ESSAYS ON HASIDISM

"They conduct themselves like madmen, and explain their behavior by saying that in their thoughts they soar in the most far-off worlds .... Every day is for them a holiday. When they pray ... they raise such a din that the walls quake ... And they turn over like wheels, with the head below and the legs above ... "

-From a denunciation of the Hasidim by traditional Eastern Europe Rabbinic authorities, circa 1772

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO HASIDISM

The Hasidim, or "pious ones" in Hebrew, belong to a special movement within Orthodox Judaism, a movement that, at its height in the first half of the nineteenth century, claimed the allegiance of millions in Eastern and Central Europe--perhaps a majority of East European Jews. Soon after its founding in the mid-eighteenth century by Jewish mystics, Hasidism rapidly gained popularity in all strata of society, especially among the less educated common people, who were drawn to its charismatic leaders and the emotional and spiritual appeal of their message, which stressed joy, faith, and ecstatic prayer, accompanied by song and dance. Like other religious revitalization movements, Hasidism was at once a call to spiritual renewal and a protest against the prevailing religious establishment and culture.

The history of Hasidism, which encompasses a variety of sometimes conflicting outlooks, is a fascinating story. The movement survived a century of slow decline--during a period when progressive social ideas were spreading among European Jewry--and then near-total destruction in the Holocaust. After World War II, Hasidism was transplanted by immigrants to America, Israel, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. In these most modern of places, especially in New York and other American cities, it is now thriving as an evolving creative minority that preserves the language--Yiddish--and many of the religious traditions of pre-Holocaust Eastern European Jewry.

The Hasidic ideal is to live a hallowed life, in which even the most mundane action is sanctified. Hasidim live in tightly-knit communities (known as "courts") that are spiritually centered around a dynastic leader known as a rebbe, who combines political and religious authority. The many different courts and their rebbes are known by the name of the town where they originated: thus the Bobov came the town of Bobova in Poland (Galicia), the Satmar from Satu Mar in present-day Hungary, the Belz from Poland, and the Lubavitch from Russia. In Brooklyn today, there are over sixty courts represented, but most of these are very small, with some comprising only a handful of families. The great majority of American Hasidim belong to one of a dozen or so principal surviving courts. Hasidism is not a denomination but an all-embracing religious lifestyle and ideology, which is expressed somewhat differently by adherents of the diverse courts (also called "sects").

The Hasidic way of life is visually and musically arresting, with rich textures, unusual customs, and strong traditions of music and dance. Hasidic tales, intriguing and memorable doorways into a complex world of Hasidic thought, religious themes, and humor, are fruits of a long and continuing oral tradition. Popularized in the non-Hasidic world by writers such as Martin Buber, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Elie Wiesel, they are famous for their particular wisdom and wit.

Yet this world is virtually unknown to most Americans, who are apt to confuse Hasidic men, who wear beards, sidelocks, black hats, and long coats, with the similarly-dressed Amish. This shared style of dress does indeed reflect similar values of piety, extreme traditionalism, and separatism. But where the Amish are farmers in rural communities, the great majority of the approximately two hundred thousand American Hasidim live and work in enclaves in the heart of New York City, amid a number of vital contemporary cultures very different from their own.

Most of the approximately 165,000 Hasidim in the New York City area live in three neighborhoods in Brooklyn: Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Boro Park. Each of the three neighborhoods is home to Hasidim of different courts, although there is overlap and movement between them. There are approximately forty-five thousand Satmar Hasidim in Williamsburg, over fifty thousand Bobover Hasidim in Boro Park, and at least fifteen thousand Lubavitch in Crown Heights. The population of each of these groups has increased dramatically since the first American Hasidic communities were formed in the late 1940s and 1950s, with especially rapid growth in the last two decades.

THE ORIGINS OF HASIDISM

Hasidism arose against the background of conditions in eighteenth-century Poland, a troubled time of foreign invasions, peasant uprisings, a declining central government, and conflict between Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians.

As historian Eli Lederhandler explains, the Jews, who were organized in their own self-governing municipal and rural communities, were also experiencing serious difficulties. From without, they were subject to exploitative taxation, regulations barring them from certain cities, laws restricting their participation in certain trades and crafts, as well as periodic violence and the general insecurity that affected all inhabitants. From within, they suffered a decline in the quality of lay and rabbinic leadership, and were also beset by recurring challenges from mystical and messianic heresies.

On the other hand, as historian Gershon Hundert points out, the situation of the Jews was dynamic and varied according to region:

The Polish economy was beginning to recover from the disastrous effects of the Northern War during the first decades of the eighteenth century. Jews were moving to villages in large numbers, some were prospering as a result of increasing foreign trade, others were impoverished as centers of economic activity shifted. Jewish numbers were increasing rapidly, much faster than the total rate of growth for Poland, and thus the proportion of young people in the Jewish population was constantly expanding. And Jews enjoyed considerable governmental autonomy.

Hundert characterizes early Hasidism as a "diffuse movement of religious revival with charismatic leaders." Lederhandler elaborates that "Hasidism was a pietist movement of great force that came upon the scene when conditions were ripe for its rapid diffusion. It combined charismatic leadership, a large rural following, and a new teaching that emphasized the close link between the zaddik (holy man) and his disciples (Hasidim, or "pious ones"). Its founders came not from the established elite but from the second rank: popular preachers and mystical "saints" who had local reputations."

As Hundert recounts,

During the eighteenth century, pious Jews who studied Kabbalistic texts came to be seen by the masses as models, and as the possessors of special powers and ties to divinity. In some larger communities one or two such people were exempted from taxes and their housing was paid for by the community. In turn, some of these mystics began to interpret their life's task as involving not only contemplative prayer and study alone or in small groups, but also now seeking out and addressing masses of Jews so that they too could experience the joy and exaltation of attachment to God. Some of these new mystics developed followings in their own communities.

Hasidic tradition traces the movement's origins to one such saintly figure, Israel ben Eliezer (ca. 1700 - 1760), referred to as the Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name), who had made a niche for himself as a spiritual guide and healer in the Polish-Ukranian town of Miedzyboz. (Itinerant Jewish healers and magicians were known as Baalei Shem, or Masters of the Name, as their powers were thought to stem from mystical knowledge of the secret names of God.) The figure of the historical Besht (the acronym by which the Baal Shem Tov is known) is all but lost under the layers of legend that grew up around him. But it is the legendary first leader, the Besht, who lives in Hasidic memory and informs Hasidic spirituality.

As Hundert notes, it was one of the Besht's disciples, Ya'akov Yosef of Polonne, who "developed an elaborate definition of the relationship between the mystical adept, or, now, the Zaddik or rebbe, and his followers. Others added further refinements, and toward the end of the eighteenth century such rebbes were appearing in a number of Polish, Ukranian and Lithuanian Jewish communities. Each developed his own style of leadership and his own emphases."

The key elements of Beshtian Hasidism include the primacy of inner, spiritual enlightenment over mere dexterity in textual study; the accessibility of the zaddik to his community and his role in the revelation of the hidden meanings of Torah and mitzvot; and the universal presence of God, even in the seemingly mundane and banal.

The Besht left no writings, but many Hasidic tales concern his life and teachings. Here is a typical and well-known story:

It is Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgement. The Baal Shem Tov is conducting the prayer services. In the middle of his chant, he pauses abruptly. His face looks troubled and strained. Time passes and the congregation becomes increasingly anxious over this unusual delay.

In the meantime, a young shepherd boy is sitting in the back of the synagogue. Never having received a religious education, he is unable to read the Hebrew words of the prayers. Yet his heart yearns to pray to his heavenly father. He pulls out his shepherd's whistle from his pocket and decides to pray in the form of a tune. As he sounds the first note, the startled congregation turns around and silences him. Suddenly a smile brightens the Baal Shem's face. He resumes the service and brings it to a joyous conclusion.

Afterwards, his disciples ask for an explanation of his curious behavior. The Baal Shem replied, "I sensed the gates of heaven were closed to our prayers. A year of misfortune was to be decreed upon our people. I tried to break through but to no avail. However, that one sincere and heartfelt note which the shepherd boy emitted was enough. It pierced through all the heavenly gates. Thereafter, all our prayers were permitted to follow."

The story illustrates a number of essential Hasidic teachings: that the master has the ability to act as a bridge between God and man; that every person's behavior can have cosmic influence; that the common person's sincerity is preferable to the most erudite and labored scholarship; and that wordless song can be more important than liturgical text.

The Besht's main followers became, in due course, zaddikim in their own right, and established a counterculture that, by the end of the eighteenth century and after a protracted struggle against their traditionalist opponents, became the regnant form of Judaism in many parts of Poland, the Ukraine, and Russia. Using a modified liturgy, allowing for flexible hours for prayer, incorporating their own group rituals and ecstatic practices into the religious regimen, and insisting on the exclusive authority of their own religious leadership, the Hasidim remained distinctive from other Orthodox Jews with whom they shared most basic beliefs.


HASIDISM IN EUROPE

Hasidism met with much opposition from the Jewish establishment. The center of opposition to Hasidism in the late eighteenth century was Vilna, Lithuania, the leading city of traditional Torah study. A campaign against the Hasidim was led by Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon, known as the Gaon (Hebrew for "great scholar") of Vilna. Bans and excommunications were issued against Hasidism in 1772, and again in 1781, 1784, and 1796. Other Jews were commanded not to marry, to help bury, or even to share food or drink with the "heretical sect." Rabbi Elijah did not lack conviction: "Had I the power, I would punish these infidels as the worshippers of Baal were punished of old." (The Biblical Elijah "slaughtered" the prophets of Baal.)

"The established non-Hasidic leadership," explains Hundert, "objected to the emphasis on experience rather than study, to the cult of the Zaddik, to the hubris of the masses who behaved like mystics, and to the apparently mindless joy and raucous prayer services of the Hasidim. More practically, there were objections to the establishment by the Hasidim of their own separate prayer halls which removed them somewhat from the community's control, and to the Hasidic method for slaughtering animals which meant they were evading the communal tax on meat."

Soon after the 1772 decree of excommunication, a letter from Vilna made its way through Eastern European Jewry, denouncing the Hasidim, who

In the middle of...prayer, interject obnoxious alien [i.e. Yiddish] words in a loud voice, conduct themselves like madmen, and explain their behavior by saying that in their thoughts they soar in the most far-off worlds... The study of Torah is neglected by them entirely and they...emphasize that one should devote oneself as little as possible to learning and not grieve too much over a sin committed... Every day is for them a holiday... When they pray according to falsified texts they raise such a din that the walls quake... And they turn over like wheels, with the head below and the legs above... Therefore, do we now declare...the people shall robe themselves in the raiment of zeal...for the Lord of Hosts, to extirpate, destroy, outlaw and ex-communicate them.
But this was like issuing an edict against a volcano: by the beginning of the nineteenth century, more than half of the Jews of Eastern Europe identified themselves with Hasidism. The movement continued to grow; by the 1830's, Hasidism provided a way of life to the majority of Jews in the Ukraine, Galicia(southern Poland), and central Poland, and large numbers of Jews in Belorussia-Lithuania and Hungary. It is revealing to note that Hasidism never took root in Western Europe: it was an enthusiastic folk movement that enriched the Jews' existence as a group separated from their neighbors by language, culture, religion, and civil status. In contrast, Western European Jews of the late eighteenth century and nineteenth century, influenced by Napoleon and the French Revolution, concentrated their efforts on cultural, social, and civic integration into the emerging societies of England, France, and Germany, which held out to Jews the promise of equality.

Like rebellions against orthodoxy everywhere, Hasidism slowly settled down, creating its own social structures (notably, dynastic succession among a growing number of competing rebbes), and accommodating itself to routine. The circle of followers who gathered around a rebbe came to be known as a hoyf, (Yiddish for courtyard, translated as court). A system of dynastic succession evolved, with a son or son-in-law of each rebbe inheriting court leadership. As the number of competing hoyfs multiplied, courts were established in towns and villages scattered across Eastern and Central Europe.

The courts often developed into completely self sufficient social institutions. Centered around the rebbe's house and the bedmedresh (the house of study and prayer) each court had its own artisans, storekeepers, and religious functionaries, and evolved its own oral and musical traditions.

At the same time, the movement began developing thinkers and philosophers, who wrote a number of works on ethics and on mysticism. Hasidism elaborated a rich and distinctive cultural life, creating not only new customs, but new musical forms, passionate dances, and Hasidism's greatest contribution to world culture, their famous legends and tales. The special often elliptical flavor and mystical character of Hasidic tales have caught the imagination of many non-Hasidic writers, including Martin Buber, Y.L. Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, I.B. Singer, Bernard Malamud, and Eli Wiesel. These modern writers imitated, filtered, and rewrote tales from Hasidic written lore and continuing oral tradition, making them more accessible to outsiders.

Hasidism began a slow but steady decline in the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. New religious and social movements--secular education, labor movements, Zionism, socialism, and immigration to the New World--as well as a resurgent, non-Hasidic Orthodoxy centered in Lithuania, drew away the children of the Hasidim. In the eigthteenth century, Hasidism had been seen as a radical threat to Orthodoxy; by the beginning of the twentieth it had become a bastion of tradition and Orthodoxy itself, seen by non-observant "modern" Jews as outdated fanaticism.

On the eve of World War II, despite its diminished attraction, Hasidism continued to hold the allegiance of significant segments of Eastern European Jewry. Rebbes continued to exert considerable influence among hundreds of thousands of followers.

One of the first acts of the invading Nazis in Poland, Lithuania, and elsewhere was to seek out all Jewish religious leaders. The Rabbi of Ger, leader of the largest Hasidic group in Poland, was the object of a massive German manhunt. He and a handful of other rebbes managed to escape to Palestine or the United States -- often with the help of Zionist or other underground Jewish groups, who were otherwise spurned by Hasidic leaders. All the major Hasidic centers of Eastern Europe were destroyed in the Holocaust. The masses of Hasidim perished, and together with them, almost all Hasidic leaders.