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KOL HAMEVASER THE JEWISH THOUGHT MAGAZINE OF THE YESHIVA UNIVERSITY STUDENT BODY Volume X, Issue 2 HASSIDUT FEATURING: Sof Ma'aseh be-Mahshavah Tehillah Torah Study and Actional Mitzvot in the Philosophy of Habad Hassidism Rabbi Yosef Bronstein Page 4 The Fifth Maggid Elie Wiesel and Hassidic Storytelling Yehuda Fogel Page 12 Tzimtzum, Divine and Human Constriction A Meeting-Place Between the Divine and Human Leah Klahr Page 20 Hassidut EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Yaakov Schiff Mindy Schwartz ASSOCIATE EDITORS KOL HAMEVASER KOL Tzvi Benoff HASSIDUT Reuven Herzog Letter from the Editor Judy Lesserman BY YAAKOV SCHIFF Avraham Wein Letter from the Editor 3 COPY EDITORS Yaakov Schiff Michal Auerbach Hassidism was founded in the eighteenth century by Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer of Medzhibozh Yakov Ellenbogen Sof Ma'aseh be-Mah'savha Tehilah 4 - better known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, or “Besht” - in the wake of the Khmelnitsky Massacres and David Freilich Torah Study and Actional Mitzvot in the Philosophy of Habad Michal Schechter Hassidism Sabbateanism. Preaching the fundamental value of emotional religious fervor, appreciation of Godliness in Rabbi Yosef Bronstein the mundane, and the profundity of simple piety, Hassidism quickly took European Jewry by storm, attracting LAYOUT EDITOR thousands of followers even as it became the subject of significant controversy. As Hassidic philosophy Liora Aeder The Leipzig Manuscript (MS Leipzig 1) & Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's Rules of Rashi's Usage of Targum 7 and its modes of practice came under fire from many great eighteenth-century rabbinic figures, the division Tzvi Aryeh Benoff BUISNESS MANAGER between Hassidim and Mitnagdim (anti-Hassidic Jews) shook the European Jewish community to its core. Tova Kwiat Tearing Water 10 In the modern day and age, Hassidism thrives as one of the most vibrant strands of Orthodox Jewry. The A Hassidic-Halakhic Vort EVENT COORDINATORS Yisroel Ben-Porat teachings, values, and holistic spirituality of Hassidic doctrine have had far-reaching influence in the Orthodox Jewish Elana Perlow community and beyond. Hassidim make up a significant component of the Jewish population throughout the world, Reuven Herzog The 5th Maggid 12 Elie Wiesel and Hassidic Storytelling and an increasing number of students on Yeshiva University campuses identify as either Hassidic or neo-Hassidic. WEBMASTER Yehuda Fogel It is the belief of the editors of Kol Hamevaser that the tools and resources of the academy can serve Marc Dubin Elucidating a Selection from Tanya 16 as both an enriching complement to traditional Torah learning and a gateway to enhanced depth of avodat What it Means to Educate a Child 'According to His Way' Hashem (service of God). The goal of this issue of Kol Hamevaser is to explore the history and philosophy Devir Kahan of Hassidism from a perspective that is at once academic and anchored in an underlying adherence to Tzimtzum, Divine and Human Constriction 20 Halakhic Judaism. In this volume, the reader will find articles exploring the approaches of Hassidic masters A Meeting-Place Between the Divine and Human Leah Klahr to topics of parshanut (Torah commentary), aggada (homiletics), and mahshavah (Jewish philosophy): Leah Klahr discusses the esoteric notion of tzimtzum (Divine contraction); Yisrael Ben-Porat presents a Making a Mikdash 22 Classical Understanding With Hassidic Illumination Hassidic perspective on Hazal’s conception of Keri’at Yam Suf (the Splitting of the Reed Sea); Tzvi Benoff Rebecca Labovitch contemplates Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s approach to Rashi’s use of Targum Onqelos in light of A Perspective of Habad Hassidut Towards Music 25 expanded historical evidence; and Judy Leserman probes the spiritual value of music from the standpoint of Judy Leserman Habad Hassidut. Additionally, the reader will also find articles touching on the influence of Hassidic themes Neo-Hassidism and Modern Orthodox Spirituality: A Reappraisal 26 and teachings upon the contemporary broader Jewish milieu, as in Yehuda Fogel’s study of the late Elie The Spiritual Climate at Yeshiva University Wiesel as a storyteller and Netanel Paley’s reflection on the current state of spirituality at Yeshiva University. Netanel Paley It is the sincere hope of our writers and editors that this issue of Kol Hamevaser will enhance the reader’s Of Obligation, Brotherhood, and Confusion 30 general knowledge and appreciation of this important topic in Jewish thought, and will serve as both a catalyst Why Did Yonah Run? Avraham Wein 2 www.kolhamevaser.com Volume X Issue 2 Volume X Issue 2 www.kolhamevaser.com 3 in great brevity…how in these times, Torah study, it is ultimately the physical sheep. What is the deeper significance in Hassidut Sof Ma'aseh be-Mahshavah Tehillah with the advent of the Messiah, the performance of mitzvot that connect us this transition from Torah study to sheep? Torah Study and Actional Mitzvot in the Philosophy of Habad Hassidism principal service of Gd is the service to this more “elemental” element of God. The Rebbe began his explanation of charity, as our sages, of blessed In summary, while Rambam and by citing a midrash that has a dual BY RABBI YOSEF BRONSTEIN memory, said: “Israel will be redeemed R. Hayim of Volozhin assumed a constant description of our relationship with God: Human beings are blessed with side of the spectrum from the intellect one’s entire being enveloped in the divine only through charity.” Our sages, of hierarchy between intellectual and actional “He will be a Father to me and I will be many remarkable faculties. We experience stands the sense of touch, the most physical light. It is only the actional mitzvot that are blessed memory, did not say that the service that is weighted towards the former, a son to Him.... He will be a Shepherd to and interact with the world through our five and bodily of the senses. Rambam performed by the bodily limbs that allow study of Torah is equivalent to the the Alter Rebbe developed a multi-tiered me... and I will be sheep to Him.”23 . KOL HAMEVASER KOL senses and develop an internal intellectual approvingly cites Aristotle that “that this for divinity to extend even to the body, performance of loving-kindness except approach. The intuitive and revealed This midrash is initially and emotional structure through our sense is a disgrace to us.”5 which is generally associated with man’s in their own days. For with them the perspective grants Torah study primacy perplexing. After underscoring the unique minds and hearts. We often intuitively baser desires and animalistic soul.9 In the principal service was the study of over the fulfillment of actional mitzvot. love between Hashem and the Jewish know which faculty to use for particular Nefesh ha-Hayim . words of the Alter Rebbe: Torah and, therefore, there were great However, the concealed truth is that people through analogizing the Jewish purposes. We relate to food mainly R. Hayim of Volozhin scholars: Tannaim and Amoraim. actional mitzvot are rooted in a “higher” people as Hashem’s child, what is to be through our sense of taste and solve math fundamentally retains the Rambam’s Therefore, when a person occupies himself in the Torah, However, with the advent of the aspect of divinity and consequently are able gained by referring to us as Hashem’s problems with our intellectual capabilities. favoritism for the cognitive faculty as the Messiah…there is no way of truly purify even the lower aspects of the world sheep? Surely a father loves his child What about our relationship with ideal method of connecting with God. his neshamah, which is his divine soul, with her two innermost garments cleaving unto it and to convert the in anticipation for the coming of Mashiach more than the shepherd loves his sheep? God? Is there a particular human faculty However, instead of using one’s intellect darkness into its light, except through (the messiah).18 The Rebbe explained that children that should be emphasized in our quest to philosophically contemplate God, R. only, namely the power of speech and thought, are absorbed in the Divine a corresponding category of action, and sheep represent two layers in our to connect with the Absolute? While the Hayim of Volozhin advocates filling one’s 13 Lubavitcher Rebbe . light of the blessed En Sof, and are namely the act of charity. connection and service to Hashem. The Torah certainly mandates the submersion mind with Torah. It is the study of Torah per R. Menahem Mendel Schneerson, united with it in a perfect union… parent-child relationship is the deepest of the entire self into the service of God, se that creates the greatest of all possible According to the Alter Rebbe, the Rabbinic (henceforth, the Lubavitcher Rebbe) However, in order to draw the light bond that can exist between two entities, but is there still room to create a hierarchy of bonds with God, as “He and His Torah statements regarding the primacy of Torah took his predecessor’s idea, expanded it and effulgence of the Shechinah also it remains as just that – a bond between two efficacy between our array of faculties? In are one.” While God certainly demands study over actional mitzvot were primarily and applied it. His frequent mantra “ha- separate entities. For all the natural love and over his body and animal soul, i.e. on 14 this essay, I will briefly outline the approach the fulfillment of actional mitzvot, their directed towards earlier generations. Ma’aseh Hu ha-Ikar”19 was not just a the vital spirit clothed in the physical closeness that they feel for each other, the of Habad Hassidism to this question, using performance cannot compare with the level As we approach the messianic era, he rallying cry to galvanize his followers body, he needs to fulfill the practical child is an autonomous human being with the philosophies of Rambam and R.
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