The work of the present: Constructing messianic temporality in the wake of failed prophecy among Chabad Hasidim

Abstract

ABSTRACT Temporal issues have remained relatively unelaborated in the rich body of research that applies cognitive dissonance theory to millenarian movements following a failed prophecy. We engage these issues by exploring how the meshichistim (messianists) among the Jewish ultraorthodox Chabad (Lubavitch) Hasidim employ temporal categories to deal with the crisis entailed in the death of their leader, the expected Messiah. In messianic Chabad, a double‐edged “work of the present” has continued to evolve, simultaneously obfuscating and accentuating temporal delineations between past, present, and future. The ensuing dialectical reality puts into question the common notion that millenarian movements such as Chabad strive at all costs to restore the balance disrupted by failed prophecy. [ millenarian movements, messianic temporality, cognitive dissonance, Chabad‐Lubavitch ]