Sam Shuman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and a core faculty member in the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Virginia (UVA). Shuman researches Hasidic Judaism within a global context to rethink larger questions about race and religion, global capitalism, gender and sexuality, sovereignty and empire. They are currently working on their first book, Of Mice and Hasidic Men, which explores the various forms of saintly mediation performed by Reb Shayele, a Hasidic miracle-worker (1851-1925). Shuman’s work has appeared in the Jewish Quarterly Review, Shofar, Les Cahiers de la Mémoire Contemporaine, Images: A Journal of Jewish Art & Visual Culture and Religions, and as chapters in two forthcoming edited volumes (Critical Jewish Studies Now and How Transparency Works).

This lecture focuses on an emergent, transnational Hasidic revival movement centered around the Kerestirer Rebbe, Yeshaya Steiner (“Shayele”), a Hungarian “miracle-worker” who lived in Hungary from 1851-1925. His iconic portrait is commonly associated with mystical protection against the infestation of rodents in Jewish homes and businesses. Shuman reveals how this is only one small piece of Shayele’s broader populist appeal, however. They do this by interweaving hagiographic texts, Hasidic social media, and ethnography with anthropological theory and political theology on hospitality, sovereignty, and patronage.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology. To register for this Zoom event, go to http://tiny.utk.edu/shuman25