Reading the "Sefat Emet" for religious consciousness: modulations on "Or ha-Ganuz"

For the Sefat Emet, religious faith is far more than an epistemic state, denoting confidence in the truth of religious propositions. It is, rather, a mode of existence that reveals and actualizes the godly character of life, by way of attunement to seeing, to hearing, and to being responsive. This implies a particular relationship to religious language, praxis, and spiritual consciousness altogether. Consequently, I have come to view the Sefat Emet’s Hasidic homily as a central educational, formative, and transformative literary genre designed to inspire readers to encounter the divine presence through concrete forms of religious living