Last time I was asked to write about the idea of "Liberal Hasidism", I put more emphasis on the liberal part of our community, this time I want to focus more on the Hasidic part. The Hasidic movement is traditionally considered to have been founded by Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov (1698-1760), or "Besht" for short.
The besht was not the first to use the title "Ba'al Shem", this was a title for some sort of spiritual leader and healer, not really a rabbi but in many cases with a status slightly higher than that of a rabbi, somewhere between a rabbi and a prophet. Higher powers were often attributed to the Ba'al Shem and he was regarded as a holy man. The most famous of these was the besht, although he was a relatively unknown person in his day. We have no written record of him meeting or corresponding with other rabbis of his time, he did not write any books, we did not even have historical evidence of his existence until the 1980s when historian Prof. Moshe Rosman found a person named "Dr. Israel Ba'al Shem" in the tax records of the city of Medzhybizh, Ukraine, who was exempt from paying city taxes. This name appears until 1760, the year we know the besht died.
The besht had about a dozen or so disciples that we know of, but the movement as a whole picked up steam, especially after his death with his disciple and successor, Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch, or the Maggid of Mezeritch for short. In the time of the Maggid, the movement became better known, some of the Maggid's disciples were well-known rabbis and scholars, and the Hasidic idea began to spread throughout Eastern Europe. At this point we began to see strong opposition to the movement.
The Hasidic movement posed a real threat to the "traditional" structure of Jewish life and Jewish communities of the time. Until then, there was a rabbi in every city who was in charge of all religious aspects of Jewish life, he decided who the would be the children's teacher, who would be the shochet and the mohel, who would be in charge of the mikveh and the cemetery, and most importantly he was the head of the main synagogue, the center of Jewish life. With the arrival of the Hasidim, this whole structure was suddenly thrown into question. The Hasidim opened their own synagogues, their own mikveh, brought their own teachers to teach their children, and they received the "instructions" on how to structure their community life from the "Rebbe", who usually did not even lived in the city, and in many cases the Rebbe was not even an ordained rabbi in the traditional sense.
The communities were very afraid of these new changes. Suddenly the city rabbi and the main community didn't have all the power and money, suddenly there was a new group of Jews who decided differently how they wanted to practice their Jewish life, based on Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism and the teachings of the Hasids . The hostilities against the Hasidim came very quickly and were often very brutal. Three religious "bans" were imposed on them, the highest in Judaism, signed by very influential and well-known rabbis of the time. The Hasidim were accused of being a sect, doing things that went against Jewish law and posing a threat to the continued existence of Jewish life. But as history shows, these bans not only did not have the desired effect, they actually strengthened the movement and made it better known and popular.
For the first time the "Puschite Jidden", the simple Jews like the farmers, had an honorable place at the table. Until then, they were pushed to the back of the synagogue, while the learned members sat in front, leading the congregation and more or less looking down on the common Jews. With the Hasidic Rebbe, everyone was treated equally. The Hasidim attached much more importance to serving God with joy and happiness, they sat together a lot and ate and drank. Alcohol, or "mashke" as it is called in Yiddish, was an important part of these gatherings, where the Rebbe preached, not from the podium, but while seated at the table with his followers. Another concept that was said about the difference between the Hasidim and their opponents was that the opponents feared the Shulchan Aruch, the Jewish code of law, while the Hasidim feared God.
But the main concept of the Hasids has always been עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה, to serve God with joy and not out of fear. Not to think too much about the past, not to dwell on our past failures, but to focus on the positive future. The fact that the Hasidim later became part of the ultra-Orthodox movement and part of "mainstream" Judaism has other historical reasons and is part of the struggle between the reformers and the orthodox, but at its core is the Hasidic movement and teachings of the early Hasidic masters are quite universal and can be implemented very well in our liberal Hasidic community. And this is where I personally see our connection to Hasidism. Aside from the fact that I grew up there, I truly believe that the Hasidic teachings are a tremendous treasure that belongs to all of us and that we should study these divine ideas and implement them in our lives. But the main concept of Hasidism has always been עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה, to serve God with joy and not out of fear. Not to think too much about the past, not to dwell on our past failures, but to focus on the positive future. The fact that the Hasidim later became part of the ultra-Orthodox movement and part of "mainstream" Judaism has other historical reasons and is part of the struggle between the reformers and the orthodox, but at its core is the Hasidic movement and teachings of the early Hasidic masters are quite universal and can be implemented very well in our liberal Hasidic community. And this is where I personally see our connection to Hasidism. Aside from the fact that I grew up there, I truly believe that the Hasidic teachings are a tremendous treasure that belongs to all of us and that we should study these divine ideas and apply them in our lives.
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