Abstract
This paper describes an historical anecdote which occurred when Rabbi Shalom Dov-Ber Schneersohn, the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe (known as the RaSHaB) visited Vienna in 1903, prior to his meetings with Sigmund Freud. At the time the RaSHaB was suffering from a certain 'lowness of spirits'. One afternoon he went into a trance-like state from which he seemed to emerge with difficulty. The next day he went shopping for women's clothes and then travelled to a distant city to arrange marriages for two recently bereaved girls. Taken out of context, the behaviour of the RaSHaB could easily be viewed as indications of psychiatric or neurological pathology. But when the totality of the Rebbe's personality and work are taken into account as well as the context of the events, it can be appreciated that he had entered an altered state of consciousness (ASC) in order to effect healing on both personal and mystical planes. The authors point out the dangers of over hasty diagnostic conclusions, for it is clear is that the RaSHaB transcended any attempt to categorize his actions. Indeed, they exist on planes which psychiatry has yet to recognize, and may never, recognize. These are phenomena which have nothing to do with illness or pathology, rather with experiences which lie beyond the normal. They therefore denote the limits of categories and the limits of categorization.
Published Version
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