November 3 (2001)

The Roots of Hasidism

By CHAIM SHNEIDER, HasidicNews.com Writer

In the eighteenth century, serfdom dominated Eastern Europe. Most People did not own anything of their own. They were given a piece of land; worked very hard to produce crops, and as long as they could produce enough to allow for a sufficient tax for the lord, the lord was satisfied and the peasant made it through another year.

Peasants were the lucky ones. Jews were generally not allowed that; they did not get any property to toil. They were forced to become peddlers, merchants and bartenders. Life for Jews in Eastern Europe in those days was significantly more miserable than a common peasant. It was normal for a Jew not to know from where to feed his wife and kids the next day. In addition to Occupational restrictions, they were restricted residentially too.

From among this despair and misery in Poland arose a person name Reb Yisrael Baal Shem (Master of the Good Name). He began preaching about the importance of community, brotherhood and spirituality. He used to go from town to town to spread his message, as he quickly struck a deep not among his miserable, desperate people.

It did not take very long before his name became widely known in Eastern Europe. Whenever he would visit a town, people would gather to see him speak to him in private, discuss their livelihood problems, and often Reb Yisrael would come up with amazing working solutions. People were marveling about the miracles he used to perform in order to help a fellow Jew. The concept of miracles and the comfort he instilled was a very strong boost to the spirituality of Jews in those days, and it helped them survive both physically and mentally in those trying years.

Upon his death, Reb Yisrael from Koznitz was the most prominent of his disciples and assumed the Hasidic leadership role. His disciples in turn established their own Hasidic communities locally. Hasidism quickly spread throughout Easter Europe and their communities were rapidly growing.

Reb Eliyahu from Vilna, considered a mighty Torah scholar and a prominent authority, strongly opposed Hasidism, as he saw it as a deviation from traditional rigid Judaism and from Halacha (Jewish Law) .He launched a campaign against the newly formed movement and ostracized its follower.

After Reb Eliyahu died, it became apparent that the Hasidic movement was too big and permanent to be ostracized. Slowly but steadily, Hasidism came to be accepted as a legitimate way of observing Judaism. Hasidim were known for their devout practices, such as frequenting the Mikva. They sometimes didn't follow Halacha, such as Davening (praying) late in the day.

Hasidism Branched out into literally hundreds of Rabbinic dynasties. Every town would have their own Hasidic Rabbi, even though there usually was an official Rav as well who was officially leading the local Jewish community. Sometimes the Hasidim would clash with the rest of the Jewish community about their clandestine and mystic practices. They would often form their own "Minyan" in what came to be called a "Shtiebel", rather then go to the main synagogue in town.

Hasidism was greatest in Poland. 3.5 Million Jews lived in Poland immediately before WWII. The vast majority of them were Hasidim. They mostly belonged to the "Aleksander" dynasty. This is one of the very sore points in Hasidic as well as Jewish history, as the Aleksander community now nearly extinct. After the War When most of Polish Jewry perished, other communities managed to rebuild but Aleksander never managed to do so.