Mavericks, Mystics & False Messiahs

We tend to look at the history of Jewish life in a linear way, ignoring or dismissing the influences and the stimulators from beyond the comfort zone of traditional Judaism. But we must ask ourselves: What were the outside factors that influenced what happened on the inside? How did the Shabbetai Tzvi and EmdenEybeschutz controversies affect how we live our lives as Jews in the twenty-first century? How did the Get of Cleves controversy influence Jewish law going forward, so that rulings arrived at today are determined by this seemingly marginal episode? Mavericks, Mystics & False Messiahs contains an array of unusual historical episodes from Jewish life in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries presented in an engaging narrative style. All the mavericks whose lives are explored in this book somehow represent in their individuality and their unique stories aspects of the broader narrative of their eras. What they prove, in all their fascinating oddity, is how aspects of Jewish history which occur outside of the spotlight have a residual effect on what is happening in today s Jewish world. RABBI PINI DUNNER hails from a prominent German rabbinic dynasty that miraculously survived the Holocaust and reestablished itself in London, England. He is an acknowledged expert on antiquarian Hebrew books and manuscripts and is frequently consulted by libraries, academics, dealers, and private collectors. Rabbi Dunner currently serves as the Senior Rabbi at Beverly Hills Synagogue and resides in Beverly Hills, California, together with his wife and children