Literature of and on Hasidism
The Hasidim wrote
and told stories about their leaders.
By Louis Jacobs
Reprinted with
permission from The Jewish Religion: A
Companion, published by Oxford
University Press.
It has been estimated that some 3,000 Hasidic works have
been published since the appearance of Jacob Joseph of Polonoyye?s Toledot Yaakov Yosef (Koretz, 1780) and
Dov Baer of Mezhirech?s Maggid Devarav Le‑Yaakov
(Koretz, 1781). This corpus consists in the main of works by the masters,
early and late. The language of these works is rabbinic Hebrew but with
numerous terms adopted from the Kabbalah. Generally speaking, while Kabbalistic
vocabulary is maintained in these classical works, they cannot really be
considered to be in the older Kabbalistic tradition since the masters interpret
the Kabbalah, as they do the Bible and the Talmud, in the spirit of Hasidism.
[Scholar of mysticism] Gershom Scholem speaks of Hasidism as
the ?interiorization of the Kabbalah.? That is to say, the Hasidic teachers are
far less interested in the relationships among the Sefirot on high than in the
human psychological processes on earth. In fact, many of the masters, but not
all, tend to see too much concentration on the older, extremely complex
Kabbalistic system as frustrating the Hasidic ideal of dvekut. The mind of the worshipper cannot realistically be on the
details of the Sefirotic map and at the same time on God.
The major works of the masters
have gone into numerous editions and are studied assiduously by the Hasidim,
whatever particular dynasty they happen to belong to. These works are called
?holy books,? taking their place, for the Hasidim, beside the Bible, the
Talmud, and the Zohar, as sacred literature the study of which counts as the
study of the Torah. Some of the masters were accomplished Talmudists and
Halakhists, producing works in this genre. But in this activity they function
as traditional Talmudists and Halakhists, making hardly any reference to
specifically Hasidic themes.
Hasidism from the beginning saw great value in the
stories told by the Hasidim of the mighty deeds of the Rebbes. The older
Hasidim would tell these tales to the younger men, who would sit around the
teller with bated breath. While the tales are full of ethical and religious
sayings of the Zaddikim [the Hasidic leaders], they are chiefly intended to
demonstrate the power of the saints to work miracles. Both the Mitnagdim [those
who opposed Hasidism] and the Maskilim [proponents of the Jewish Enlightenment]
poured scorn on the exaggerations in Hasidic hagiography, considering the
telling of the tales as nothing but a frivolous waste of time. At first, these
tales circulated by word of mouth but, in the nineteenth century, numerous
collections of Hasidic tales were published, some more sophisticated and
religiously significant than others.
In addition to the expository and
hagiographical works, letters of the rebbes and accounts of their lives have
been published. These have been used extensively, but with caution by the historians
of Hasidism in their attempts to reconstruct Hasidic life in the past. The
literature on the Hasidic movement is similarly vast. The Maskilim Isaac Erter
and Joseph Perl published satires, often biased and unfair, on Hasidic life. S.
M. Dubnow?s History of Hasidism is
the only complete history of the movement. Dubnow?s study has to be
supplemented by the scholarly researches of Scholem and his school. There are
numerous studies, in Hebrew and English, of individual masters and their
teachings.
Two helpful anthologies of
Hasidic sayings [and teachings] are: The
Hasidic Anthology by Louis I. Newman (New York, 1944) and the two volumes
by Martin Buber: Tales of the Hasidim:
The Early Masters (New York, 1947) and Tales
of the Hasidim: The Later Masters (New York, 1948). Buber is the founder of
neo‑Hasidism, the attempt to apply Hasidic teachings to the religious
life of Western man. It has to be noted, however, that Buber largely ignores
the Hasidic works of doctrine and relies mainly on the Hasidic tales, which he
retells to suit his own I and Thou philosophy.
© Louis Jacobs, 1995.
Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this
material may be stored, transmitted, retransmitted, lent, or reproduced in any
form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.
Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs
is the rabbi of the New London Synagogue, Goldsmid Visiting Professor at
University College London, and Visiting Professor at Lancaster University. His books include Jewish Prayer, We Have Reason to Believe, Principles of the Jewish Faith, and A Jewish Theology.