and ebooks sitewide through Wednesday, July 15. www.sup.org/2026-summer-... #ReadUP

Square with a background of oranges slices with the following text: Sale, 40% off sitewide, July 1-15, Does not include South America, In Stock titles only; no backorders, some exclusions may apply

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Today is the last day to order *Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity* and other @stanfordpress.bsky.social books at a 40% discount! www.sup.org/books/religi...

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Norman Lamm, Rav Soloveitchik, & the Spirit of Hasidism Tzvi Sinensky has recently been writting about Norman Lamm’s relationship with Hasidism, a topic I wrote about in the aftermath of his passing, in 2020. I took the opportunity for a revisitation elirubin.substack.com/p/norman-lam...

elirubin.substack.com

Norman Lamm, Rav Soloveitchik, and the Spirit of Hasidism

A series of recent posts by Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky has brought new attention to Norman Lamm’s relationship with Hasidism, a topic that I wrote about in the aftermath of Lamm’s passing, back in 2020.

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Norman Lamm, Rav Soloveitchik, & the Spirit of Hasidism Tzvi Sinensky has recently been writting about Norman Lamm’s relationship with Hasidism, a topic I wrote about in the aftermath of his passing, in 2020. I took the opportunity for a revisitation elirubin.substack.com/p/norman-lam...

elirubin.substack.com

Norman Lamm, Rav Soloveitchik, and the Spirit of Hasidism

A series of recent posts by Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky has brought new attention to Norman Lamm’s relationship with Hasidism, a topic that I wrote about in the aftermath of Lamm’s passing, back in 2020.

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

"one of the most sweeping intellectual histories of Chabad Hasidism ... grounded in extraordinary philological work, [it] ranges across domains as varied as psychoanalysis and modern art, and opens new pathways for integrating Jewish intellectual traditions into the wider history of modern thought."

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

"one of the most sweeping intellectual histories of Chabad Hasidism ... grounded in extraordinary philological work, [it] ranges across domains as varied as psychoanalysis and modern art, and opens new pathways for integrating Jewish intellectual traditions into the wider history of modern thought."

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The American Academy for Jewish Research announced the 2025 Baron Book Prize, with *Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity* awarded the Honorable Mention. On cue, @stanfordpress.bsky.social announced a summer sale, so you can now order it at a 40% discount! elirubin.substack.com/p/40-off-awa...

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The American Academy for Jewish Research announced the 2025 Baron Book Prize, with *Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity* awarded the Honorable Mention. On cue, @stanfordpress.bsky.social announced a summer sale, so you can now order it at a 40% discount! elirubin.substack.com/p/40-off-awa...

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Jeremy Dauber @jeremydauber.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

This is very, very well put - and I'd add two seemingly contradictory things: 1. the more you read around in an area, or in a genre, the better you develop a kind of "smell test" for things that just don't seem right, interpretation or (more frequently) resonance or emphasis-wise. Lots of works

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Stanford University Press @stanfordpress.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

It’s time for our summer sale! Take advantage of 40% off of all in stock print and ebooks sitewide starting today, 7/1, through Wednesday, 7/15. www.sup.org/2026-summer-... #ReadUP

Square with a background of oranges slices with the following text: Sale, 40% off sitewide, July 1-15, Does not include South America, In Stock titles only; no backorders, some exclusions may apply

Reposted by Eli Rubin

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The Kabbalah of America Sociology, mysticism, and Chabad's vision for Judaism's American era elirubin.substack.com/p/the-kabbal...

elirubin.substack.com

The Kabbalah of America

Sociology, mysticism, and Chabad's vision for Judaism's American era

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The Kabbalah of America Sociology, mysticism, and Chabad's vision for Judaism's American era elirubin.substack.com/p/the-kabbal...

elirubin.substack.com

The Kabbalah of America

Sociology, mysticism, and Chabad's vision for Judaism's American era

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

"בלי קדיש“ או "דער לעבעדיקער יתום" “Kaddish Denied” or “The Living Orphan” Avrohom Eliyohu Plotkin Translation by Eli Rubin ingeveb.org/texts-and-tr...

"בלי קדיש“ או "דער לעבעדיקער יתום" | "Kaddish Denied" or "The Living Orphan" | In geveb

Avrohom Eliyohu Plotkin served as the rabbi of Ostashkov, a provincial town midway between Moscow and Leningrad, after the Russian Revolution, at a time when th

000

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

FINAL DAY

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Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The Forgotten Pioneer of Chabad Women’s Activism Eidel Pappenheim-Dubin's tragically cut-short life of learning and leadership in Vienna, Krakow, and Riga By Leah-Perl Shollar chabad.org/7404392

Eli Rubin @elirubin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The Forgotten Pioneer of Chabad Women’s Activism Eidel Pappenheim-Dubin's tragically cut-short life of learning and leadership in Vienna, Krakow, and Riga By Leah-Perl Shollar chabad.org/7404392