98 ETHOS "We Want to See Our King": Apparitions in Messianic Habad

98 ETHOS

“We Want to See Our King”: Apparitionsin Messianic Habad

Yoram Bilu

Abstract Reports of apparitions of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last leader of the

Habad Hasidic movement, have been spreading among the radically messianic Hasidim (meshichistim) in

Israel, who maintain that the Rabbi, the designated Messiah, has not died. Expanding on the cognitive model

of source misattribution, I seek to account for the apparitions by unpacking the messianic ecology cultivated by

the meshichistim to make the absent Rabbi present. Habad’s dialectical mysticism and anguish over the Rabbi’s

disappearance are likely to provide the mindset and motivation for sightings, but it is the rich array of icons

and traces of the Rabbi, and mimetic practices in which they are embedded, that constitute the perceptual

field where he can be seen. This cultural decor is particularly evident for apparitions in ritual arenas, while

apparitions in mundane settings are often triggered by acute distress. Comparing the apparitions to visions in

Christianity, I account for the lingering ambivalence toward apparitions in messianic Habad by highlighting the

epistemological constraints imposed on them by the denial of the Rabbi’s death. [apparitions, Habad Hasidism,

signal detection theory, messianic ecology, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneeerson]

In terms of magnitude and acuteness, the messianic fervor that swept the Habad Hasidicmovement under the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson has not beenobserved in Judaism since the heydays of the Sabbatian movement in the second half ofthe 17th century (Dahan 2006; Dan 1999; Dein 2010; Ehrlich 2000; Elior 1993; Friedman1994; Heilman 2001; Heilman and Friedman 2010; Kraus 2007; Loewentahl 1994; Ravitzky1991; Shaffir 1993).1 Although the charismatic Rabbi promoted the notion of imminentredemption without explicitly referring to himself as the designated Messiah,2 most ofthe Hasidim came to the conclusion that he had to be the chosen one. His success intransforming Habad into a transnational movement and a leading force in the Jewish world,and his accuracy in forecasting various historical events, such as Israel’s victory in the 1967War, the collapse of the Soviet union and the exodus of its Jews, viewed as signs of theforthcoming redemption, have bolstered this identification.

The messianic conviction was corroded but not shattered by the death of the childless Rabbion June 12, 1994.3 Habad today is as popular as ever despite the apparent oxymoron ofa Hasidic community without a zaddik (Hasidic master).4 But the headless movement hasbeen seized by a growing friction entailing, among other matters, the ontological statusof the absent Rabbi. Most Hasidim have acquiesced to his death while still hoping for hisresurrection as the Messiah. But a significant minority of radical Hasidim called meshichistim(“messianists”) flatly denies the Rabbi’s demise claiming that he continues to live, invisible

ETHOS, Vol. 41, Issue 1, pp. 98–126, ISSN 0091-2131 online ISSN 1548-1352. C© 2013 by the American AnthropologicalAssociation. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/etho.12004

APPARITIONS IN MESSIANIC HABAD 99

but intact, in “770,” his abode and the movement’s epicenter, located at 770 Eastern Parkway,Crown Heights, Brooklyn.5 The meshichistim maintain that the Rabbi will reveal himselfas the redeemer tekhef u-miyad mamash (“immediately and without delay in actuality”).6 Butuntil this imminent yet ever-stretchable future is realized (see Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008),they, too, have to handle the painful void engendered by the Rabbi’s disappearance. Thisthey endeavor to do by cultivating a rich messianic ecology, replete with signs and prompts ofthe absent Rabbi and punctuated by ritual practices designed to “enliven” him (Kravel-Tovi2009; Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008). The messianic ambiance thus constructed serves as thebackdrop for the phenomenon I highlight here: reports of apparitions or sightings of theRabbi among the Hasidim since 1994.

I have been studying the messianic surge in the Israeli communities of Habad since 2003.Starting almost a decade after the Rabbi passed away, my focus has been the array of meansused by the Hasidim to render the absent Rabbi palpably close (cf. Luhrmann 2004, 2012).I culled most of the testimonies of apparitions from the weekly messianic publication, Si’hatHa-Geulah (Discourse on Redemption), that commenced publication July 1994, three weeks af-ter the Rabbi’s death. The textual material is augmented by interviews conducted in 2008–10with 21 meshichistim, ten of whom reported sightings of the Rabbi. Most of the intervieweesare males of Ashkenazi (Euro-American) background roughly equally divided between bornHabadniks and religious returnees. The first interviews were conducted with activists onthe board of Si’hat Ha-Geulah in the town of Bat-Yam, and then spread, using a “snowball”method, to other Habad communities in Israel. All in all, interviewees were willing subjects,ready to share their experiences and pleased that they were granted scholarly attention. Afterbeing promised full confidentiality all consented to recording of the interviews. All inter-views were conducted in Hebrew. The messianic publications from which the apparitionreports were collected were all in Hebrew too. The excerpts used for this study were trans-lated into English by the author. The various sources yielded a total sum of 76 testimoniesof apparitions. Fifty-seven of the published reports were put together in a special volume,titled Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim [To Open the Eyes (2007)].

Of all the offshoots of Habad’s messianic ecology, apparitions test most defiantly the limits ofthe painful void of Schneerson’s disappearance, making the Rabbi temporarily visible for theseers. For the social scientist intrigued by apparitions’ challenge to sense-based reality, theelaborate messianic ecology cultivated by the meshichistim provides a golden opportunityfor tracking processes through which apparitions are achieved. Accounts of visual encounterswith the Rabbi in 770, where setting and schedule are highly structured, offer a particularlyunobstructed view of these processes. Capitalizing on the richness of the testimonies andthe density of the messianic ambiance in which they germinated, my aim here is to makesense of the apparitions, to outline how they come about in the current historical moment,using a framework that is experience-near yet theoretically informed. I seek to unpackthe “cultural invitation” (Luhrmann 2011, 2012) that shapes the visual experiences underdiscussion and situate them in a comparative framework against the rich ethnographic andhistorical material on visions and revelations in Christianity.7

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In terms of settings and circumstances, the reported experiences coalesce into two clustersthat differ significantly and capture a bifurcation in the phenomenology of seeing the Rabbi,and perhaps of visions at large. Whereas a minority of the apparitions took place in mundanesettings, where they were often triggered by imminent danger, most of them were reportedfrom 770 or other Habad centers where the presence of the Rabbi is taken for grantedin meshichistic discourse. This ontological presumption molds the apparitions in Habad’sritual settings in a peculiarly realistic cast, the theoretical import of which I seek to highlightby comparing these apparitions with similar phenomena in Christianity. I argue that eventhough apparitions dramatically defy the predicament of invisibility, or perhaps just becauseof it, they play an ambiguous role in the “trial of faith” with which Habadniks have beenpreoccupied since 1994. This ambiguity I link to the hyperrealism of the apparitions in 770and other ritual settings, which curtails their imaginative horizons and impoverishes theirredemptive vision.

To grasp the full epistemological consequences of Habad’s ritual apparitions, it is essentialto distinguish them from other related phenomena. Without ignoring the risk of obscuringtheir malleability (Taves 2009b:149), I elucidate below the way I am using the category ofapparitions in reference to related terms such as vision, hallucination, and visualization.

Vision is a fuzzy category, encompassing a wide variety of experiences ranging “from ‘en-counters’ that exhibit the tenuous and fleeting features of dreams to experiences that arevirtually indistinguishable from those that mark the ordinary perception of public events”(Wiebe 1997:213). Although Wiebe does not posit a clear line between visions and appari-tions, he refers to New Testament scholars who use “apparitions” (or “appearances”) forvisual encounters grounded in physical reality as against the more ephemeral and spiritualnature of visions (Wiebe 1997:142). In this sense, apparitions belong to the more “objective”pole, entailing ordinary perception of public events. As I show, this meaning fits well withexperiences of seeing the Rabbi in Habad. All beholders reported that they saw the Rabbi“out there,” while fully awake, with their eyes open. The Rabbi was seen clearly and trans-parently, just as he was in his lifetime, and his appearance did not entail any change in thephysical environment. This characterization of apparition draws it closer to hallucination,“the apparent perception (usu. by sight or by hearing) of an external object when no suchobject is actually present” (Wiebe 1997:195), but the two categories should not be conflated.The differences between apparition and hallucination are spelled out below. Implications ofthe more ephemeral and spiritual character of visions are discussed in the conclusions.

Visualization refers to a set of practices designed to elicit vivid images in the mind (Luhrmann2012; Newman 2005; Noll 1985; Taves 2009a). Note that the lines among visualization,vision, and apparition are porous. Because mystics, shamans, and gurus seek to dissolveboundaries between mind and reality, a meditative exercise starting with the eyes shut, inwhich visual imagery is deliberately invoked and enhanced, may collapse into a full-fledgedapparition, as the image “seen” in the mind’s eye turns into an experienced palpable objectin physical reality. The fact that visualization training is likely to involve absorption—narrowing of attention by focusing on the mind’s object while ignoring background stimuli


(Luhrmann 2012:200)—might be conducive to this process. However, the introduction ofabsorption further confounds attempts at demarcation because it involves some aspect ofaltered consciousness, blurring the distinction between wakeful awareness and a trancelike,dissociative state. Because Habadniks are encouraged to elicit vivid images of the Rabbi intime of need—often with the Rabbi’s picture as a prompt—visualization can be a mediatinglink on the way to apparitions. For analytic purposes, I limit my use of visualization to thepractice of eliciting visual images in one’s consciousness, viewing it as a procedure whilebearing in mind that the outcome of the mental processes it evokes can be full-fledgedapparitions.

General Attributes of the Apparitions

Visual encounters with the Rabbi increase over the years. Of the 76 apparitions reportedthroughout 1994–2010, yielding an annual average of 4–5 cases, 75 percent occurred in thesecond half of that period. The background characteristics of the seers vary. Women andchildren, overrepresented in modern Marian apparitions (Christian 1981, 1996; Zimdars-Swartz 1991:54), are a minority here. Only one-third of the adults were women, whilechildren compose just 13 percent of all seers. Unlike the typical Marian apparition pat-tern, in which girls are overrepresented, almost all young seers are boys. Although mostreports come from rank and file Hasidim, some are also from well-known rabbinical fig-ures. New Hasidim, recent immigrants to Habad, are strongly represented among the seers.Non-Habadniks, including a few who are entirely nonobservant, are also among the seers.Over two-thirds of the reports come from Israelis, equally divided between Ashkenazi andMizrahi Jews.8 The relative salience of newcomers and Mizrahim among the seers is con-gruent with the contention that messianic enthusiasm is more evident in the movement’speriphery and among new Habadniks (Bilu 2009; Szubin 2000). Most seers reported a singleapparition, but in some cases the Rabbi is seen twice or more on different occasions byone individual.9 A few simultaneous apparitions, usually involving a dyad, were reportedtoo.

In terms of location, a substantial majority of apparitions occurred in religious arenas associ-ated with Habad. No fewer than 39 cases—more than half of the entire corpus—took placein 770, the Rabbi’s house, and another 15—in Habad Houses, synagogues, and religiousacademies. Apparitions in nonreligious locations compose just over a quarter of the reports.Still, these locations are quite varied, lending support to the notion that the Rabbi can revealhimself anywhere, at home (even “between the refrigerator and the kitchen sink,” as onefemale seer put it), in schools, hospitals and buses, and outdoors, even in the depths of theocean or forest. Globally, the Rabbi is seen primarily in the United States (almost exclusivelyin 770) and a bit less so in Israel (but all over the country), with a few apparitions reportedfrom Australia, India, Vietnam, and Egypt (Sinai).

In terms of timing, about half of the apparitions are sighted on festive days, and the raterose to 75 percent for those occurring in 770. No less than one-third of the apparitions in

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770 occurred on High Holidays dotting the month of Tishrei, mostly in Sukkoth (Feast ofTabernacles). In Habad, as in other Hasidic sects, Tishrei is the preferred time for visitingthe Rabbi; and this custom does not subside following the Rabbi’s disappearance (Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008). Sim’hat Torah at the end of Sukkoth, in which the completion of theannual cycle of Torah reading is celebrated by dancing with the Torah in “encirclements”(ha’ka’fot), was imbued with special spiritual power by previous Habad presidents. The Rabbifollowed suit, linking Sim’hat Torah with the redemption, and actively participating in thedances. Thus mystically charged, the last days of Sukkoth are explicitly deemed by messianicactivists “auspicious days for seeing the face of the Rabbi” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:78).Indeed, most revelations during the week of Sukkoth occurred on Sim’hat Torah. Otherauspicious days for seeing the Rabbi were the Sabbath, the festivals of Passover and Purim,and the dates of his birthday and disappearance according to the Jewish calendar (11 Nissanand 3 Tammuz, respectively). The spatial and temporal dimensions of the apparitions areinterconnected. Eighty percent of the sightings on festive days took place in 770. Themajority of revelations on mundane days occurred in ritually unmarked settings.

Most apparition sightings are brief, ranging from a few seconds to a minute or two; justlong enough to afford eye contact with the Rabbi, followed by a nonverbal gesture ofencouragement on his part. Reports of verbal messages from the Rabbi are usually limited tolaconic statements—a short blessing or command or a few words of encouragement. In twocases the Rabbi’s messages evolve into an elaborate discourse. The polyglot Rabbi addressedpercipients in their native languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, English, or French.

How to Account for the Apparitions?

Although apparitions bear formal resemblance to visual hallucinations, reducing seers’ ex-periences to psychiatric symptoms is category fallacy. To support this view, one does noteven have to turn to the rich ethnographic data on culturally enjoined hallucinatory expe-riences across the globe (al-Issa 1995; Bourguignon 1970; Menezes and Moreira-Almeida2010).10 The notion that hallucinations are not exclusive to schizophrenia and appear innormal populations in rates well over 10 percent has been established in surveys spanninga century-long period (Boksa 2009; Luhrmann 2011; Sidgwick et al. 1894; Tien 1991).11

Recurring studies indicate that in the context of grief after death of a spouse, one-third toone-half of the bereaved report hallucinations involving the deceased (Carlsson and Nilsson2007; Grimby 1993). All this should not grant a sweeping immunity from mental problemsto every one claiming to have seen the Rabbi. However, the varied backgrounds of the seersand the fact that most were functioning quite adequately in their communities, withouta known psychiatric history, render an indiscriminate adoption of the psychopathologicalmodel inadequate. Because apparitions in Habad are rare, brief, and gratifying, they maybe categorized as “sensory overrides” (Luhrmann 2011, 2012:230–232) to avoid the clinicalconnotations of hallucinations.


I argue that the Rabbi’s sightings can be cogently apprehended as a contextual accom-plishment (cf. Berryman 2001:597) evolving in Habad’s elaborate messianic ecology. Inaccounting for the cognitive processes that give rise to the apparitions, signal detectiontheory lends itself as a promising orientation point. In terms of the model it provides, hal-lucinations are the outcome of misattribution in source monitoring otherwise achieved bythe cognitive procedure designed to sort out external events from internal ones and cat-egorize them accordingly (Bentall 2002, 2003). Misattributions leading to hallucinationsoccur with interference in source monitoring, blurring the otherwise easily available dis-tinction between external and internal stimulation. Bentall (2002:103) identifies three sets ofinterfering factors: beliefs and expectations, stress (emotional arousal), and environmentalnoise.

However, despite its elegance, the source misattribution model is too experience-distantto capture the richness and dialectical complexity of Habad’s messianic lifeworld in whichreported experiences of seeing the Rabbi germinate. I embark here on the triad of factorssuggested by Bentall, seeking to thicken and enrich their role in charting the course ofthe apparitions, while problematizing the model’s clear-cut distinctions. In accounting forthe apparitions, it is likely that Habad’s mystical doctrine and the Hasidim’s enduringanguish over the Rabbi’s absence resonate with cognitive expectations and emotional arousal,respectively, as predisposing factors. But it is the rich array of cultural artifacts and practicesthat plays the decisive role in shaping and “inviting” the majority of apparitions occurringin the ritual arenas of 770 and secondary centers. What the cognitive model portrays asambiguous stimulation or “noise,” an ethnographic experience-near perspective reframes as“context”: the cultural framework and social circumstances constituting and constituted bythe messianic ecology. Let me elaborate.

In terms of beliefs and expectations, Habad’s mystical theosophy, promulgated by the move-ment’s founder, Schneur Zalman (1745–1812), and further cultivated by his successors,promotes a hermeneutic of suspicion toward empirical reality (Elior 1993; Ravitzky 1991;Schwartz 2010). Scholars who view it as acosmic, maintain that such mysticism “deniesthe substantiality of the manifest world and attributes sole substance, vitality, and spiritualessence to the hidden God” (Elior 1993:220). Others maintain that Habad’s theosophycontains both acosmic and panentheistic elements, without seeking to resolve the tensionbetween them (Schwartz 2010; Wolfson 2009).12

It is an open question whether rank and file Hasidim are thoroughly acquainted with ex-egetical nuances highlighted by scholars.13 Still, that the “doctrine of the unity of opposites”(as dubbed in Habad) blurs boundaries between being and nothingness, material and spir-itual, manifest and latent is not lost on the Hasidim. The challenge to binary oppositions,amplified by the conviction that human perception of the world is shortsighted and illusory,may facilitate the acceptance of sensory experiences without material source. At the sametime, the fact that a mystical movement with an acosmic accent such as Habad is so stronglyinvolved with the real world, invested as it is in Jewish and world affairs, is no less thanintriguing. To resolve this tension, one should take into account that Schneur Zalman’s

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mystical doctrine was designed for the wide Jewish masses, the “mediocre” (bei’nonim) in hislanguage, and therefore underwent a massive process of systematization and routinization(Pedaya 2011). A clear-cut bifurcation allotted bounded prayer time for mystical absorptionand self-effacement (but even then under the control of reflective awareness) while the restof the day was viewed as a profane time in which engagement with the real was approvedand, by sheer contrast, even enhanced. I argue that the attempt to domesticate and routinizemystical experiences and intensive involvement with the real have a bearing on the natureof Habad’s apparitions today.

The general reluctance to acquiesce with the painful absence of the Rabbi fits the slot ofemotional arousal or stress factors in the model. “We want to see our King,” is a commoncri de coeur among Habadniks since June 12, 1994. Two-tier talk of the meshicistim is note-worthy. Although openly conveying the optimistic conviction that the Rabbi’s disappearanceis just an ordeal comparable with Moses’ 40 days of concealment on Mount Sinai beforereceiving the Torah, they bemoan his absence and constantly beseech him to reveal him-self at once (Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008:74). Aside from general anguish over the Rabbi’sabsence, some of the experiences of seeing him are precipitated by acute and situation-specific stress as I elaborate in comparing apparitions encountered in ritual and mundanesettings.

Cognitive expectation and emotional arousal are likely to supply the mindset and motivationfor the proclivity to see the Rabbi in moments of perceptual “breaks” (Luhrmann 2011:73).But it is the constellation of concrete signs and markers of the Rabbi, and the practices inwhich they are embedded that structure the perceptual field in which the Rabbi can be seen.For the sake of analysis, I divide this array into three groupings: icons, traces, and mimeticpractices of embodiment.

IconsWidespread circulation of the Rabbi’s pictures in messianic Habad and beyond is unprece-dented in the Jewish world. Impressive portraits of the Rabbi, with his long flowing whitebeard and piercing blue eyes, adorn posters, signposts, books, magazines, charity boxes,clocks and watches, ritual cups, key-binders, visa cards, medallions, and much more. Itshould be noted that aniconism in Judaism has been gradually eroded in the modern period,as pictures of rabbis and sages became a popular means for aggrandizing and disseminat-ing their charisma.14 Still, as Balakirsky-Katz (2007, 2010) shows, Habad was ahead of anyother orthodox group in using pictures; and this culminated in an elaborate visual cultureamounting to iconophilia during the Rabbi’s long reign. The Rabbi’s personality cult andhis image as a religious and political leader far beyond the movement’s circles were bolsteredby his wide visual exposure. After 1994, this visual repertory became a major resource formaking the absent Rabbi present and visible. For many contemporary Hasidim—particularlynewcomers and younger followers who have never seen the Rabbi in vivo—the photographssupplant rather than supplement the traditional master–disciple relationship.15


The ubiquity of the Rabbi’s portraits in messianic publications constitutes visual bom-bardment in hagiographies, in which text is dotted with numerous pictures of him.16 Thisredundancy assures that readers find it difficult to avert their gaze from the Rabbi. Visualomnipresence governs the messianic ecology at large, given the multiplicity and magni-tude of the Rabbi’s portraits in the homes of meshichistim—an abundance and volume thatgenerate an eerie sensation of intimate attendance (Dein 2010:91–92, 113–121).

The vividness and vitality of the Rabbi’s visual images are augmented with moving pictures.Video clips of the Rabbi’s Hasidic gatherings, shown incessantly in 770 and in variousHabad Houses, can produce an uncanny sense of real presence (Shandler 2009:252).17 Thispresence is not sustained only by the video’s “liveliness” in comparison with still pictures butalso by the temporal equivalence that often exists between actual events commemorated inthe videos and their screening. In 770, this congruence is spatial too, because, for example, avideo shown there on Sim’hat Torah was not only taken on the same festive occasion but alsoin the same location as that of the original celebration. Two audiences are involved in thescreening of these videos, one virtual, projected with the Rabbi on the screen, and the otheractual, watching the video. When these two crowds, similar in appearance and posture, cryout “Amen” in unison following the Rabbi’s sermon, the virtual and the actual are difficultto disentangle.18

I do not wish to claim that Habadniks suffer from “epistemological vertigo” as a resultof their exposure to the Rabbi’s videos. Yet the sense of lively presence engendered bythe movies affords all Hasidim, moderate as well as radical, the possibility of retaining avivid image of the Rabbi in their memory. In highlighting the salience and pervasivenessof the Rabbi’s portraits, I am also not arguing that they are a necessary or even a sufficientcondition for seeing him. Vivid encounters with otherworldly figures preceded the inventionof photography and, as archaic layers of religious experience, had probably existed longbefore elaborate iconography was in use. Still, I argue that icons facilitate apparitions;and photographs—as an unvarnished emanation of the referent, constitute a “certificateof presence” (Barthes 1981:80). The association between Habad’s visual culture and theexperiences of seeing the Rabbi is likely mediated by a strong cognitive schema generatedby wide exposure to the Rabbi’s pictures.

In processing the Rabbi’s portraits into enduring and accessible visual imagery, visualizationtechniques play an important role. The widespread Hasidic practice of portraying the face ofa tsaddiq in one’s mind was enthusiastically embraced by the Rabbi. He urged his followersto visualize the face of his predecessor and father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak (RaYaTZ),whenever asking for his intercession, explicitly instructing those who had never seen RaYaTZto use his picture as a visual aid. The Rabbi urged his Hasidim to bond with RaYaTZ on histomb in the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens by visualizing his presence there, and inall probability followed this practice himself during his regular visits there.19 The Rabbi alsoencouraged the Hasidim to invoke the image of the Messiah (without explicitly identifyinghim) on various festive occasions, primarily on the last day of Passover, during the “Messiah’sdance” the Rabbi himself had initiated. Many Hasidim followed his suggestive instructions

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by visualizing the Rabbi-cum-Messiah dancing with them. Apparitions in which the Rabbiwas dancing amid the Hasidim were reported by meshichistim following his disappearance.

The Hasidim have incorporated the Rabbi’s encouragement to use visualization, as indicatedby the many stories in which they remark on eliciting his image in their mind when facinga problem. Habadniks resort to visualization particularly in emergency situations, whenthe Rabbi’s intercession is required at once. As indicated before, visualization differs fromapparition as it is premeditated, enacted with eyes shut, and involves a mental object (inthe mind’s eye).20 Still, it may serve as an important prompt on the way to the apparitions.Moreover, while visualization-as-technique is conscious and intended, the Rabbi’s imageoften surfaces spontaneously and effortlessly in the Hasid’s mind.

Spontaneous elicitations of the Rabbi’s image are an essential component of the psychiclife of many meshichistim, who are likely to process scenarios of the imminent redemptioncinematographically, as a narrative sequence of visual images (cf. Kracke 1987). Althoughspontaneously elicited visual scripts might be ubiquitous in the Hasidim’s inner lives, myfocus here is on visualization-cum-technique. Although none of the interviewees explicitlyrelated an experiential sequence in which visualizing the Rabbi’s image (in the mind) evolvedinto an apparition (seeing him “out there”), visualization likely serves as a mediating link onthe way to seeing the Rabbi. Moreover, the elaborate cultic practices in which the Rabbi’sportraits are used as panacea shed light on the importance of the pictures in precipitatingapparitions despite the absence of visualization from the reports. In many miraculous stories,the curative power of the pictures is displayed in the course of an elaborate ritual based onthe notion of visual reciprocity between the supplicant and the Rabbi.21

This is how the core of this ritual was conveyed to a woman suffering from a problem-ridden pregnancy: “Stand by the holy picture of the Rabbi, the King-Messiah, and utter achapter from Psalms with great absorption. Then declare that you subscribe to the Rabbi’skingdom—(say) ‘Long live forever our master, teacher and Rabbi the King-Messiah’—and ask for an easy birth and a healthy baby” (Si’hat Ha-Geulah 181, January 16, 1998: 3).Although in many cases it was the supplicant who initiated an interaction, in others it was theRabbi’s mesmerizing gaze, coming from the picture, that ensnared onlookers, compellingthem to stare back at him (cf. Christian 1992). Because the Rabbi’s eyes are describedas no less expressive than penetrating, this visual reciprocity often ends with a nonverbalmessage of assurance and succor. In three cases, these messages evolved into full-fledgedauditory hallucination (or sensory override) as the Rabbi’s voice was heard by the percipientas emanating from the picture.

The fact that the Rabbi’s postures in many reported apparitions follow his stance and positionin popular pictures indicates the salience of the pictures in shaping the Rabbi’s sightings.This salience is evident in the messianic volume To Open the Eyes (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim2007) in which reports are illustrated by no less than 29 pictures of the Rabbi in 770. Theaccompanying captions accurately depict the Rabbi’s postures and gestures in the pictures;for example, “he looked at me with his piercing eyes and raised his holy hand encouragingly,”


or, “he was leaning with his face turned right.” Yet all these captions are taken verbatimfrom the reports. It is likely the pictures served as visual guidelines for the apparitions.

Another presumed link between pictures and apparitions appeared in the report of a pregnantwoman with serious medical problems, who was urged by the doctors to undergo abortion.During the preparations for an ultrasound examination she suddenly had a revelation: “Onthe wall facing my bed I suddenly see the Rabbi, with his fedora and blue eyes, assuring mewith a broad smile: ‘Don’t you worry, everything will turn out all right’” (Si’hat Ha-Geulah533, February 4, 2005: 3). Indeed, the ultrasound was normal and the abortion cancelled.The sighting of the Rabbi’s image “on the wall” was likely triggered by the patient’s angstand his actual picture there. If indeed this was the case, then the woman’s phrasing of herexperience captures the transformative moment in which a flat portrait turns into a livefigure in the apparition. This possibility is lent credence by a female Habadnik I interviewedwho reported that once, when she turned to the Rabbi for help, glancing at his big picturein her living room, she was amazed to see him coming out of the picture and approachingher. In this unique testimony the move from picture to apparition is entirely explicit.

The Rabbi’s pictures can precipitate apparitions then. Still, even in messianic Habad theexperiences of seeing the Rabbi cannot be entirely extricated from their ontologically pre-carious status, as private and subjective events. As genuine and real as these experiences havebeen to the seers, they could not be publicly validated. Indeed, some seers admitted thatthey were reluctant at first to share their experiences with others as they feared mocking anddenigrating responses to apparitions that they suspected stemmed from their own “imagina-tion,” “dreaming,” or even “madness.” Aside from their role as triggers, pictures were usedto grapple with this predicament too. Just like miraculous photographs in contemporaryMarian settings (Berryman 2006; Bitel 2009; Davis and Boles 2003:381–382, 390; Matter2001:134; Wojcik 1996), pictures served as objectifying signs for the meshichistim. Theirrole became evident on two separate occasions that drew attention in messianic Habad. Inthe first incident, a boy from Jerusalem, who spent the High Holidays of 2003 in CrownHeights with his family, was photographed in front of the Rabbi’s Bimah (platform) in 770.It was claimed that no one else was around when the picture was taken; but after the film wasdeveloped the parents were shocked to discover in the picture an elderly Hasid standing nearthe child with his back to the camera. Although the identification of the elderly figure as theRabbi was hotly debated in Habad, for many meshichistim it provided the missing link forcorroborating the Rabbi’s enduring presence in 770 (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:176–179).

The other incident occurred on October 14, 2006, in 770. A visitor used the video camerain his mobile phone to document activities in the main hall. Amid the dancing and chantingcrowd, the camera captured a figure resembling the Rabbi walking vigorously toward thearc. Even though the video’s acuity was not satisfactory and the episode lasted one or twoseconds only, it had enormous impact on the meshichistim who claimed that on that day“the (Rabbi’s) revelation has started” (Si’hat Ha-Geulah 623, November 24, 2006: 1). As oneof the activists put it: “During the years following his disappearance, the Rabbi revealedhimself to people in private only . . . The novelty this time was that he revealed himself

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to hundreds of thousands” (Si’hat Ha-Geulah 625, December 8, 2006: 3). The video keepsrunning in messianic Internet sites and pictures gleaned from it are used as screen saversamong meshichistim.

TracesHabad’s messianic ecology is replete with traces of the Rabbi. The Rabbi’s house, his redarmchair and Torah Scroll, the dollar bills he used to deliver on Sundays, the water in whichhe immersed himself in his mikveh (ritual bath), and the sukkah (tabernacle) built for himfor the Sukkoth Festival—all these are examples of indexical signs because their associationwith their referent, the Rabbi, is based on spatial proximity or contiguity. These signifiersare conducive to making the absent Rabbi palpably felt because “indexical signs participate,in one way or another, in what they signify. They have a ‘real connection’ with their objects”(Innis 2004:201).

Note that until the rise of digital technology, photographs were no less indexical thaniconic. From Pierce on, scholars have highlighted the fact that beyond sheer iconicity—photographs resemble the objects they denote—they are products of the physical stateof the objects (Batchen 2004:40). This makes them “something directly stenciled off thereal” (Sontag 1977:154), “a kind of deposit of the real itself” (Krauss 1984:112). FollowingBarthes’s assertion that the reality offered by the photograph is not of truth-to-appearancebut that of truth-to-presence (Barthes 1981), Batchen claims that “the indexicality of thephotograph allows it to transcend mere resemblance and conjure a ‘subject,’ a presence thatlingers” (Batchen 2004:40).

The Hasidim are meticulous about keeping the Rabbi’s abode as well as his paraphernaliaand possessions intact, just as they were before; and they strive to make them even moreaccessible and widely dispersed than before. Thus, replicas of 770 were built in various placesin Israel and other countries (Balakirsky-Katz 2010:144–173; Dein 2010:89; Weingrod 1993)and some Hasidim boast bookcases and drawers shaped as a tiny 770. A few Habadniks wentso far as to shape the facade of their houses in the design of the Rabbi’s abode. In addition,various artifacts, from charity boxes to candle packs and mezuzah cases, were designed asminiature 770s.

The extent to which the Hasidim respect these traces of the Rabbi can be demonstrated byan ad praising a certain brand of Calabria citrons (ethrogim) for ritual use in Sukkoth. Thereputation of these citrons stems from the fact that they came from trees grown from theseeds of one of the original citrons the Rabbi had been using for Sukkoth. In addition, thejam made from the Rabbi’s citrons has become known for its curative power, primarily forproblems in pregnancy and birth (Si’hat Ha-Geulah 682, January 25, 2012: 4).

The move from singularity to multiplicity, evident in the reproduction of 770, is presenthere too: out of one citron that once belonged to the Rabbi many can be grown. In principle,this chain of citrons can go on forever. This move, counterposed to the notion of the


living Rabbi’s singleness and irreplaceability, stands also in ironic contrast with the Rabbi’swhereabouts in his lifetime. Not only was the actual Rabbi, ensconced in his offices formost of the day, a scarce resource to his Hasidim, but during his long reign his accessibilitygradually diminished. In the 1980s and 1990s, when the messianic tension reached newsummits, individual meetings (yehidut) with the Rabbi were replaced by collective gatheringsand these attenuated as the Rabbi aged. Aside from his regular visits to the tomb of hispredecessor, he seldom left 770. As against this growing withdrawal, the Rabbi’s iconic andindexical signs are multiple, and most of them can be further reproduced. His photographscan be distributed in endless copies; and this redundancy applies to many items in the Rabbi’sholy paraphernalia. Even his mikveh water can be used open-endedly as a panacea, becausethe water can be diluted presumably forever without losing healing power.22

In addition, an individual Hasid may be exposed to a wide variety of the Rabbi’s tracessimultaneously. This is certainly true when he or she is coming “to be with the Rabbi”in 770; but for most meshichistim the Rabbi looms high in the domestic sphere too: hispictures decorate their apartments’ walls and books’ covers and are imprinted on variousobjects from ritual cups to clocks; a dollar bill delivered by the Rabbi, laminated and framed,is likely to be put on display; and a bottle of water from his mikveh might be in sight too.This multiple indexicality saturates the messianic landscape but does not stop there, as itgenerates a distinct messianic habitus. It is easy to identify male meshichistim by their kippa(head covering) with the mantra, “Long live the King Messiah for ever,” the Messiah flagemblem on their coat flap, the pocket-sized portrait of the Rabbi in their wallet, the designof his abode embroidered on their prayer shawl bags, and the sequence 7–7–0 includedin the combination of their mobile phone, Internet passwords, and bank codes. Thus, ontop of becoming hypervisible because of his pictures, the virtual Rabbi is also portableand embodied. His followers feel intimately connected to him (cf. Luhrmann 2004, 2012),deeming themselves his emissaries and “children” (Fishkoff 2003; Heilman and Friedman2010:248–278; Kraus 2007). Many of them confer his name on one of their male children.Viewing the Rabbi as an exemplary model for Hasidic behavior, they seek to emulate him,not merely by “being with the Rabbi” but also by “living (the) Rabbi.” They repeat hisfamous phrases and imitate his gestures. More profoundly, they seek to identify with him,to comprehend the depth of his thinking and to follow his instructions as best they can. Inthis sense meshichistim become living icons (Berryman 2001:603) of the Rabbi. Many ofthe Rabbi’s traces, particularly those in 770, participate in structuring the perceptual field inwhich his sightings might occur.

Mimetic Practices of EmbodimentBeyond the array of iconic and indexical signs that dot the messianic landscape, the Rabbi’spresence is felt in an elaborate set of ritual practices through which he is “embodied.” Thesepractices are mimetic: involving the Rabbi as an active participant, they seek to replicate thepast “just as it was” (Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008:69). Mimetic practices of embodiment areenacted primarily in 770, as part of the daily routine in the Rabbi’s abode. The Hasidim

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who come to be with the Rabbi there are drawn into a special ecology in which the Rabbi isdeemed the prime mover (Dein 2010:87–100).

To convey the assertion that the Rabbi is still among the community, the structured dailyroutine that dominated the site until 1994 is meticulously reproduced. Most vivid in thissystem are rituals that act as sensory prompts “placing” the Rabbi in the same times andplaces where his past presence was most strongly felt. This is most evident in the three dailyprayers conducted in the big study hall (Zal Ha-Gaddol) serving as synagogue. Just as theprayer is about to begin, a young yeshiva student reaches the podium on which the Rabbi usedto pray in front of the congregants. He rolls the carpet over the podium and then exposesthe covered armchair of the Rabbi and his “stander” (pulpit). On Sabbath and holydays,one of the elderly Hasidim is honored with this task. Ready to accept the King–Messiah,the congregants lift their eyes and gaze at the stairs descending from the Rabbi’s officeon the second floor. Then they split to create a clear path (shvil) leading to the podium.On Mondays, Thursdays, and the Sabbath, when passages from the Torah are read duringprayer, one of the veteran Hasidim is given the honor to lay the Rabbi’s Torah scroll openon the stander. The same Hasidic song that welcomed the approaching Rabbi in the pastis excitedly reiterated today. Following the prayer, the carpet is unrolled, the armchair andstander covered, and the congregants accompany with song and dance the Rabbi’s presumedexit.

Following the Sabbath and Holidays, a ceremonial gathering takes place in the major studyhall. Once, under the presidency of the Rabbi, these public meetings were joyful and ecstaticevents, in which the Rabbi endorsed Hasidic values and inculcated his vision of the impendingredemption. The setting of the gathering is kept intact today including the Rabbi’s table,covered with a white tablecloth and adorned with halla (Sabbath loaf), a knife, and a bottleof wine and wine glass for kiddush (ritual of sanctification). The Rabbi’s armchair is broughtto the table and the Hasidim are seated in front of it. When the meeting ends, after variousrabbinical figures address the audience, a veteran Hasid approaches the Rabbi’s table and,facing his armchair, cuts the halla into small pieces. The halla pieces, and later the “wine-glassof blessing,” are distributed among the Hasidim. These ritual activities are done on behalfof the Rabbi and reproduce his own renowned acts of distribution during his lifetime.23

Other embodied practices are enacted on the High Holidays that punctuate the month ofTishrei. At the end of the closing prayer on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), a mobilestaircase is put on the podium as in previous years, for the Rabbi to watch from above anddirect the traditional singing of the Hasidim. On Sukkoth, a tabernacle is built for the Rabbi asbefore, with the “four species” waiting for him inside. The Hasidim are encouraged to makethe appropriate blessing over the “four species.” Some of the passers-by extend their handsto receive the Rabbi’s lekah (piece of cake) as before. On these occasions, in which devotion,embarrassment, and playfulness converge, the mimetic becomes pantomimetic. On specialoccasions the Rabbi is accorded the honor to lead the public prayer. The gaze of all presentis focused on the Rabbi’s armchair as long as he is supposed to utter his part. Then the crowdecstatically responds in impressive synchronization, chanting in unison the complementary


verse.24 On Sundays, a line of visitors stretches at the entrance to 770, where the practiceof distributing dollars for charity continues as before, even though human shortsightednessrenders the Rabbi invisible. The dollar bills currently distributed on Sundays are capable ofperforming miracles just as the original ones. These mimetic embodied practices were anintegral part of the scene in most of the apparitions in 770.

Apparitions in Ritual and Mundane Settings

The reports in the messianic volume, To Open the Eyes (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007) aredivided into two clusters, separating apparitions that took place in the Rabbi’s “royal palace”from those occurring elsewhere in “all the places under his rule.” This spatial divisioncaptures an essential phenomenological distinction between two types of revelations. Mostof the apparitions I discuss took place in a ritual context, in which the Rabbi’s presence wasstrongly felt through the rich web of icons, traces, and mimetic practices of embodiment,but also sorely missed because of his enduring invisibility. The messianic ecology structuresa perceptual field functioning as inviting ground for seeing the Rabbi. Given the density andredundancy of this ecology, it is not surprising that the majority of the apparitions take placein the “right place,” the Rabbi’s abode, and in the “right time,” during festive occasions inthe daily and annual ritual cycle (prayers and holidays, respectively), in which the Rabbi issupposed to be among the community. Note that even in this inviting milieu, where thecraving to see the Rabbi is often translated into an explicit request that he reveal himself,accompanied presumably by visualizing his figure, apparitions still constitute an uncommonphenomenon, a contextual accomplishment experienced by seers as startling and electrifying.These situations are different experientially from those in which the Rabbi appears out ofthe blue, outside the suggestion-saturated domain of 770. I outline the major differencesbetween the two types of apparitions using illustrations from the reports.

Apparitions in 770 are fueled emotionally by the excruciating gap between the dense mes-sianic ecology there and the Rabbi’s intolerable invisibility. The dialectical nature of thisprocess should be noted. The icons, traces, and practices of embodiment, designed to fill thepainful vacuum generated by the Rabbi’s disappearance, are likely to magnify the loss no lessthan soften it, particularly for veteran Hasidim who retain vivid memories of the Rabbi in hislifetime (Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008). But the same messianic ecology that might accentuatethe void is also constitutive of the perceptual gestalt in which the common wish to see theRabbi “immediately and without delay in actuality” is occasionally fulfilled. A few examplesof apparitions in 770 will suffice to illustrate this dynamic.

A Hasid joins the Morning Prayer in 770, “in the miniyan [ritual quorum] of the Rabbi,the King-Messiah,” for the last time before going back to Israel. From his seat, close to theRabbi’s bimah, he responds to the public announcement, “long lives our King Messiah,”with a cry of his own, ‘Until when?’ which he repeats three times sealing it with the messianicrallying call: “Rabbi, we want Messiah now.” The revelation follows suit: “Suddenly I saw theRabbi standing on the bimah in front of me, wrapped in his prayer shawl and phylacteries.

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He leaned over the stander with his face toward the congregants” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim2007: 50–52). The excitement of the seer was immense, yet the revelation was not entirelyunexpected. Urged by the protagonist, it occurred where the Rabbi was supposed to revealhimself.

The implicit expectation to see the Rabbi in 770 might be extended into a most explicitattempt to summon him. A yeshiva student turns nostalgic following the Day of Atonement’sevening prayer, when “the Rabbi . . . stays over to recite Psalms with all the congregants.”Recalling “the previous years in which I was privileged to be here, on the same specialoccasion, and see the Rabbi dressed in white like an angel . . . I was overcome by the desireto see him as before.” The wish is translated into an explicit request: “Rabbi, I know withabsolute certainty that you are here, alive and well without any change! Please let me see youwith my material eyes.” In the beginning the plea remains unanswered. “When I continuedto look toward his holy place, I could not see anything aside from the red armchair and thestander covered with a white map.” But then, after the student elicits the memory of hiseminent grandfather, known for his Hasidic devotion, he takes a look at the bimah again andhis heart “misses a beat” as he sees the Rabbi “standing in his usual place, adorned with hiskittel” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007: 19–20).25

The tension between the rich messianic ecology and the painful void is evident in both cases.The Rabbi’s traces—his bimah, armchair, and stander—and the ritual practices in which heis supposed to participate—the Morning Prayer and the public recital of Psalms on YomKippur, respectively—made both protagonists acutely aware of his absence and pushed themto demand that he reveal himself. At the same time, these artifacts and practices serve assensory prompts on the way to the apparitions.

Common ritual practices in which the Rabbi has revealed himself in 770 include the dailyprayers, the distribution of dollar bills on Sundays, the Sim’hat Torah dances, and Hasidicgatherings following the Sabbath and holidays. Most often the Rabbi appeared on the bimah,making the same gestures with which he had become identified before 1994 (and which werepopularized by his pictures): he was seen leaning on the stander, touching the arc’s curtainon his way to and from the synagogue, and waving his hand for encouragement. In threecases he was seen in the “path” (shvil) opened for him by the Hasidim before and afterprayers. The “path” is the scene for the famous video from 2006 mentioned before, whicharguably captured the Rabbi on his way to the podium. The details of the Rabbi’s dress andappearance noted in the reports are compatible with the occasions in which he was seen.Thus, during the prayers he is always seen wrapped in his prayer shawl and on the Dayof Atonement—with his white kittel. He is seen delivering dollar bills on Sundays, makingblessings over the “four species” in Sukkoth, and circulating glasses of wine and pieces ofcake following Hasidic gatherings. Note that the dollar bills, the four species, and the wineand cake continue to be incorporated into present-day practices of embodiment conductedin 770. Apparitions in Habad Houses, viewed as “satellite branches of 770” (Balakirsky-Katz2010:152), follow the same dynamic as in 770, but in a diluted form, germinating in a milieuless populated with the Rabbi’s signs and practices.


Apparitions in ritually unmarked settings compose a bit more than one quarter of theentire corpus. Many of these experiences were precipitated by distress, which in some casesamounted to a life-risking situation. None of the nonritual cases were explicitly triggeredby the Rabbi’s painful absence per se. Contradistinctively, none of the apparitions in 770 orits derivatives were related to a problem-in-living other than the Rabbi’s absence. The richmessianic ecology that presumably provides the cognitive-perceptual framework for ritualapparitions is less evident in mundane appearances, particularly outdoors. Apparently, inmost of these cases the acute distress and the mystical theosophy were potent enough to“invite” the apparition—without the multiple cognitive cues that dominate the landscape ofritual apparitions.

The following examples involve serious trauma as a trigger. A 14-year-old girl, attacked by asnake in the field, cries out in panic, “Rabbi, save me,” and is privileged to see him. The Rabbicommands her to strangle the snake and she, invigorated by his presence, finds the power todo so (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:170–2). A bus on its way to Jerusalem from a West Banksettlement is attacked by Palestinians. Amid the fire, a teenager “sees the Rabbi in front ofher. He pulls her down to the bus floor, thus saving her from the bullets.” The girl in theadjacent seat is killed in the attack (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:137). A diver suffering froma rapture of the deep is rescued by another diver. When he regains consciousness, he dimlyrecalls two figures pulling him out, even though his friend insists that he had acted alone. Afew days later, after seeing the Rabbi’s portrait, he identifies him as the mysterious secondrescuer (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:133–135). There is a range here from summoning theRabbi in the first case, through an unsolicited but recognizable appearance in the second,to a more enigmatic appearance, only retrospectively confirmed, in the third case. In mostof the mundane cases the Rabbi’s appearance is not intentionally invited. It is clear thateven in the snake episode, the Rabbi’s name emerges spontaneously and abruptly, out of thetraumatic experience. It is not surprising that the two girls were Habadniks while the diverwas not.

Other stressful situations that precipitated apparitions were related to acute medical prob-lems, loss of a significant other, and pressing economic predicaments. Only three mundanecases were entirely devoid of stress as a precipitating factor. The centrality of stress factors inmundane apparitions made them more akin to the Rabbi’s revelations in dreams and specialstates of consciousness (such as near-death experience). There, too, the Rabbi’s intercessionwas often precipitated by acute distress. My focus on sightings occurring in wakeful states ledme to exclude these types of experiences from this work. But for some mundane apparitions,such as the one experienced by the diver who suffered from a rapture of the deep, the linebetween ordinary and nonordinary states of consciousness could not be clearly delineated.

The divergence between the two types of apparitions in setting and experience is reflectedalso in the gender composition of the seers. Although in the public ritual space of 770men outnumbered women in a rate of 3:1, the genders were more or less on a par in rit-ually unmarked spaces. Similarly, whereas most of the seers in 770 were Hasidim, seersin other locations came from more diverse backgrounds, encompassing Hasidic, orthodox,

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traditional, and even nonobservant men and women. Just as with the rescued diver, in someother mundane cases recognition was retrospective, too, usually after stumbling on theRabbi’s picture (although the reporters were acquainted with his name). Interestingly, theRabbi’s miraculous power is more strongly experienced in mundane settings, because onlythere did his intercession relieve the seers from serious trouble. In most ritual cases the veryappearance of the Rabbi is a miraculous climax. Finally, most of the Rabbi’s apparitions inmundane settings are classic examples of deus ex machina, though they could be precededby a visual elicitation of his image (common in emergency situations). Most of his sightingsin 770 were abrupt and brief, too, but they appeared as the tip of the iceberg of his endur-ing presence, latent but strongly felt. Clues to this underground humming of the Rabbi’sperennial existence in 770 came from various reports.

A representative example entails a Hasid coming to pray “in the Rabbi’s miniyan” on thefirst night of Sukkoth. On entering the hall, he notices a hand extended “above the Rabbi’sholy bimah,” signaling to him to draw closer. He tries to push forward but cannot reach theRabbi’s stander. Following the prayer he finds himself wavering between two options: eitherto stay attentive near the Rabbi’s other stander, from which he used to give a special homilyon each night of the holiday, following the evening prayer, or to join the dances on the otherside of the hall. The protagonist cannot make up his mind: “On the one hand, one cannotdisregard the conviction that the Rabbi is here in materiality and delivers a talk as before.On the other hand, one cannot hear anything, so perhaps the Rabbi would like us to rejoice(dancing) in the holiday instead.” Stuck between the two options, the Hasid turns his gazeto the bimah and suddenly spots the Rabbi standing there, leaning over the stander. “TheRabbi smiled and pointed with his holy finger at the Hasidim in front of him, as if to say:‘you see them, these are my guys.’” Following the sighting, the Hasid decides that he, too,“would like to be counted among the Hasidim who ‘belong’ to the Rabbi,” and he stays withthem. Later on, when he relates the exciting experience to another Hasid, he manages tocapture a brief movement on the bimah. Raising his eyes, he sees the Rabbi again, now nearthe first stander reserved for prayers. “The Rabbi smiled at me and waved his holy hand asif to say: ‘I have finished, now you may go dancing’” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:90–92).Note that the Hasid saw the Rabbi (or part of him) in a sequence of three different positions,in perfect equivalence with the ritual pattern the Rabbi had kept on Sukkoth before 1994.These brief sightings appear as scattered fragments of the Rabbi’s hidden routine in 770,as “eruptions” or “flashes” in which the virtual Rabbi is sporadically actualized (cf. Deleuze2004:260). Such multiple flashes in one episode recurred in other reports of apparitions in770 but were almost nonexistent in mundane settings.

The enduring but latent presence of the Rabbi in 770 was more easily exposed by youngseers. As a rule, children’s apparitions were of longer duration than those of adults, makingovert more fragments and wider sequences of the Rabbi’s hidden presence. The gap wasattributed to the purity and innocence of the very young (Bilu 1982:275–276; Davis andBoles 2003:386). Just how far this infantile innocence could go is demonstrated by a reportinvolving one of the youngest children to see the Rabbi. A 3.5-year-old boy came fromJerusalem with his family to spend the Passover “with the Rabbi.” The father’s account


highlights how he inculcated the messianic reality in his children: “In our home, the childrenare trained that the Rabbi . . . is alive in actuality, without any change. Even the youngestchildren grow with the straightforward belief in [the Rabbi as] the president of the generationand are unconditionally attached to him. Many times I show my children video clips of theRabbi and give them his pictures to keep.” Against this background, it was not surprisingthat when the father came with his youngest boy to a “gathering with the Rabbi,” on theSabbath preceding Passover (Shabbat Ha-Gaddol), the child asked at once to see the Rabbi.The father pointed at the Rabbi’s red armchair, but the child complained that he was toosmall to see anything. The two climbed on an elevated platform, and when they reached theupper step the child burst with joy: “Here is the Rabbi, I can see him now.” He demandedto stay longer so he could spend more time looking at him. Following this revelation, theRabbi was reportedly seen by the child in all of the prayers and gatherings throughout theweek of Passover. The association between pictures and sightings was illustrated by a casualremark the child made following one of the prayers: “Dad! The Rabbi waved at me just ashe did in the video!” For the father, the child’s experience of unobstructed sighting of theRabbi was the embodiment of the messianic ideal: “As I understood it, for Shalom-Baer [thechild’s name] there was no disappearance [of the Rabbi] at all” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:39–41). The uniqueness of this case, providing a full glimpse into the Rabbi’s hidden lifethrough multiple apparitions, situates it at the contrasting pole of the unexpected, deus exmachina type of apparitions in mundane settings.

Apparition and its Discontents

The reported apparitions have endowed the meshichistim with invaluable ammunition intheir struggle to establish the notion of imminent redemption. Just as in other apocalypticmovements that urge members to adopt new ways of seeing, the Rabbi amply used visualidioms and metaphors to mark the transformation from ordinary days to the end of days.If indeed the ultimate goal of the Hasidic activity is to generate the enchanted moment inwhich the Rabbi will reveal himself “to the eyes of all” (le-eynei kol), reported experiencesof seeing the Rabbi appear as a glimpse into, and a metonym of the desired messianic time.Still, despite their apparent importance, apparitions stirred ambivalent feelings in Habad,even among the meshichistim.

First, even though accounts of seeing the Rabbi could easily go public through an elaborateweb of messianic media, the experiences of seeing him could not be publicly validated.This predicament was mitigated by a wide array of objectifying signs (cf. Davis and Boles2003:398–394): the aforementioned photograph and video which made the Rabbi present“to the eyes of all;” the presence of artifacts presumably delivered by the Rabbi duringapparitions, such as a dollar bill and a ten cent coin, in the hands of seers after theirencounters with him (cf. Bitel 2009; Christian 1996:146); the reporting of specific gesturesmade by the Rabbi during apparitions, which perfectly matched his past behavior eventhough these gestures could not have been known to the seers; the perfect compatibilitybetween events “within” the apparition and “without” it;26 the occurrence of simultaneous

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apparitions which deployed the sightings on the intersubjective level and rendered themsharable; and the “confessional” accounts of skeptics, who used to mock at the credulousbelief in the Rabbi’s immortality, until they themselves were startled to see him.27

Despite this arsenal of objectifying signs, a subdued air of uneasiness persists in the Hasidicdiscourse over the apparitions. A second cause of discontent is related to the dialectics ofpresence and absence in messianic Habad. While seers’ experiences challenged the Rabbi’sdisappearance, for ardent meshichistim they emerge too erratically and piecemeal to mitigateit altogether. Inadvertently, they could even accentuate it. The apparitions draw seers andvicarious participants closer to the watershed of the ultimate revelation; but as scatteredfragments of the Rabbi’s eternal presence they are unable to quench the eschatological thirstfor redemption. Dialectically, the presence of absence is transformed into the absence ofpresence (Handelman and Shamgar-Handelman 1997). As I note in my concluding remarks,the problem is exacerbated by the peculiar nature of apparitions in 770.

Concern over the paucity of apparitions is articulated lucidly in one of the apparition reportsin response to puzzlement over the special merit of a certain boy who was entitled to see theRabbi: “The Rabbi chooses to reveal himself without a special reason. The revelation is thenormal state, which should exist all the time. We don’t have to search for reasons. The onlyreason we need to look for is the incomprehensible fact—why we have not been privilegedyet to experience the perfect and long-lasting revelation . . . ” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:74). A newcomer to the movement, who saw the Rabbi on his first visit to 770, overcame hisexcitement by saying: “it was only natural for me to see the Rabbi in his own abode” (Lifko’ahet Ha-Einayim 2007: 96). Yet, “normal” and “natural” as these experiences were rhetoricallypresented, they have been quite uncommon, the exception, rather than the rule.

If apparitions were too scarce for many meshichistim, for the more spiritually oriented Ha-sidim, loyal to Habad’s reputation as the bastion of “wisdom, intellect, and understanding,”28

apparitions were too plentiful. For them the incessant search for tangible proof of the Rabbi’seternal existence is entirely redundant—a moral failure vis-a-vis the ordeal of the Rabbi’sinvisibility. I am not sure that the holders of this elitist view would go so far as to acceptWolfson’s claim (2009) that the Rabbi had never viewed himself as a potential messiah,seeking instead to generate a collective messianic consciousness in the Jewish people whereabsence and presence, God and world, would be integrated. But their ambivalence regardingthe apparitions might resonate with Wolfson’s criticism of the meshichistim: “What is seem-ingly lost to those who follow this path is the realization that true vision consists of seeingthe invisible in the visible, and not of seeing the nonvisible as visible” (Wolfson 2009:276).For Wolfson, as for some Hasidim, “postmortem apparitions of the seventh Rabbi . . . areindicative of a profound spiritual blindness” (Wolfson 2009:276).

A diluted version of this criticism is noted among meshichisim too. As Kravel-Tovi (2009)shows, Habadniks subscribe to two incongruent systems of logic in constructing their (mes-sianic) reality: one pragmatic and sense based, with special emphasis on sight in discerningwhat is “real”; the other mystical and dialectical, informed by Habad’s acosmic accent and


cultivating a hermeneutic of suspicion toward sense-based reality. The two systems comin-gle in a strained way. Thus, the same messianic publications that praise the apparitions asa proof that “the Rabbi is with us more than ever” resort on other occasions to an inter-nal and spiritual mode of seeing, in line with the Hasidism’s accent on the interior (hidden)meaning of the Torah. One activist articulated this supremacy of spiritual seeing by claimingthat “to open the eyes seems quite easy . . . but lifting the eyelids does not mean openingthe eyes. What the Rabbi taught was ‘to open the eyes of the intellect, of awareness andcomprehension’” (Si’hat Ha-Geulah 206, July 17, 1998: 1).

The same inconsistency was evident in the introduction to the apparitions’ collection. Theanonymous editors noted apologetically that “this volume does not aim to provide proof thatthe Rabbi is alive in actuality in his abode 770. This belief is a reality determined by our HolyTorah” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:3). They explained that just as pilots suffering fromvertigo know that they have to rely only on the objective data from the control panel eventhough it contradicts their sense-based impression, so the Hasidim adhere to the Torahas the true guide to overcome confusion and disorientation in this trying time. But in asubsequent passage the editors justify the publication of the reports by saying that “althoughwe believe whole-heartedly . . . that the Rabbi is alive exactly as before, clear-cut knowledgecan only come from eyesight” (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:14).

Conclusions

What insights can be gleaned from the apparitions in messianic Habad for advancing un-derstanding of these and related phenomena from a social science perspective? First, theaccounts provide lucid testimony to the power of culture in setting into motion the pro-cesses through which the imperceptible may become perceptible. Although the notion thatculture can affect fundamental mental experiences is far from novel, the detailed reportsenable one to appreciate the scope of the molding of the perceptual field of the Hasidim interms of decor, paraphernalia, and ritual. Given that the messianic ecology is densely dottedwith visible signs of the invisible Rabbi, his occasional sightings there are “in place,” justas—by way of perceptual closure—a figure in a puzzle can be vividly seen, even though oneor more of the puzzle’s pieces is missing.

The massive structuration of the environment in messianic Habad may call for the oppo-site question: why have apparitions not been more widespread among meshichistim? Thequestion is particularly pertinent for 770, transformed by cultural expectations, cues, andpractices into an inviting, suggestion-saturated milieu for the Rabbi’s presence. To accountfor the differential capacity to see the Rabbi, one should probably resort to mental skillsor dispositions not equally distributed among believers. Absorption, “the capacity to treatwhat the mind imagines as more real than . . . what the eyes and ears perceive” (Luhrmann2012:201), might be the critical variable separating seers from nonseers. Training can im-prove this skill, but it cannot entirely eliminate individual differences as measured by theTellegen Absorption Scale (Tellegen and Atkinson 1974; cf. Luhrmann 2012:195–196).

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Second, overt differences between apparitions in ritual and nonritual settings enable oneto distill two distinct trajectories for perceiving visual stimuli without a material source.The major inviting factor in the first track is the rich cultural ecology that structures aperceptual field conducive to seeing the Rabbi. In a comparative vein, apparitions in ritualvenues across the world, from visual encounters with the Virgin in Marian pilgrimage sitesto Elvis sightings in Graceland, are likely to be associated with this first track, where setting,expectations, training, and ritual may combine to produce extraordinary visual experiences.29

In monasteries and churches in late Medieval Europe, to take one well-documented example,a similar combination of inducing factors was at work. A changed understanding of theEucharist, resulting in a shift from “receiving” Christ in communion to “seeing” him inthe host at the moment of consecration was linked to the dissemination of new practices ofmeditation and visualization, leading to an outpouring of lay visions (Bynum 1987:53–56;Newman 2005; Taves 2009a:151–2). “It should not be surprising,” Newman notes, “that agaze fixed lovingly and habitually on the host, understood as the visible, edible body of Godin the world, should sometime see it transformed into the infant Christ (Newman 2005:16).The proliferation of religious art in all media in the late medieval period made “holy seeing”more accessible to lay believers. From the vantage point of present-day visual technologies,actual painted or sculpted images and religious theater are but pale, innocuous antecedentsof photographs and videos, respectively, but they probably played a similar role in inducingsightings. “A nun who daily wept before the pieta or kissed the feet of the crucified would findit increasingly easy to visualize these figures in a prayer and the line between ‘visualization’and ‘vision’ is a fine one” (Newman 2005:17).

The major inviting factor in the second track is serious distress and the emotional upheavalit entails. The threat to one’s well-being in a context of Hasidic belief is sufficiently potent toengender a sighting even outdoors, without the suggestive decor that governs the landscapeof ritual apparitions.30 The two trajectories are not entirely exclusive. Distress may play arole among visionaries in Marian or Hindu shrines, as it does among Hasidim in 770, andenvironmental cues appear in mundane settings too. Still, the gap between the two types ofexperiences is sufficiently clear to render the typology worth pursuing.

Third, in reviewing the reported experiences of seeing the Rabbi against the Christian mate-rial, and in light of the distinction between visions and apparitions, a major epistemologicaldisparity between the experiences subsumed under these two categories comes to the fore.Visions in medieval and early modern Christianity were viewed as “unusual sensory experi-ences” (Taves 2009a:126), by definition discontinuous with ordinary reality. Their spiritualnature was highlighted insofar as the things “seen” were not viewed as actual bodies but,rather, as their images. Visions required that “the pathways of normal perception . . . areblocked in such a way that the eye does not focus on physical reality but instead turns in-ward toward images that exist within the mind” (Newman 2005:11). Visionaries such as St.Theresa of Jesus (San Juan 2008) or Hildegard of Bingen (Newman 1985), believing thata true vision resides in the soul, sought to dissociate their mystical experiences from thephysical act of seeing. Given the emphasis on alternative ways of seeing, it is not surprisingthat “altered states of consciousness have been the sin qua non of visions” (Newman 2005:8).


Visionaries in modern Marian shrines, although often too plebeian to frame their experiencesin a coherent religious doctrine, still betray in their accounts and behavior the hiatus betweentheir visions and ordinary visual experiences. In many a case Mary hovers above, in space,and the eyes of seers and followers are lifted toward her. She may take peculiar shapes—appearing “like a cloud,” or “a big ray of light coming from the sky very slowly” (Bitel2009:81).

Contemporary Evangelicals, as presented in Luhrmann’s seminal study of the VineyardChurch (Luhrmann 2012), share with Habadniks the passion for rendering their idolizedOther palpably close and “democratized” (i.e., accessible to all). They differ from Habadniksand Catholics alike in that their preferred sensory mode for mystical contact is aural, ratherthan visual. Yet cutting across these different sensory modalities, the spiritual essence ofvisions noted in earlier Christian revelations is firmly maintained. God here “is more like astate of mind” (Luhrmann 2012:83). His voice “normally sounds like a flow of spontaneousthoughts rather than an audible voice” (Luhrmann 2012:46); and newcomers have to learn torecognize God’s thoughts in theirs. Notwithstanding the mentalistic accent in the discourseof these modern, psychologically sophisticated believers, they, too, seem to draw a clear linebetween experiences of hearing God and ordinary auditory perception. As stated before, thisline is permeable, given that sensory overrides occasionally occur; but even then the line isnot obliterated conceptually and epistemologically.

Note the following account: “About four feet high. Absolutely external. Absolutely visible.This white, glowing messanger” (Luhrmann 2012:285). Even though the account uncharac-teristically articulates a visual (rather than aural) experience that is situated out there (ratherthan in the mind), it cannot be confounded with reported experiences of ordinary visual per-ception. What makes Habad apparitions in 770 and other ritual zones so distinct from thearray of visionary experiences in Christianity past and present is their hyperreal nature. Thedenial of the Rabbi’s death by the meshichistim is a blatant ontological statement that in-evitably limits the epistemological horizons of the seers and, consequently, the soteriologicalimplications of their experiences.

Committed to the notion that the Rabbi resides in “flesh and spirit” in 770, the Hasidimsee him there, “just as before,” in image and gestures perfectly matching his appearanceand conduct in his lifetime. It is tempting to suggest that Habad’s highly structured andsystematized mysticism as well as its strong involvement with the real world both findexpression in the “orderly” apparitions. In the visual encounters with the Rabbi the basicdimensions of ordinary reality are usually maintained—the Rabbi is seen in the right placeand the right time—and the experiences of seeing him subscribe to the principles of veridicalperception. I suggest that the discontent inherent in the apparitions is amplified by thebothering gap between the future-oriented picture of the hyperenchanted world-on-the-verge-of-redemption that the Rabbi promoted and the past-oriented and hyperreal natureof the experiences of seeing him. In these experiences awareness is not dramatically altered,the gaze remains horizontal, rather than turned upward, the scenery terrestrial, not celestial,and the physical environment remains the same. In the end, the apparitions, like other

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reproductions of the Rabbi’s icons and traces, are but replicas through which a lost past istemporarily restored.

Risking another comparison with Christianity, I return to the distinction between appari-tions and visions and situate it historically (or rather metahistorically). In Jesus’s appearancesfollowing his crucifixion and resurrection his body was portrayed as having physical reality.Following the ascension, the visual encounters with him have become less “real,” assum-ing a more spiritual nature (Wiebe 1997:142). As a postascension phenomenon, visions inChristianity thus partake of this creative spirituality, appearing as the product of mental pro-cesses captured by concepts such as “the mythopoetic function” (Price-Williams 1999) and“autonomous imagination” (Stephen 1989:41–64). The epistemological openness that theseprocesses allow engenders experiences that are “light, fanciful, not-real-but-more-than-real”(Luhrmann 2012:83). Stephen argues that although such experiences are not deemed exter-nal reality, “they become more real than external reality,” and have much greater freedomand richness of imaginative inventiveness (Stephen 1989:56). The meshichistim in Habadappear to be stuck in a “pre-ascenstion era,” waiting, to use an analogy more palatable totheir convictions, for “Moses in our generation” to come out of his occlusion.31

YORAM BILU is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and theDepartment of Psychology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Notes

1. Habad is acronym for “wisdom, intellect, knowledge” in Hebrew. The movement is also known as Lubavitch,

after the town in Byelorussia, which had been its center until the early 20th century.

2. The Rabbi consistently referred to his predecessor and father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersen (RaY-

aTZ), as “the Messiah of the generation” (Heilman and Friedman 2010); yet some of the references he made toward

the end of his life could be interpreted as indicating a messianic self-awareness. Scholars sharply differ on this issue.

Dan (1999) and Dahan (2008) claim that the Rabbi did view himself as the Messiah and that his childlessness might

have been deliberate, accommodating to the messianic model of the end of history. Others argue that the Rabbi’s

messianic vision was entirely devoid of personal dimension (e.g., Wolfson 2009).

3. The classic analysis of failed prophecy in terms of dissonance theory (Festinger et al. 1956) was employed,

with various adaptations, to make sense of Habad in the aftermath of the Rabbi’s death (Dein and Dawson 2008;

Dein 2010; Shaffir 1993, 1994, 1995). For critical views of dissonance as adequate conception for understanding

post-Schneerson Habad see Dein (2010:139–146), Kravel-Tovi (2009), and Kravel-Tovi and Bilu (2008).

4. Intriguingly, the Breslav Hasidic sect, without a living zaddik since the beginning of the 19th century, is also

popular today. For a comparative analysis of Habad and Breslav see Bilu and Mark (2012).

5. In the Jewish mystical system, Gematria, based on assigning numerical values to alphabetical letters, 770 is

tantamount to “The Abode of the Messiah” (Beit Mashiach).

6. To emphasize the immediacy of the coming of the Messiah, the Rabbi used to end many talks with the phrase,

tekhef u-miyad mamash, often repeating the last word, mamash, two or three times. The Hasidim hastened to read

the word, composed of the Hebrew letters mem, mem, shin, as acronym for Menachem Mendel Schneerson, or,


no less pertinent, for moshiach Menachem shmo (A Messiah named Menachem). In one of his talks, the Rabbi said:

“mamash, with all the interpretations of mamash,” thus possibly alluding to himself as the chosen one.

7. Luhrmann’s seminal work dealt primarily with experiences of hearing God’s voice among Evangelicals

(Luhrmann 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012) reflecting Protestantism’s tendency toward the aural mode (see also Dein

and Littlewood 2007). The visual mode is dominant in encounters in Catholicism with Jesus (Bynum 1987;

Newman 1985, 2005; Taves 2009a; Wiebe 1997) and with Mary (Bitel 2009; Christian 1981, 1992, 1996; Matter

2001; Zimdars-Swartz 1989, 1991).

8. Hasidism emerged and spread in East Europe, among Ashkenazi Jews; yet Habad, unlike most other Hasidic

groups, accepts Mizrahim (Jews of Mid-Eastern or North African background) without reservation.

9. A single apparition may sometimes include more than one sighting: the Rabbi seen intermittently, in brief

exposures, in the same location. Episodes are described in the text.

10. In her comprehensive study of 488 societies, Bourguignon (1970) found that in 62 percent of them subjects

experienced “hallucinations” in their ritual practices.

11. More recent studies confirm this finding. For example, 7–30 percent of children and adolescents in six com-

munity survey studies in various countries reported experiencing hallucinations (Scott et al. 2009).

12. “Panentheism understands God and the world to be inter-related with the world being in God and God being

in the world” (Culp 2009).

13. Wolfson (2009) claims that the messianic project cultivated by the meshichistim, with the Rabbi as the

designated redeemer, is based on gross misunderstanding of the Rabbi’s messianic teachings.

14. On the uses of rabbis’ and sages’ portraits in traditional and orthodox society, including Habad, see Cohen

(1998), Heilman (2001), and Shandler (2009).

15. This process had started when the Rabbi was alive: “Broadcasts and videotapes have allowed followers around

the world to engage the Rabbi’s presence, and the spiritually transformative properties this encounter entails,

without leaving their homes” (Shandler 2009:250).

16. How far this visual exposure can go is demonstrated by a 675-page-long messianic exegesis, Now I Know (Ata

Yada’ati), where the Rabbi’s iconic portrait decorates the upper left corner of each and every twofold page (Sasson

1998).

17. David Berger maintains “the availability of a vast library of videotapes which can preserve a sense of the

departed Messiah’s physical presence” (2001:29) sets Habad’s messianism apart from older messianic movements,

such as Christianity and Sabbatianism.

18. I am indebted to Michal Kravel-Tovi for sharing with me this episode. Jeffery Shandler reached similar

conclusions: “Those who watch this video can rise up from profane life into another world, a spiritual world,

and experience the numinous awakening in matters of divine worship and the holy illumination felt by those who

participated in the farbrengen itself” (Shandler 2009:249 n. 41).

19. Even at the zenith of his fame, the Rabbi was adamant to present himself as a deputy and medium of his

predecessor. His proclaimed bonding with RaYaTZ might have helped him to win the battle of succession after

RaYaTZ passed away in 1950 (Heilman and Friedman 2010:29–64).

20. The tension between seeing the Rabbi in one’s mind and seeing him “out there” (in apparition) was dramatically

articulated by a young female visitor to 770, after a frustrating attempt to “see” the Rabbi there: “I am opening my

eyes! . . . well, I still can’t see. It’s precisely when I open my eyes that I can see that the (Rabbi’s) chair is empty.

When I close them, the Rebbe is with me” (Kravel-Tovi 2009:254).

122 ETHOS

21. This visual reciprocity brings to mind the Hindu practice of darshan (Babb 1981).

22. This endless multiplication stands in stark contrast with the Rabbi’s childlessness.

23. The description of the practices is based on the fieldwork Michal Kravel-Tovi conducted in 770 in 1999–2000

(see Kravel-Tovi 2009; Kravel-Tovi and Bilu 2008). She dubbed the practices “ritual practices of re-presenting.”

24. This is how the Rabbi’s participation in the prayers was depicted by a visitor: “Even though our eyes are still

shut, and we cannot see the Rabbi in materiality (be-gashmiut) after Tammuz 3rd (the Jewish date of the Rabbi’s

death in 1994), there, in his study hall, it seems that he is the only one who guides the work . . . On Sim’hat Torah,

it is customary to honor the Rabbi with the verses of ata hereytah (‘you have shown’). The Gabbai cries out: ‘Mr.

so and so bought the verse and he honors the Rabbi . . . with it. The huge crowd keeps silent—now the Rabbi is

reciting (the verse)—and then repeats the verse together’” (Si’hat Ha-Geulah 267, October 15, 1999: 3).

25. Kittel is a white robe that serves as a burial shroud for male Jews. It is also worn by Ashkenazi Jews on festive

occasions, such as the Day of Atonement.

26. For example, the Rabbi revealed himself to a Hasid in Melbourne, Australia, and promised him that the

economic problems that burdened his family would be relieved. At exactly the same time, the Hasid’s parents were

discussing their economic difficulties (Lifko’ah et Ha-Einayim 2007:109–110).

27. Christian (1996) describes a similar phenomenon in Ezkioga, Spain, in the early 1930s, where anarchist workers

underwent conversion and had visions of Mary.

28. See N. 1.

29. The role of expectations is tricky because “an apparition may be understood as the appearance within the

physical environment to one or more individuals of a person they would not expect to be within the immediate

perceptual range” (Zimdars-Swartz 1989:125). While many meshichistim visiting 770 would concur that the Rabbi

is not within their “immediate perceptual range” they still expect to see him, as, for example, do pilgrims to the

Marian apparition site at Conyers, Georgia, who are told that “the Rosary is at 12:00 and the Virgin Mary appears at

12:20 . . . ” (Davis and Boles 2003:385). This type of structured expectation does not exist in mundane apparitions.

30. Apparitions in which the Rabbi saved the seer from a life-risking situation share much in common with “the

third man factor” (Geiger 2009), an uncanny sensation of a mysterious presence that gives protection and guidance

under grueling physical conditions. “The third man factor” appears as a subset of the more comprehensive “sense

of presence” phenomenon (Luhrmann 2012:378).

31. Apparitions in Habad share intriguing similarities with Elvis sightings in U.S. popular culture (Doss 2005;

Marcus 1991; Reese 2006). Although the comparison between Habad and “the Presleytarian Church” (Plasketes

1997) may seem strained, note that Habad, too, was reshaped in the United States, which some scholars view as

“the most ocularly oriented or hypervisualized of all cultures in recorded civilizations” (Meyert 1997:67). Harold

Bloom (1992) deemed Habad a U.S. religion despite its Eastern European origin.

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98 ETHOS "We Want to See Our King": Apparitions in Messianic Habad