The Hasidim: an Underground History

REvIEwS The Hasidim: An Underground History BY SHAUL MAGID tory was first made, unmade, remade, distorted, generated a whole new apologetic literature. Assaf Untold tales of the Hasidim: Crisis concealed, and contrived. It also suggests that the shows how, in this case, the power of the rebbe de- and discontent in the history OF polemics against Hasidim by the maskilim and mit- rives as much from his ability to rewrite the past as hasidism nagedim were no better, and often worse, than the from his ability to predict the future. by David Assaf one-sided, paranoiac Hasidic self-fashioning. Like The second tale Assaf examines is that of the Brandeis University Press, 360 pp., $55 On the eve of Simchat Torah in 1814, the Seer of Lublin fell out of a window into an alleyway. ostwar American Jews learned of Hasidism He died on Tisha b’Av from his injuries. largely through the romantic renderings of Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Hes- the writings of the neo-Hasidic romantics, those of mysterious and infamous death of Yaakov Yitzchak chel, the photographs of Roman Vishniac, the Hasidim, maskilim, and mitnagedim reveal at Horowitz, better known as “the Seer of Lublin.” The Pand—after the 1960s—through the popular evan- least as much about their authors as they do about Seer was perhaps the most renowned Hasidic rebbe gelism of Chabad or the liberal appropriations of the Hasidim they depict. Nonetheless, out of these of his generation and was the founder of Polish Ha- the Havurah and Jewish Renewal movements. Of juxtapositions, the elements of a raw, unsettling sidism in the 19th century. He was a rebbe’s rebbe, course, some encountered Hasidim in the streets of clandestine history do emerge. the teacher of some of the central Hasidic figures in New York or Miami, but for most of us, Hasidism subsequent generations, including Elimelekh of Li- was what our treasured authors wanted us to believe erhaps the most resonant chapter of this book is zhensk and Simcha Bunim of Przysucha. As a result it was: a movement in love with God, the world, and Pa detailed account of the sad story of Moshe, the of his popularity, the Seer was the target of vehement fellow Jews. Many of us read the books of Buber & youngest son of Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder attacks. (An early anti-Hasidic pamphlet referred to Co. because they seemed to reflect our values, our of Lubavitch (also known as Chabad) Hasidism, him as both Nimrod and Balaam, two of the more non-conformity, our spiritual restlessness. As the who converted to Christianity. The story is well- villainous figures in the Jewish imagination.) historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi wrote in 1982, known. Indeed, by the 20th century most internal On the eve of Simchat Torah in 1814, the Seer “The extraordinary current interest in Hasidism to- Hasidic sources acknowledged Moshe’s conver- fell out of a window into an alleyway, where he was tally ignores its theoretical bases and the often sor- sion while focusing on his apparent mental illness found gravely injured, lying face down in urine and did history of the movement.” feces. Some of the local mitnagedim In Untold Tales of the Hasidim: Crisis and Discon- celebrated the news, perhaps viewing tent in the History of Hasidism, Israeli historian David this as the downfall of Hasidism itself. Assaf uncovers some of that sordid history, but he When, nine months later, on Tisha isn’t much interested in its theoretical bases. Assaf’s b’Av, he died from his injuries, Hasidim book isn’t about Hasidic texts or ideas, nor is it about and their opponents wrote very differ- Hasidism; it’s about Hasidim. Assaf recounts a series ent obituaries. Assaf quotes Yitzchak of lurid and pathetic tales from what one might call Gruenbaum, a leading Polish Zionist the “clandestine history” of the 19th-century Hasidic born more than 60 years after the Seer’s movement: the rebbe’s son who converted to Chris- death, whose father and mother passed tianity, sainted Hasidic leaders who went insane or on two of the leading theories of the found themselves in embarrassing circumstances, Seer’s fall: and still others whose piety primarily consisted of beating up opposing sects and using their rivals’ sa- According to my mother’s tale, cred texts as toilet paper. Assaf introduces the reader the Seer foresaw that the Messiah to Hasidic rebbes who ride into small towns like as- was to descend from heaven on piring cattle barons, terrorize the inhabitants, and Simchat Torah and that he must take over the place. (If cowboys were Hasidim, this go forth to greet him. The rabbi would be Deadwood.) However, in the last chapters decided to . ascend at what he of the book, Assaf also introduces us to three en- calculated was the moment that lightened Hasidic teachers who have been largely the Messiah was beginning his erased from Hasidic memory. The book ends with a descent to earth. He opened the reproduction and translation of a long, tragic letter window, stood on its sill, and went. by one of these figures, Yitzchak Nachum Twersky of He failed to rise, broke his neck, Shpikov, lamenting his life in this “tiny, ugly world.” and died. Assaf does not narrate the history of 19th-century In my father’s version this was a Hasidism directly. Rather, he proceeds by examin- The baptismal certificate of Moshe, son of Schneur Zalman of simple matter, the Rebbe, who drank ing the self-representations and polemics, the histo- Liadi, July 4, 1820. (Courtesy of Brandeis University Press.) copiously in honor of Simchat Torah, ries and counter-histories of Hasidim and their op- fell from the window and was killed. ponents, who included both the modernizing pro- and subsequent lifelong quest to repent for his ac- ponents of the Jewish Enlightenment (maskilim), tion. However, in the 1920s, the sixth Lubavitcher Still others depicted the fall as a suicide, perhaps and of the anti-Hasidic mitnagedim of the rabbinic Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, boldly rewrote out of despair that Napoleon’s Russian campaign establishment. Untold Tales shows us the mudsling- the episode, denying Moshe’s conversion and, con- didn’t usher in the Messiah, or perhaps out of simple ing, biting, and nail-scratching way Hasidic his- sequently, his need for repentance. This, in turn, insanity. Assaf writes: Summer 2011 • JEWish REviEW of Books 15 It is highly unlikely that the actual us how Hasidic historiography began as a bloody For Assaf (and here I am taking some critical li- circumstances of the Seer’s fall will ever come three-way battle between Hasidic apologists, mit- cense), Hasidic historians helped destroy their own to light, nor is it important that they do so. nagedic vultures, and maskilic parodists. Contem- movement. In their attempt to protect Hasidic so- Yet close examination of the different versions porary historians are caught in this thicket (to ciety from mitnagedic and maskilic attack, they un- of the fall highlights the satirical-polemical invoke the original Hebrew title of Assaf’s book, dermined the potential for Hasidic creativity by stamp in each and reveals the convoluted which alludes to the entangled ram at the binding writing some of their most interesting figures out of paths of memory building, which are not of Isaac). the movement. Neo-Hasidic romantics, on the other always guided by the truth as it was. hand, chose to ignore rather than confront the de- omewhat surprisingly, Assaf does not leave us bauchery of Hasidic life, and in doing so, offered un- Today, visiting the grave of the “holy Seer” of Sin the thicket. In the second part of the book, he realistic and indefensible portraits of these masters Lublin is a regular part of the itinerary of many Or- abruptly turns to three tragic Hasidic figures who that will not bear the weight of historical analysis. thodox trips to Eastern Europe. These trips are pop- were written out of Hasidic historiography because The Hasidic, and later Haredi (often called “ultra-Or- thodox”), mainstream did not take seriously enough the necessity of adapting to new social and intellectu- al circumstances. Of the thoughtful and courageous Menachem Nachum Friedman of Itscan, who tried to integrate elements of modernity into his Hasidic world, Assaf asks how the surrounding Hasidic society reacted to “such a complex, unusual phenom- enon as Friedman.” The answer? Not too well; it rejected him and his innovativeness. Assaf portrays Twersky, Chajes, and Friedman as men who understood the deeper challenges of modernity and attempted to initiate an internal critique of their society. They each failed. It was not only that they were rejected in their time but—just as impor- tantly—that they were erased from historical memory. What has survived in Israeli Haredi society might be described as the continuation of the lamentable insularity that Assaf chronicles in the first part of the book. In contemporary Israel, where Assaf lives and works, this Haredism has both won and lost. The Haredim have become a tremendous political force and a moribund spiritual resource. The story, however, is far from over. Today there are spiritual de- scendants of Twersky, Chajes, and Friedman (many of whom likely never heard of them) constituting a Yitzchak Nachum Twersky of Shpikov. kind of neo-Haredism that is less tied to the dynas- (Courtesy of Brandeis University Press.) tic structure, more synthetic in their work, and more open to non-Haredi worldviews. In this sense, As- Left: Tombstone of Yaakov Yitzchak saf’s book is a much needed addition to work being Horowitz (“the Seer of Lublin”), Lublin done by Jonathan Garb, Boaz Huss, Jonathan Meir, cemetery, Poland.

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