Hasidism

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The Rebbe of Botoshan with his Hasidim (and a few non-Hasidic guests).

The modern or Eastern European Hasidism (also Hassidism , of Hebrew חסידות hasidut, hasidus 'piety') is a Jewish religious-mystical movement and part of ultra-orthodox Judaism . The followers, called Hasidim , organize themselves into groups or dynasties, led by their leaders, called Rebbes . In 2016 there were over 130,000 Hasidic families worldwide and more than 230 Rebbes .

Emergence

Modern Hasidism emerged after the pogroms against the Jews during the Khmelnytskyi uprising under the leadership of the Zaporozhian Cossack Bohdan Khmelnytskyi in 1648, when over 700 Jewish communities were destroyed in Eastern Europe.

According to legend, Israel ben Eliezer (around 1700–1760), known as Baal Shem Tov (“Master of the Good Name”), is the founder of Eastern European Hasidism. His founding trips have been documented in which he appeared as a miracle healer and exorcist of demons and evil spirits ( shaydim ). The later Hasidic hagiography downplayed the importance of his miracle healing activity and magical practices, while emphasizing his charisma , teaching and attraction to people and his ecstatic personality. He was an orphan and had little Jewish education. According to the later Hasidic legend, however, he is said to have had visions in which none other than the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh , who is considered to be the teacher of the important prophet Elijah , should have appeared to him. His most important successors include Rabbi Dow Bär , the " Maggid von Mesritsch", and Rabbi Jakob Josef von Polonoje .

Within a century, Hasidism spread to the Jewish communities of Poland-Lithuania and Austria-Hungary .

Content

The Baal Shem Tov and his successors emphasized the value of traditional study of the Torah and the oral transmission, the Talmud and its commentaries. In addition, the mystical tradition of Kabbalah gained considerable influence. Beyond this study, the personal and communal religious experience is paramount in Hasidism.

The Hasidim (plural Hasid) gather around their Rabbi ( Yiddish Rebbe ), especially on the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays, in order to come closer to God through prayer, songs and dances as well as religious ecstasy.

The Hasidic Rabbi, called tzaddik ('righteous', 'proven', from Hebrew zedek = 'justice') or Admor , is a charismatic leader and center of the community and gives the Hasidic teachings - often in the form of stories and parables - to his Students continue. A famous example of a tzaddik is Rabbi Nachman von Bratslav , great-grandson of Baal Shem Tov and founder of his own Hasidic school, Bratslav Hasidism . Every year for the Jewish New Year, thousands of Hasids meet in Uman , Ukraine, as spending the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah at his grave is considered to bring good luck.

In Hasidism music, which according to a mystical view has a divine origin, is of central importance. Singing melodies ( niggunim ) were sometimes even rated higher than spoken prayers. Hasidim attributed to the tzaddik the ability to sound out the soul of a person through song and to move it into a higher plane of existence. Many melodies were taken from folk songs and reinterpreted. Dance also plays an important role in Hasidism. In this worship service is performed not only with the soul, but with the whole body.

Opponent of Hasidism

At the time of its emergence, Hasidism arose within Judaism from two opposing directions: on the one hand from the ranks of the Mitnagdim ( Ashkenazi pronunciation : Misnagdim, literally: 'opponent'). These were Talmudically trained circles, especially in Lithuanian yeshivot . The most important representative of the Mitnagdim was the Gaon of Vilna , who banned Hasidism in 1772 and 1782. Due to the spontaneity and lust for life of the Hasidim, he feared negligence in fulfilling the Mitzvot ('Commandments'); The rejection of mortification and the ascetic way of life on the part of the Hasidim and the demand that even a tzaddik must do Teschuva (Hebrew for 'conversion', 'return') in order to develop spiritually also met with incomprehension .

On the other hand, the Maskilim , the Enlightenment group around Moses Mendelssohn , felt that the Hasidism of the Eastern Jews was backward. Between the secular, rational Enlightenment and the mysticism of Hasidism, there was a deep gulf that was difficult to overcome.

Well-known Tzaddikim and Rebbes

Mosque Teitelbaum

The most famous Hasidic Tzaddikim of the 18th and 19th centuries, whose lives are also retold by Chajim Bloch in his collection of Hasidic Stories , are the following:

Postwar Hasidism

Hasidic traditions were all but wiped out in Europe with the annihilation of Eastern European Jews by National Socialism . Hasidism was successfully reorganized in Israel and North America, but also in Western Europe (London, Antwerp, Zurich, Vienna) and is now enjoying a strong upswing, also due to the strong growth in the population of Hasidic groups.

The largest group in terms of numbers are the Satmarers (26,000 families; originally from Satu Mare in what is now the Romanian-Hungarian border area). The most famous Hasidic community today are the Lubavitch or Chabad movement (over 16,500 families in total; originally from Lyubawitschi in what is now the Russian-Belarusian border region). Other major communities are the besiegers (11,500 families; originally from Góra Kalwaria to arise in Warsaw), the Belzer (7,000 families; originally from Galicia's Bel's coming) and the various Wischnitzer sects (10,000 families divided between four major dynasties; originally from Vyzhnytsia in coming from Bukovina). There are also hundreds of other small groups. In 2016 there were over 130,000 Hasidic families worldwide and more than 230 tzaddikim.

Martin Buber (1878–1965) studied Hasidism for many years at the beginning of the 20th century and wrote several books about it. However, Buber has been criticized in academic circles as a nostalgic, romantic and adulterer.

literature

Non-fiction

items

Web links

Commons : Hasidism  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Hasidism  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

supporting documents

  1. ↑ ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10, pg 744, Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson
  2. ^ Peretz Golding: The Baal Shem Tov - A Brief Biography - Jewish History . Chabad.org. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  3. ↑ Almost 30,000 Hasidim appeared in Uman to celebrate the Jewish New Year , unian, September 14, 2015
  4. ↑ asidism. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica , Volume 8 (Gos – Hep), 2nd edition, Keter Publishing House, 2007, pp. 393–434, here p. 427
  5. ↑ Shmuel Barzilai: Music and Ecstasy (Hitlahavut) in Hasidism. Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt a. M. 2007, ISBN 978-3631556665 , p. 72
  6. ^ Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson von Lubawitsch: Kuntres Bikur Chicago , New York 1955, pp. 22-24; no ISBN
  7. ^ Marcin Wodziński: Historical Atlas of Hasidism. Princeton University Press, 2018, pp. 192-205.
  8. ^ Joseph Dan, A Bow to Frumkinian Hasidism , Modern Judaism, May 1991.