We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
THIS CHAPTER attempts to examine the continuum joining Midrash, ethos, and spirituality in the Habad school of hasidism, both in terms of the development of theoretical structures linking the midrashic process with personal spiritual quest, and the use of Midrash to impart traditionalist, hasidic, and sometimes eschatological ideas. This relates to the striking interplay of esoteric and exoteric elements in hasidic teaching. For though there are overtly esoteric themes, discussing sefirot (divine emanations), spiritual ‘worlds’, and other aspects of the corpus of Jewish mystical thought, a long tradition in Judaism reserves such teachings for a spiritual elite.Midrash, by contrast, is ostensibly accessible to all, whether as a written text for study or as an oral and popular exposition. Hence it is notable that hasidic teachers in general, and those of the Habad school in particular, use Midrash in order to communicate spiritual teachings in the society at large. Moreover, the particular mode of instruction that hasidism evolved, the hasidic derush (exposition), sometimes called torah (teaching) or ma’amar (discourse), can itself be seen as an extended form of latter-day Midrash. While all the above is relevant to varying degrees in many hasidic groups, this study generally limits its scope to the use of Midrash in the Habad school. Nevertheless, in order to consider this topic in context, we shall begin with a brief overview of the use of Midrash in the broader hasidic movement.
ON MIDRASH IN HASIDISM
Midrash and aggadah have had a prominent role in hasidism from the very beginning of the movement in the middle of the eighteenth century. Many of the sayings of Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov (1698–1760), collected in the writings of his disciples, quote talmudic aggadah and phrases from the Midrash as well as sayings from the Zohar. The main collections of teachings of his disciple Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezhirech (d. 1772), who was the central focus of the hasidic movement in its second generation, liberally quote from the talmudic aggadah, Midrash Rabbah, and to some extent other midrashim such as Tanḥuma, and also the Zohar.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
