Introduction to the Paperback Edition: Joseph Weiss Today

Summary

MOST of the studies collected in this volume were written by Joseph Weiss almost half a century ago, in the late 1940s and during the 1950s and 1960s. They are still quoted in every serious study of hasidism, and many elements in them seem to be as valid today as when they were written, some even more so. The place of Joseph Weiss in the history of hasidic research must of course be assessed in the light of current scholarship but, more than that, it must be seen in the context of new developments in hasidism itself over the last two generations.

This introduction looks at three main areas-the changing concept of hasidic history brought about by the resurgence of hasidism in the past thirty to forty years, the changing image of hasidism in non-hasidic Jewish culture and scholarship, and the development of the various schools and trends in hasidic research -and examines the place of Joseph Weiss's studies in this newly emerging scholarly landscape. The recent publication of the collection of studies Hasidism Reappraised (London 1996), edited by Ada Rapoport-Albert and based on lectures delivered at a conference dedicated to Weiss's memory, contains several articles surveying recent research in the field and outlining future possibilities. I will therefore concentrate here on only the most recent developments to place the present volume in a contemporary context.

When Joseph Weiss started his scholarly work on hasidism the phenomenon to which he had decided to dedicate his life seemed outdated and irrelevant, though it still carried a great weight of emotional significance. The world in which hasidism had grown and developed had been reduced, physically and spiritually, to smouldering ruins.

Young scholars at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem like Joseph Weiss and Isaiah Tishby, both refugees from Hungary and both students of the revered and charismatic Gershom Scholem, used to wander the old streets of Me'ah She'arim in Jerusalem during the high holidays, visiting various synagogues, mostly hasidic, comparing prayer customs and observing the few remaining hasidim carrying on their anachronistic religious lives in the capital of the newly established State of Israel.