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The Figure of Abraham in Hasidic Literature*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Jerome Gellman
Jerome Gellman
Affiliation:
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
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Extract

The Hasidic movement started in the latter part of the eighteenth century in the Podolia section of Ukraine, under the influence of Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760). By the middle of the nineteenth century Hasidism came to dominate the religious sensibilities of Eastern European Jewry. As it changed from a marginal, nascent revivalist curiosity to an establishment fixture, it attracted magnetic leaders of great pneumatic powers and created a rich homiletical literature. Its combination of direct religious engagement and a message of joy in the worship of God appealed both to spiritually inclined rabbinic figures and to the masses of the undereducated.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , July 1998 , pp. 279 - 300
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1998

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References

1 Recent scholarship has questioned whether the Baal Shem Tov was the founder of Hasidism, as opposed to its inspiration. See Rosman, Moshe, Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996)Google Scholar.

2 For more on the shift of Hasidism from a small circle of devotees to a mass phenomenon, see Ettinger, Shmuel, “The Hasidic Movement--Reality and Ideals,” in Hundert, Gershom, ed., Essential Papers on Hasidism (New York: New York University Press, 1991).Google Scholar More on this later in this paper.

3 See Schatz-Uffenheimer, Rivka, Hasidism as Mysticism: Quietistic Elements in Eighteenth-Century Hasidic Thought (Princeton and Jerusalem: Princeton University Press and Magnes, 1993).Google Scholar

4 For the thought of this early period see Scholem, Gershom, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schoken, 1941)Google Scholar ; and Heschel, Abraham J., The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985)Google Scholar.

5 I have written on a different aspect of Hasidic interpretations of the binding of Isaac in Gellman, Jerome, The Fear, The Trembling, and The Fire, Kierkegaard and Hasidic Masters on the Binding of Isaac (Lanham: University Press of America, 1994)Google Scholar.

6 See Green, Arthur, Devotion and Commandment: The Faith of Abraham in the Hasidic Imagination (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1989).Google Scholar

7 Vitebsk, Menahem Mendel of, Pri Ha'aretz (Jerusalem: Hamesorah, 1990-1991) 21.Google Scholar

8 Genesis Rabbah (, Vilna Edition, Jerusalem, 1962-1963), 56.8.Google Scholar Some versions of this midrash have: “He went in joy to do the will of his creator.” This midrash does not appear in manuscripts of Genesis Rabbah. Theodor, J. and Albeck, C. (Bereshit Rabbah [Jerusalem: Wahrmann, 1965] 604. 11)Google Scholar suggest it is a late alternative to a tradition that the angels cried at the akedah. I am grateful to Zev Gries for pointing this out to me.

9 Niflaot Hadashot (Pietrekov, 1898-9) 15.Google Scholar

10 Genesis Rabbah, 56.

11 Berdichev, Levi Isaac of, Qedushat Levi (Warsaw, 1876-1877) 25.Google Scholar

12 Kranz, Jacob, Ohel Yaakov (Warsaw, 1925-1926) 114–16.Google Scholar

13 Or Torah (Jerusalem. 1968-1969) 18Google Scholar.

14 A similar comment is attributed to R. Elijah the Gaon of Vilna, the primary anti-Hasidic sage: “Prior to this, [Abraham] had been only a very merciful person, who hosted guests and did acts of kindness. But the attribute of cruelty, to force himself to fulfill the command of God, was not yet apparent in him, and they could have said that Abraham was not a perfect saint [i.e. was merciful only by nature, rather than at the behest of God]. But at the akedah where he acted as well in the attribute of cruelty, when he wanted with all his soul to fulfill the command of God and slaughter his only son on whom all of his life is dependent, now he becomes perfected and it is apparent to all that he is a perfect saint” (Kol Eliyahu [Jerusalem, n.d.] 9).

The gaon means to compare Abraham's situation to one who fulfills the command of sending away the mother bird, which is “cruel” because sometimes subsequently the mother drowns herself in sorrow. The person does so at God's command, and thereby demonstrates that he or she acts kindly in obedience to God and not merely because of natural feelings of compassion. Abraham, likewise, acts in obedience to God's command, demonstrating that his acts of kindness, as well, are not determined merely by his compassionate feelings. From all of this it does not follow that either the person who sends away the mother bird or Abraham was devoid of feelings of compassion when performing the act. Abraham wanted “with all his soul” to make the sacrifice, which is still consistent with feelings of compassion for the victim.

15

16 Lyzhansk, Elimelech of, Noam Elimelech (Krakow: Tarnow, 1896) 9b–10a.Google Scholar

17 Vitebsk, Menahem Mendel of, Pri Haaretz (Jerusalem: Hamesorah, 1988-1989) 20.Google Scholar

18 (Isaac, Jacob, Divrei Emet [Warsaw, 1882] 7b)Google Scholar.

19 Rimanow, Menahem Mendel of, Divrei Menahem (Krakow, 1936-1937) 3.Google Scholar

20 I have not found a source for this in rabbinic literature. Zev Gries has informed me that this supposed midrash resembles an old adage that appears, apparently for the first time, in Frankfurter, R. Shimon, Sefer Hachayim,Google Scholar in the early eighteenth century. The old adage is: “A person worries over the loss of his money [or blood] but does not worry over the loss of his days.” See Blankenstein, Elazar, Proverbs ofIsrael and the Nations (Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sepher, 1963-1964) 57–62Google Scholar [Hebrew].

21 Isaac, Jacob, Kedushat HaYehudi (Bene Brak, 1996-1997) 115.Google Scholar

22 Otzar Hahasidut: Midrash Simchah (Jerusalem: Mosad Harim Levin, 1985-1986) 37.Google Scholar

23 Lubavich, Menahem Mendel of, Derekh Mitzvotekha (Brooklyn: Kehot Publishing, 1992-1993) 372Google Scholar.

24 Eger, Judah Leib, Shevet Yehudah (Lublin, 1922) 66.Google Scholar

25 Judah Leib's recognition of Abraham's anguish might reflect his own personal history. He was the grandson of the outstanding rabbi and archenemy of Hasidism, Akiva Eger (1761-1837) and son of the equally anti-Hasidic Solomon Eger (1786-1852). The relationships between Judah Leib and his elders were reportedly especially acrimonious during the latter's conversion to Hasidism, and after.

26 For a fuller treatment of this topic see Gellman, Jerome, “Hasidic Existentialism?” in Elman, Yaakov and Gurock, Jeffrey S., eds., Hazon Nahum (New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1997) 393–417Google Scholar.

27 Genesis Rabbah, 58.5.

28 Koznitz, Israel of, Avodat Yisrael (Bene Brak, 1972-1973) 7b.Google Scholar This commentary times Sarah's death at the moment of the akedah itself, and not later.

29 For more on this, see my article, “Hasidic Existentialism?” in Elman, Yaakov and Gurock, Jeffrey S., eds., Hazon Nahum (New York: Yeshiva University, 1997) 393–417Google Scholar.

30 b. Yoma, 28b. Eruv tavshilin pertains to the preparation of foods for the Sabbath on holidays, and is considered rabbinical in origin and thus part of the oral law. Abraham's observance of this law is an example of how he kept the oral law in addition to the written one.

31 , Green, Devotion and Commandment.Google Scholar

32 For the kabbalistic concept of the primal Torah see Scholem, Gershom, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism (trans. Manheim, Ralph; London: Routledge, 1965).Google Scholar See also Idel, Moshe, “The Concept of the Torah in the Hekhalot Literature and in the Kabbalah,” Mehkarei Yerushalyim, Vol. 1 (1981)Google Scholar [Hebrew].

33 Baer, Dov, MaggidDevarav Le-Yaakov (ed. Schatz-Uffenheimer, Rivka; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1990) 234.Google Scholar

34 Ibid., 235

35 …Joseph, Jacob, Toldot Yaakov Yoseph (Jerusalem, 1972-1973) 7Google Scholar.

36 Green continues that “The total absence of these more radical ideas from the Hasidic sources is undoubtedly due to the fact that they had become ‘tainted’ by their wide use in the theology of Sabbatianism” (Devotion and Commandment, 51). Sabbatianism was an antinomian movement led by the “false messiah,” Shabbatai Zvi (1626-1676), which brought about a strong counterreaction in Eastern European Jewry. See Scholem, Gershom, Sabbatai Sevi, The Mystical Messiah (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973)Google Scholar.

37 Baer, Dov, Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov, 235.Google Scholar

38 The Maggid connects the concept of the primal, spiritual Torah to a rabbinic saying that the word (“When He created them”), in Gen 2:4, signifies that the world was created with the Hebrew letter heh. (This letter has the numerical value of 5, so indicating the five parts of the mouth involved in the creation of speech, and the world was created with God's speech.) He then connects this thought back to the undifferentiated Torah that preceded the material world: “For the material world was at the beginning of the [Divine] Thought and is called the ‘Eternal Torah,’ and there all the Words and Thoughts are included without end” (Baer, Dov, Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov, 196).Google Scholar

Long before the Maggid, a midrash had connected the same term to Abraham: “Said R. Yehoshua ben Korcha: —this means [the world was created] in Abraham , in the merit of Abraham” (Genesis Rabbah, 12, section 9). The Maggid refers to this as “with Abraham,” meaning that God created the world “with love, the attribute of Abraham” (Baer, Dov, Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov, 174).Google Scholar

For the Maggid, then, God creates the world with the attribute of Abraham, the one who came to the spiritual Torah on his own.

39 Nahum, Menahem, Meor Aiynaim (Jerusalem: Yeshivath Meor Enaim, n.d.) 53.Google Scholar

40 Ber, Dov, Or Torah (Jerusalem, 1967-1968) 15.Google Scholar

41 This tack is followed by some later Hasidic writers. See , Green, Devotion and Commandment, 9–18.Google Scholar

42 Joseph, Jacob, Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, 1. 70.Google Scholar

43 Pri Ha'aretz, 70.

44 , Schatz-Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism, 115.Google Scholar

45 Thus R. Menahem Mendel is following a different teaching of the Maggid:

“The Rabbis said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, wished to grant merit to Israel, He gave them an abundance of Torah and commandments. This means that the commandments are really 613, however when a person fulfills ‘In all your ways, know Him,’ he can fulfill many-fold 613, without end, since all his acts are for the sake of Heaven. So he fulfills the commandment of the creator at each and every moment” (Ber, Dov, Or Torah, 147)Google Scholar.

46 Mendel, Menahem, Pri Ha'aretz, 72.Google Scholar

47 Michel, Yehiel, Yeshuot Malko (Jerusalem: Mosad Harim Levin, 1973-1974).Google Scholar

48 Lyzhansk, Elimelech of, Noam Elimelech, 43.Google Scholar

49 The theme that Abraham was able to know God's will on his own forms the basis in later Hasidism of Abraham becoming a paradigm for the performance of a “sin for the sake of Heaven,” a sin that one knows to be in accordance with the Divine Will. Abraham appears thus i n the writings of R. Zadok of Lublin. See Lublin, R. Zadok of, Takanat Hashavin (Bene Brak: Yahadut Press, 1966-1967).Google Scholar Abraham thus keeps the Torah in the sense of obeying the divine will whatever it turns out to be.

50 For more examples of Hasidic interpretations of Abraham's observance that follow the same general lines, see , Green, Devotion and Commandment, 9–33Google Scholar.

51 Joseph, Jacob, Keter Shem Tov (Brooklyn: Kehot, 1987) 113Google Scholar.

52 Joseph, Jacob, Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, 1. 90.Google Scholar

53 Baer, Dov, Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov, 13.Google Scholar The ensuing interpretation has nothing to do with women or Midian.

54 For this theme in early Hasidism, see Elior, Rachel, “‘Yesh and Ayin’ in Hasidic Thought,” in Rapaport-Albert, Ada, ed., Hasidism Reappraised (London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1996) 168–79Google Scholar.

55 Rapaport-Albert, Ada, “Hasidism after 1772: Structural Continuity and Change,” in Hasidism Reappraised, 134.Google Scholar

56 Etkes, ImmanueI, “The Study of Hasidism: Past Trends and New Directions,” in , Rapaport-Albert, ed., Hasidism Reappraised, 452.Google Scholar See also, Etkes, Immanuel, “Hasidism as a Movement: The First Stage,” in Safran, Bezalel, ed., Hasidism: Continuity and Change (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988) 1–26Google Scholar.

57 Pesiqta Rabbati, 33.

58 Rapaport-Albert, Ada, “Hasidism after 1772,” 133.Google Scholar

59 Ibid., 137-38.

60 Green, Ronald, “Deciphering Fear and Trembling's Secret Message,” RelS 22 (1986) 110.Google Scholar

61 Qedushat HaYehudi, 180.

62 Polonnoye, Jacob Joseph of, Ben Porat Yoseph (Pietrekov, 1883-1884).Google Scholar

63 Epstein, R. Kalonymus Kalman, Maor V'shemesh (Jerusalem: Or Hasefer, 1993) 1. 72Google Scholar.

64 As the Hasidim tell it, R. Kalonymus Kalman, with his wife's encouragement, left Krakow for Lyzhansk for thirteen weeks after having met R. Elimelech. On his return he endured great resistance, which culminated in a herem (“excommunication”) edict that forced him to leave Krakow for good. Maor V'shemesh 1. 69-73.

65 Elimelech, Noam, Igeret Haqodesh, 111.Google Scholar

66 For more on this issue see: Uffenheimer, Rivka Schatz, Hasidism as Mysticism, 28-30 and 108–10Google Scholar.

67 On the impact of the Baal Shem Tov's antiasceticism, see Rosman, Moshe, Founder of Hasidism, 181–84Google Scholar.

68 For the distinction between the select saintly ones and the masses in early Hasidism see Dresner, Samuel, The Zaddik, The Doctrine of the Zaddik According to the Writings of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye (London: Abelard-Schulman, 1960)Google Scholar.