Chasidism
Everybody Dumps on Chasidim but We Can't Do without Them!
Allgemeiner on NYT https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/05/06/new-york-times-blames-hasidim-purim-for-coronavirus-outbreak/
"Did the Hasidic Jewish community in
New York bring coronavirus upon itself by refusing to cancel in-person Purim
megillah readings?
That’s the narrative being pushed by
The New York Times, which, in a news article, reported, “Celebrations of the
Jewish holiday of Purim, which fell on March 10 this year, were canceled by
many Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox synagogues. But many Hasidic
groups observed the festival, drawing people to gatherings where they may have
been exposed to the virus.”
Then, the rest of us get blamed
Mayor De Blasio oversaw the
dispersal of a large, tightly packed Hasidic Jewish funeral Tuesday night and
lashed out at the mourners who had gathered in defiance of social distancing
rules intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
“My message to the Jewish community,
and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed,” de
Blasio tweeted after police dispersed the funeral in the Williamsburg section
of Brooklyn.
(PS-De Blasio is not Anti-Semitic ,and is friendly with the Hasidic
leaders ( who in turn, bring him votes, but he is known to get off base) but he
is getting in hot water with them now)
But: UK Daily News today:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8312765/New-York-Orthodox-Jews-make-HALF-plasma-donors-giving-blood-treat-COVID-19-patients.html
New York Orthodox Jews make up HALF
of all US plasma donors volunteering blood to help treat COVID-19 patients as
the community turns 'tragedy into a superpower'. More than 12,000 donors have signed up to
various community programs donating blood plasma since April 4, donor
organizers told the New York Times. Orthodox Jews from New York are 'punching
way above their weight' when it comes to donating, one medic said .Several
grassroots initiatives have sprung up in local New York communities, with the
word spreading via synagogues and community newsletters .Experts and leaders
say the drive comes from the community's traditional close-knit approach and
the importance the religion places on human life. Borough Park, Williamsburg
and Crown Heights in Brooklyn are all home to large Hasidic communities and
they have all recorded high virus infection rates
[Note: latest data show Chasidic neighborhoods actually had rates
comparable to other districts and better than other lower income districts in
New York]
To be honest, we, urban, American Jews, have had a difficult
relationship with our Chasidic cousins.
Eli the Fanatic, Philip Roth: (
better known for his pornographic" Portnoy's Complaint:": ) https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/eli-fanatic
Summary: Written after Holocaust,
based on story of Haredi Jews who come to a NY town and are not made welcome by
the community. In the real story, of Nitra yeshiva, the enemy is gentile, In
Eli the Fanatic, the enemy is us, modern Jews
Roth singles out the Hasid's black
suit as a highly visible sign of being a Jew ,a symbol of what assimilating
Jews have tried to forget and, ironically, what they need to remember: their
link to Judaism and their tie to victims of anti-Semitism. Eli Peck, lawyer
persuaded by his fellow secular Jews to evict the Hasidim from encroaching on
their territory.. . . the survivor gives Eli his black coat. After Eli
impulsively dons the black garb, a transformation ensues. Slowly Eli becomes
aware, perhaps for the first time, of what it has meant to be a Jew—the
ostracism, the persecution, the stigma of being different, and also the fierce
commitment to a moral code that involves compassion, charity, and a sense of
justice."
So , about Chasidism:
It is the Jewish rebellion par excellence against the Jewish
establishment- if they flout the laws, in US or Israel-it is an outcome of this
tendency to rebel.
It is also a continuation of a major strand in Judaism which is
most in line with the kind of religiosity of mystic movements, like the Sufi in
Islam, an emphasis on the overwhelming sense of the presence of God,
Chasidism , therefore, was in direct conflict with Talmudic
mainstream Judaism, classic Jewish philosophy, conflict with modern Jewish
liberal trends of thought, conflict with the leading Orthodox Rabbis, even till
now. Looked down upon, suppressed by Jewish leadership. It was especially so in
the aftermath of the disasters of Shabbtai Zvi in the generations before and
Jacob Frank in the early decades of Chasidism. For example, the founder of
Chabad Chasidism , Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, a major Talmudic scholar, was thrown in jail by the Jewish establishment,
followers of the Gaon Rabbi Elijah of Vilna.. Only in 20th century, did it find
a voice in mainstream Jewry:
a) Martin Buber, from the
outside, looking in
b) Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, from the inside,
breaking out
c) Gershom Scholem, from the
academic viewpoint.
d) Rabbis Shlomoh Carlebach
and Zalman Schachter- Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out
.[Note: I served as Rabbi Heschel’s student secretary for a year
while in Rabbinical School. Rabbinical students at the Jewish Theological
Seminary at that time were on full free tuition, but in exchange, had to do
several hours a week of administrative help. My friends got to file papers in
cabinets; I got to handle his correspondence with the Vatican and type pages of
his manuscript on the Kotzker !]
Chasidism is not a unitary movement, so much as an attitude,
therefore, that encompasses extremes, from very open, radical Breslav, mission
to the Jews like Chabad, outgoing, or new age, like Aleph, the movement of R
Zalman Schachter & Shlomoh Carlebach, or very hidebound, like Gerer
Chasidim, or very rejectionist, Satmar, or absolutely bizarre, like the
polygamous Lev Tahor cult, hiding out in the jungles of Guatemala.
Its origins lay in the
failure of both Kabbalistic and Talmudic Judaism to satisfy the spiritual
hunger among East European Jewry that came after the devastation of the
Chmielnicki pogroms in 1648, then the betrayal of the false Messiah, Shabtai Zvi ( and later,
Jacob Frank), and the beginnings of the attack of rationalism on religion, the
European Enlightenment.
Israel ben Eliezer (ca. 1690–1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov
("Master of the Good Name", acronym: "Besht"), is
considered the founder of Hasidism. Born apparently south of the Prut, in the
northern frontier of Moldavia, he earned a reputation as a Baal Shem,
"Master of the Name". A Baal Shem was a writer of amulets to bring God’s
blessings- The Baal Shem earned the “ Tov” because of the virtue of his
character. He moved to Medzhybizh and
became recognized and popular in all Podolia.
 |
| The geographic roots of Chasidism- the realms of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Podolia and Volhynia in Tsarist Ukraine |
Hasidic practices were distinct from mainstream Judaism in several
ways. Hasidism brought Jewish mysticism to the masses, something that had
traditionally been kept somewhat secret and restricted to a pious and learned
few. It de-emphasized Jewish study in favor of Jewish practice, particularly
prayer, and embraced a culture of folk tales that often had elements of magic
and miracles. They would intentionally bend some Jewish practices, like the
blade of the shochet (razor-blade sharp), or the times of prayer ( no fixed time,
as God doesn’t have a clock). Hasidic Jews also blended Sephardic and
Ashkenazic elements. a) rejected the traditional Ashkenazi prayer text and
embraced a version that drew from both Ashkenazi and Sephardic sources,
"Nusach Ari", attributed to the Kabbalist “ Ari”, Rabbi Isaac Luria .
b) Adoption of the long side curls,
apparently influenced by Jews from Yemen that Chasidim met in Israel when they
went to study Kabbalah.
Some key elements
1) Concepts from Kabbalah-
panentheism ( God pervades all space and matter)- nitzotzot hakodesh, the sparks
of the Holy that are found in all the
universe, even in the darkest corners, that must be elevated through prayer and
practice-dos pintele yid, the hidden Jewish spark in every Jew, even the worst-
devykus, cleaving of the soul to God, combined with “bitul ha yesh”,
self-effacement 2) The centrality of the tsadik, the righteous soul that is connected
to higher realms and brings them down to the people.3) The art of story telling
4) Music- the nigun, melody, 5) the dance, tants because “kol atzmotai”, all my
bones shall proclaim (from Psalms).
Look at some examples
Krakow Nigun-wordless melody- Carlebach
Dveykus-Cleaving to God-R Elimelekh of Lizhensk
Song of a Tsadik-Chabad Rebbe Schneerson
Dance- Lag B omer at Merom
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