A Circle of Pneumatics in Pre-Hasidism

Summary

The following note aims at analyzing certain aspects of the life of “the circle of Naḥman of Kosov” with a view to establishing its historical position between the late Sabbatian and early Hasidic movements. A scrutiny of a short passage in Shivhei ha-Besht, the legendary biography of Israel Baalshem, about the circle enables us to make the following observations:

The circle is called Ḥavurah Kadisha, and its members Benei Ḥavurah Kadisha or Anshei ha-Ḥavurah. Naḥman of Kosov appears on the scene as a well-to-do tax farmer (maḥzik kefar). One may assume that this period of Naḥman's life followed in biographical sequel the one in which, according to the accusation of Rabbi Jacob Emden, he was “an illiterate and a follower of the Sabbatian sect who posed as an itinerant preacher of repentance and was received with great honours.” Whether the accusation was justified or was but another example of the sometimes indiscriminate heresy hunting in which Emden indulged his boundless energies cannot be decided upon owing to lack of independent evidence. But the suspicions of this ruthless enemy of all Sabbatians have often been proved surprisingly accurate, and historical research should therefore not ignore his hints.

One factual point in Emden's description of Naḥman one need not doubt, namely, that Naḥman followed the profession of those itinerant preachers who were wandering among the scattered Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in a social environment from which the later leadership of the heretical Sabbatian movement and also that of the subsequent early Hasidic movement were largely recruited. No wonder, there fore, that the figures of these itinerant Maggidim and Mokhiḥim loom predominant on the pages of Shivḥei ha-Besht. The beginnings of Naḥman of Kosov as an itinerant preacher of penitence fit perfectly well into the same social environment. Even though he left his call as preacher to become a tax farmer, some of his spiritual activities he did not relinquish as a wealthy man. A brief analysis of what is said about him in the Shivḥei might contribute some details to his religious portrait and might also throw some light on the character of the whole group.