“In everlasting memory”: Individual and communal Holocaust commemoration in Israel

This chapter discusses the process that underlie the charismatization of two prominent members of the Abu-Hatzera family: Baba Sali and Baba Baruch. The first set focuses on the mechanisms underlying the genesis of Baba Sali as the holiest figure in present-day Israel. The second set of questions centre on the emergence of Baba Baruch as his father’s successor: in a word, given his precarious personal background, how could his claims for the legitimacy of his position receive such wide support and validation. The charismatization of Baba Sali base our examination on a retrospective review of Baba Salis life and sense of mission as these were presented and spread by his followers and particularly by his son. While Baba Salis lifestyle lent itself quite easily to aggrandizement and mythologization, his son’s notorious personal record as an ex-convict and an adulterer obviously was not the right stuff for sanctification.