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Hasidic 'Torah'

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Hasidic 'Torah' THEIR HEADS IN HEAVEN BY THE SAME AUTHOR Jewish Prayer A Guide to Rash Ha-Shanah A Guide to Yam Kippur Jewish Values Studies in Talmudic Logic and Methodology The Palm Tree of Deborah (Translated from the Hebrew of Moses Cordovero, with Introduction and Notes) Tract on Ecstasy (Translated from the Hebrew of Dobh Baer of Lubavitch, with Introduction and Notes) Principles of the Jewish Faith: An Analytical Study A Jewish Theology The Talmudic Argument Helping with Inquiries God, Torah, Israel Religion and the Individual Jewish Preaching: Homilies and Sermons In production for 2005 Judaism and Theology: Essays on the Jewish Religion Rabbinic Thought in the Talmud THEIR HEADS IN HEAVEN Unfamiliar Aspects of Hasidism LOUIS JACOBS VALLENTINE MITCHELL LONDON • PORTLAND, OR First published in 2005 in Great Britain lJy VALLENTINE MITCHELL & CO. LID Premier House, 112-114 Station Road, Edgware, Middlesex HAS 7BJ and in the United States of America lJy VALLENTINE MITCHELL do ISBS, 920 NE 58th Avenue, Suite 300, Portland, OR 97213-3786 USA Copyright © 2005 Louis Jacobs British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data have been applied for Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data have been applied for ISBN 0 85303 562 8 (cloth) 0 85303 566 0 (paper) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or lJy any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, reading or otherwise, without the prior per­ mission of Vallentine Mitchell & Co. Ltd. Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall Contents PREFACE vii llnRODUCTION U 1 Hasidism: Outline 1 2 Hasidic Attitudes to the Study of the Torah 12 3 Hasidic 'Torah' 26 4 The Aim of Pilpul According to the Habad School 43 5 The Derashah of the Maggid on the Two Forms 50 6 Jacob's Dream in Hasidic Interpretation 56 7 The Doctrine of the Zaddik in Elimelech of Lizansk 73 8 Discipleship in Hasidism: A Study of Two Masters 90 9 A Pitka from a Hasid to his Rebbe 100 10 The Book Rahamey Ha-Av 121 11 A Hasidic Boswell on his Rebbe 132 12 Honour thy Father: A Study in Hasidic Psychology 139 13 Eating as an Act of Worship in Hasidism 149 14 The Zaddik as a Source of Danger 160 15 The Munkacer Rebbe on Christianity 170 INDEX 183 For my granddaughter Ziva and her husband Mark Green Preface Although this book covers various aspects of Hasidic life and thought, the particular emphasis is on the relationship between the Rebbe as charismatic teacher and his followers. Chapter 2 on Hasidic Attitudes to the Study of the Torah is a reworking of my shorter article 'Study' in The Encyclopedia of Hasidism, ed. Tvi M. Rabinowicz, Northvale, New Jersey and London, 1996, pp. 472-74. Chapter 2 on Hasidic 'Torah' is a reworking of my shorter article 'Exegesis' in Rabinowicz, op. cit., pp. 121-3. Chapter 7 on the Zaddik in the thought of R. Elimelech was originally delivered as a Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture at the University of Cincinnati and published in February, 1978, ed. Benny Kraut, but has been brought up to date in order to take into account more recent scholarship. Chapter 8 on Discipleship is a reworked ver­ sion of an article which appeared in The Melton journal, ed. Barry W. Holtz and Eduardo Rauch, New York, Winter, 1983, pp. 2 and 28. Small sections of Chapters 9, on the Pitka, and Chapter 10 on the book Rahamey Ha-Av, appeared in the Introduction to the new, paperback, edition of my Hasidic Prayer, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, London and Washington, 1993, but here the two subjects receive far greater elaboration. A very unsatisfactory version of Chapter 12 appeared in Cambridge Opinion 30, February, 1965 and is here thoroughly recast. My gratitude and thanks are due to the editors and publications mentioned. Chapter 13 on Eat­ ing as an Act of Worship in Hasidism first appeared in Studies in Jewish Religious and Intellectual History Presented to Alexander Altmann On the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, ed. Sigfried Stein and Raphael Loewe, Alabama, 1979, pp. 157-65. Introduction 'The difference between the philosopher and the poet is that the philosopher tries to get the heavens into his head while the poet tries to get his head into the heavens.' This saying, attributed to G. K. Chesterton, can be adapted to describe the difference between the great medieval philosophers and the Kabbalists and Hasidic masters. The basic aim of the philosophers was to interpret the Torah by the light of reason, that is, according to the canons of Greek philosophy in its Arabic garb. They believed, of course, that the Torah was revealed truth, but they also believed that in order to understand the transcendent Torah fully, human reason was the indispensable tool. They made many a mighty effort at getting the heavens into their head. The Kabbalists, on the other hand - and they were followed in this by the Hasidic masters- believed that their theosophical system was not only part of the revealed Torah but the supreme part. The divine mysteries had been revealed and so far as these were concerned human reason was powerless except as a tool to apprehend what the tremendous, secret lore was saying. They, unlike the philosophers, were trying to get their heads in heaven, hence the title of this book. The essays that make up the book were written at different times so that, although they have the above unifying theme, that of heaven-stormers of diverse kinds, each essay (each chapter of the book) can be read on its own. For this reason, the same ideas recur occasionally, though too much duplication has been avoided. It hardly needs stating that my approach throughout is purely phenomenological. I am neither a Kabbalist nor a Hasid but try to be an objective student of mystical phenomena and the mystical approach in traditional Judaism. The following is a run-through of the themes of the chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief outline of the mystical movement of Hasidism. Chapter 2 considers the specific attitudes of Hasidism to the study of the Torah. Chapter 3 shows that the Hasidic masters had their own specific Torah. Chapter 4 considers the role of the X Their Heads in Heaven Rabbinic pilpul in Habad, the intellectual school in Hasidism. Chapter 5 provides an illustration of how Hasidic 'Torah' operates, as does Chapter 6 with Hasidic 'Torah' on the dream of Jacob. The role of the Zaddik in the influential work of the early master, Elimelech of Lizansk, is the subject of Chapter 7. Chapter 8 takes up the question of the relationship of the Hasid to his Rebbe and Chapter 9 illustrates this by providing a translation with notes of an actual petition presented by a Hasid of the Gerer Rebbe. Chapter 10 treats of a late Hasidic classic which throws light on Hasidic life as it was actually lived by the more devoted Hasidim. Chapter 11 describes a fascinating pen portrait of a Rebbe by his Hasid. Chapter 12 treats of the tensions in early Hasidism between the obligation to obey the fifth commandment and the equally strong obligation to follow the Rebbe. Chapter 13 treats of eating as a special category of worship in Hasidism. Chapter 14 seeks to demonstrate that, for the Hasidim and in certain Talmudic sources, the holy man can be a source of danger as well as goodwill. The final chapter, 15, demonstrates how a very unconventional Rebbe confronted Christianity. -1- Hasidism: Outline The following brief account of the Hasidic movement attempts to cover only those features required for the understanding of the following chapters of the book by readers not too familiar with this trend in Judaism, fascinating for some, irritating for others. It is certainly not my aim to offer a guide to Hasidism. Such guides are readily available and will be referred to in the notes whenever necessary. The founder of the movement is usually said to be Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (often abbrevi­ ated to 'Besht' in English but rarely by the Hasidim themselve, for whom he is 'Baal Shem Tov Ha-Kadosh', 'The Holy Baal Shem Tov'). There is no need to waste time in rebutting the ridiculous notion of some Maskilim that there was no such person as the Baal Shem Tov, who was, in their view, a purely legendary figure. The Baal Shem Tov had known children, grandchildren and great­ grandchildren. Murray Jay Rosman has examined the archives of the town of Medziboz to find there recorded the name of Israel ben Eliezer, 'Kabbalist and Doctor'. It is also recorded there that, as a respected holy man, he was provided with a stipend by the community. Despite the obviously legendary nature of the Shivhey Ha-Besht, 'The Praises of the Baal Shem Tov', published some fifty years after his death, the charismatic figure, hero of the Legends, is a historical person. The questions needing an answer are: What is the meaning of Baal Shem Tov? What does it mean to say that he was the founder of the Hasidic movement? What was the role of Dov Baer the Maggid of Mesirech, clearly a pivotal personality in early Hasidism? The name Baal Shem Tov was given to Israel ben Eliezer as a folk-healer in his early career where he communed with his Maker 2 Their Heads in Heaven in the pure and elevated air of the Carpathian mountains. There were many baaley shem in the early eighteenth century in that part of the world, men believed to be skilful in the manipulation of Kabbalistic formulae consisting of various mystical combinations of divine names, which they used, together with herbal remedies and the like, to heal villagers who came to them for the purpose.
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