4-part series: Dancing with Fire: The Hassidic Masters with Danny Maseng

The great Mexican chef Enrique Olvera says that Mexico is rich with poverty. When people have nothing to eat, they have to eat nothing and everything; they have to make something strange taste wonderful. Hasidut is a theology of poverty; a theology of suffering, of deprivation. Hasidut is a theology that sees miracles in the dirt; God – in a falling shack; redemption in the heart of despair, joy in the darkness of exile. In this sense, Hasidut shares similar origins with Christianity – the sibling religion born to a despairing people in the Galilee, a people who have lost their freedom, their place in the world, their very means to earn a living; a religion focused on a suffering Messiah who not only dies in agony – he dies mostly unrecognized by his own people. It is important to keep these things in mind as we begin dancing with the Hasidic masters, as we venture into a world of time-travelers and miracle workers, of reincarnated souls, of portentous dreams, and visiting angels. In a series of four meetings, we will learn what propelled the Jewish revolution of the 18th century as it swept through Eastern Europe and changed the Jewish religious landscape forever. We will encounter the great Hasidic masters, hear their stories, share their wisdom, and open our hearts with their music.