Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov of
Bobruisk
Babruysk, Babrujsk or Bobruisk ( be, Бабруйск , Łacinka: , rus, Бобруйск, Bobrujsk, bɐˈbruɪ̯s̪k, yi, באָברויסק ) is a city in the Mogilev Region of eastern Belarus on the Berezina River. , its population was 209 ...
( he, שמואל אלכסנדרוב; 1865–1941) was a prominent student of the
Volozhin Yeshiva
Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious Lithuanian ''yeshiva'' located in the town of Volozhin, Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Rabbi Ḥayyim Volozhiner, a stude ...
, who became close to the tradition of
Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic grou ...
Hasidism. Alexandrov was a
Jewish Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...
mystical thinker, philosopher and
anarchist, whose religious thought, an original blending of
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...
,
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...
, contemporary
philosophy and secular literature, are marked by
universalism
Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability.
A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen as more far-reaching th ...
and some degree of
antinomianism
Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...
. His works include ''פך השמן'' ("the Oil Jug"), a commentary on
Pirkey Avot, and a large collection of essays, ''מכתבי מחקר וביקורת'' ("Letters of Research and Investigation"). Alexandrov was influenced by the anarchistic implications of the work of
Rav Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one ...
(the first
Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British
Mandate for Palestine), from which he sought to derive practical instruction.
Another influence on Alexandrov was Russian philosopher
Vladimir Solovyov.
[Konstantin Burmistrov (Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia) ''On the History of Russian-Jewish Intellectual Relations: Vladimir Solovyev and Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov''] Alexandrov lived all his life in Bobruisk and was murdered in
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.
[
]
See also
*
Anarchism and Orthodox Judaism
Anarchists have traditionally been skeptical of or vehemently opposed to organized religion. Nevertheless, some anarchists have provided religious interpretations and approaches to anarchism, including the idea that the glorification of the state ...
*
Jewish anarchism
Jewish anarchism encompasses various expressions of anarchism within the Jewish community.
Secular Jewish anarchism
Many people of Jewish origin, such as Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Paul Goodman, Murray Bookchin, Volin, Gustav Landauer ...
Further reading
*“Shmuel Alksandrov”, ''Sefer Bobruisk'' (Bobruoisk book), ed. Yehuda Slutski Tel-Aviv, 1967, vol. 1, p. 322
*Mikhail Agursky, “Universalist Trends in Jewish Religious Thought”, ''Immanuel'' 18 (Fall 1984), pp. 49–51
*A. Greenboim, ''Rabanei Brit-ha-Moetsot bein milkhamot ha-olam'' (Rabbis in the Soviet Union between the World Wars), Jerusalem: The Institute for Research and Documentation of East-European Jewry, 1994, p. 10.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexandrov, Shmuel
1865 births
1941 deaths
20th-century Russian philosophers
Orthodox Jewish anarchists
Jewish philosophers
Lithuanian Orthodox rabbis
Individualist anarchists
Russian anarchists
Soviet anarchists
People from Babruysk
Russian Jews who died in the Holocaust
19th-century Lithuanian rabbis