HASIDISM

also spelled Chasidism (from Hebrew hasid, pious one), a 12th- and 13th-century Jewish religious movement in Germany that combined austerity with overtones of mysticism. It sought favour with the common people, who had grown dissatisfied with formalistic ritualism and had turned their attention to developing a personal spiritual life, as reflected in the movement's great work, Sefer Hasidim. The leaders of the movement were Samuel ben Kalonymos, the Hasid; Judah ben Samuel, the Hasid of Regensburg (his son); and Eleazar ben Judah of Worms. All these men were members of the Kalonymos family that had migrated from Italy, imbued with knowledge of occultism and versed in Kabbalistic traditions connected with the mystical contemplation of the throne of God (merkava, literally, chariot; Ezekiel 1). Efforts to experience the mystical presence of God, however, were based on humility and love of God rather than on merkava-like visions. Excessive penitential practices gave the movement a sombreness that was entirely lacking in the far more significant Hasidic movement that arose in 18th-century Poland. also spelled Chasidism (from Hebrew hasid, pious one), a pietistic movement within Judaism that began in the 18th century in southeastern Poland (Volhynia and Podolia) and persists today in small but vigorous groups, especially in the United States and Israel. Hasidism was a reaction against an orthodox religious system that had, many felt, become rigidly legalistic and in which the spiritual yearnings of the common people were lost. Rather than emphasize Talmudic learning, Hasidism made an appeal to emotionalism and anti-intellectualism. In the 18th century a simple, devout, mystically inclined lime digger, Israel ben Eliezer, attracted crowds of simple people with comforting homilies and mystical expositions of the Scriptures. His reported cures of the sick and his unstinting devotion to the spiritual needs of the common people soon earned for him the reputation of a saint and miracle worker. The people called him the Ba'al Shem Tov (q.v.), the Master of the Good Name. The Ba'al Shem Tov viewed true religion as being neither an ascetic withdrawal from the world nor a concentration on traditional rabbinic scholarship. He did not reject the Jewish faith or its customs and traditions but rather injected new elementsor at least new emphasesinto Judaism by insisting that true religion was knowledge of the immanence of God in all creation. Awareness of this fact, he taught, leads to communion with God, mainly through prayer, although true worship relates to every activity of human life. Piety is superior to scholarship, and all men, however poor or ignorant, can commune with God if they have enthusiasm (hitlahavut) and a warm and trusting heart. If people serve God with a joyous heart in humility and meekness, the disunited world can be restored to unity, and saving grace will flow more freely. From God people would gain a sense of pride and dignity despite their lowly status. The actual founder of the Hasidic community was Dov Baer (Great Preacher; c. 171012), whose reputation as a scholar made it possible for him to win important converts from among the learned rabbis. By investing Hasidic leaders (tzaddiqim, righteous ones; singular tzaddiq) with powers of intercession, he added an important element to Hasidic teachings. These tzaddiqim were said to have special sparks from heaven and to possess superhuman faculties unrelated to rabbinic learning. This concept prepared the way for countless small Hasidic communities in Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Palestine, each clustered around a tzaddiq (q.v.). As the movement spread, shouting, dancing, singing, wild movements of the body, and stimulating drink became part of communal services, all geared to produce sudden bursts of rapturous prayer and induce states of ecstasy. Hasidism eventually came into conflict with the Talmudically educated rabbinate. Long-smoldering opposition from Orthodox rabbis (called Mitnaggedim, or Opponents) reached a climax in 1772 when Elijah ben Solomon, the gaon (spiritual leader) of Vilna, excommunicated the Hasidim for their practical repudiation of traditional Judaism, for pantheistic tendencies, for the adoption of esoteric Kabbalistic teachings, and for excessive veneration of the tzaddiqim. Elimelech of Lizhensk had, in fact, established Hasidic dynasties by claiming that charismatic qualities were transmitted by heredity from a father to his son. Despite such opposition, the movement continued unabated. Many Hasidic leaders gained considerable renown, among them Jacob Isaac (d. 1815) of Lublin, Pol., popularly believed to be clairvoyant. He revived earlier stirrings of messianic hopes by declaring that the Napoleonic Wars were a prelude to messianic redemption that could be hastened by the use of magic. Shneur Zalman of Ladi (White Russia) attempted to combine mystical piety with rabbinic learning, but all to no avail. The opposition of the Mitnaggedim remained firm until the spread of the Haskala (Jewish Enlightenment) in eastern Europe in the 1830s presented both Hasidim and Mitnaggedim with a common enemy. As the 20th century dawned, the pristine spirit of the Hasidim had greatly deteriorated. It began to take on an ultraconservative character and attacked any manifestation of modernity within the Jewish community. The tzaddiqim gained excessive power in their elaborate courts, and the principle of dynastic succession proved detrimental to the movement's capacity for further change. In eastern Europe the Hasidim nevertheless remained a numerically strong group within Orthodox Judaism. Hasidism suffered a staggering blow when huge numbers of eastern and central European Jews were put to death by the Nazis during World War II. The few tzaddiqim who survived emigrated to Israel or the United States and established new followings. The most successful was the Lubavich sect headed (195094) by the Russian-born Menachem Mendel Schneerson, which numbered about 200,000 in the late 20th century. The philosopher Martin Buber, among others, did much in recent times to interpret Hasidism to the modern generation.