Chana Abraham
April 22, 2010
Hasidism and Renewal
This paper is about three men who in Judaism's past and in its present personify Hasidic intentions and ideals. There are many - mainly men but some women - who follow Judaism's mystical path to wholeness; this presentation attempts to identify three of those men whose understanding and worship of the Divine have blazed a trail for generations of spiritual seekers to tread.
A Hasid is a mystic and devotee of G-d. The following ideas are stressed within the Hasidic lifestyle:
Wholehearted service of the Divine in the material realm
Emotional involvement in prayer
The mystical dimension of Judaism
The power of joy
The power of music
The mutual physical and moral responsibility of each one for the other
Unconditional love to be shown to all people\
Spiritual attachment to the Rebbe, the saintly leader of Hasidism
Spiritual attachment to the Rebbe, the saintly leader of Hasidism
Continual involvement with the philosophy and literature of ChaBaD.*
*ChaBaD is an acronym formed from the beginning letters of Chokhmah, Binah, and Da’at, the first Sephirotic triad in the Etz Chaim, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The ChaBaD movement was so named because of their approach of filtering spiritual and emotional power through the intellect.
Ba'al Shem Tov
Hasidism evolved within Orthodox Judaism in Russia in the eighteenth century and its first leader was the famous Kabbalist Rabbi Yisrael, son of Eliezer, known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, “Master of the Good Name.” The Besht, which is an acronym of his title, launched a spiritual movement that thrived on parables and stories promulgating joy, the potential for personal transformation, aspirations of the Divine, and the infusion of daily life with music, dancing, and loving exultation.
The Ba'al Shem Tov was born to Sarah and Eliezer who lived in the small village of Okkup, in western Ukraine. In their lives they had suffered great privations, but nevertheless their hands were always open to any who might have a need. No one was turned away from their humble home. As legend has it, the Prophet Elijah arrived on their doorstep to test them one Sabbath day, disguised as a poor and impious wanderer. Though this was a desecration of the Sabbath, the couple said nothing and took great pains to make him feel at home. Then Prophet Elijah announced, "Since you have not put a sinner to shame, you will have a child that will be a light unto Israel." That great light, whom they named Israel, was born to them on 18 Elul 1698. The boy Israel soon became an orphan, but before his father Eliezer died he gave his son one directive:
"When the Adversary comes before you, terrible to look upon, remember this -- fear nothing other than G-d." (Schachter-Shalomi, p. 27). I understand 'fear' to mean that when one is in awe of the power of G-d, any so-called adversary is demolished and righteousness will prevail. This adversary can be internal or external.
The Besht taught that the whole world is truly filled with G-d's glory, and everyone can approach that G-d. He was a genius in generating pure joy and pure will. As he said to someone who came to attack him and remained with him as a disciple, "It is not that you cannot believe, it is that you do not will to believe." This is the legacy of the Ba'al Shem Tov and Hasidism. (Schachter-Shalomi, p. 2).
Martin Buber
Martin Buber was a German philosopher and active Zionist, who is best known for his revival of Hasidism in the 20th century. Out of this interest evolved his philosophy in the 1937 groundbreaking book I and Thou. It was his thesis that all real life is encounter, to which a person must bring his or her genuine self. He defined his terminology I-You and I-It as follows: “The basic word I-You can only be spoken with one’s whole being. The basic word I-It can never be spoken with one’s whole being. The life of a human being does not exist merely in the sphere of goal-directed verbs… All this and its like is the basis of the realm of It. But the realm of You has another basis.”
In the Introduction to Martin Buber's book Between Man and Man, Maurice Friedman states in part: "Dialogue is not merely the interchange of words -- genuine dialogue can take place in silence, where much conversation is really monologue. It is, rather, the response of one's whole being to the otherness of the other, that otherness that is comprehended only when I open myself to him in the present and in the concrete situation and respond to his need even when he himself is not aware that he is addressing me. The G-d that speaks here is the G-d one meets only when one puts aside everything one thinks one knows of G-d… [and fuses with] the 'Lord of the Voice' which does not speak to us apart from creation but right through it." (p. xvii). It is Buber’s argument that "there is room for the Immanent as well as the Transcendent, in the shadow of the Infinite." (Shachter-Shalomi, p.7).
Buber's Tales of the Hasidim and The Way of Man According to the Teachings of Hasidism are works of perfection and beauty that distill his own teachings. The 18th and 19th century Hasidic tradition and thinking emphasized serving G-d through intense love, ecstatic clinging, and joy, rather than fear. So close was their perceived rapport with G-d on a complicated mystical plane, so unimpeachable was their loyalty, and so fervent was their intimacy in the communication of prayer, that many tzaddikim (righteous Hasidic masters) and rebbes (paternalistic, spiritual, and charismatic leaders of Hasidism, usually belonging to a particular group or dynasty) are said to have reproached G-d on occasion on behalf of the Jewish people, reminding G-d of G-d's part in the covenant with Israel and even expressing a love-born anger at the delay in its fulfillment. The popular folk image of a rebbe or tzaddik pleading on behalf of the Jewish people before the Divine court “in heaven” and directly before G-d is a cherished one among many Hasidim.
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi is a modern-day incarnation of the Hasidic ideals of a vigorous and very personal spirituality. Reb Zalman, as he is commonly called, was born in Poland, raised in Vienna, and ordained as a rabbi in New York and began his religious life as a member of a Hasidic community in New York. He is an active and original teacher of Jewish mysticism as well as the religious leader of an innovative movement that is grounded in traditional liturgy. Reb Zalman has made the teachings of Hasidic masters such as the Maggid of Mezritch, Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, and the 20th century musician and storyteller, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, alive to our 21st century consciousness.
Reb Zalman's interest in an energized Judaism which is more emotionally satisfying, inclusive, experimental, experiential, and compelling resulted in what is now known as the Jewish Renewal movement. He felt the need to link Judaism to the world of the moment, with all its pains, possibilities and lessons, and its psychospiritual breakthroughs and political changes.
His recently published book Age-ing to Sage-ing, is an acknowledgement that what we have learned as we grow and change can be used as profound material with which to nurture and heal ourselves and others and to offer guidance to a younger generation tasked with tikkun olam, the repair of the world. Reb Zalman's journey has included, not only his Hasidic understandings and practices but wisdom gained from study of and in many cases immersion into many other spiritual paths such as Sufi, Native American, Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as intellectual inquiry into brain/mind scientific research.
. . . .
The three men described above are members of a lineage that continues to this day. They form three "sephirot" of the Etz Chaim mentioned above. The Ba'al Shem Tov was the heart (Chokhmah or Wisdom); Martin Buber, through his studies of the philosophy of Judaism and his publication and maintenance of Hasidic tales and legends, was the mind (Binah or Understanding); and Reb Zalman is the master of the inner emotional expression of Judaism (Da'at or Knowledge). A name for the Chokhmah-Binah-Da’at triad is Sechel (Intellect), which is the source of the human cognitive faculties of conception, comprehension, and application.
As Professor Buber claims in his book The Legend of the Ba'al Shem, "The Hasidic teaching is the proclamation of rebirth. No renewal of Judaism is possible that does not bear in itself the elements of Hasidism." (Buber. p. 12-13). It is that renewal that Reb Zalman has incorporated in his teachings. The Ba'al Shem Tov, Martin Buber, and Reb Zalman all have in common the knowledge that G-d is available where humankind is ready to engage, or be engaged in, dialogue.
. . . .
As I shared with the congregation on Yom Kippur last year, I experienced a revelation at the age of 36 that profoundly changed the direction and meaning of my life. I didn't realize, at the beginning of my inner journey, that I was seeking to "know" G-d, I just needed to be healed from intense pain. Because of what I learned and its implications for living a life guided by what I now know to be true - that all is G-d, that there is nothing that is not G-d - a great weight was lifted from me and the world, both inner and outer, was born anew. In William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell he writes: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern." The doors of my mind had opened and I saw 'all things' through a greatly expanded lens.
I had heard about Chabad; there was a chapter in Los Angeles and I could have easily looked into it. The fear of getting into something so foreign to me was too strong, and I didn't act on it. I left the communal expression of religion unexamined as I did what I know I can do; that is, move and start over, taking care not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater," so to speak. So that's what I did, and after many emotional, economic, and spiritual challenges, I returned to the religion of my ancestors and to this chavurah and know that this is where I choose to be at this period of my life. I cannot ignore the impulse to return, to come home to G-d, teshuvah, to remember what is true and to know that the biblical imperative "choose life" is the wisdom running through all Jewish theology. The message of renewal and reawakening that is personified by the Ba'al Shem Tov, Martin Buber, and Reb Zalman, as well as others, in particular Abraham Joshua Heschel, continues to call to me. I must answer the call in my own way, in my own life.
. . . .
Judaism is always being renewed, out of necessity if nothing else. It is my belief that the primary reason that this minority religion that has always suffered persecution yet has survived for so long is that it has within its heart the courage, love, intelligence, faith and will to change when the times require it, and if necessary to re-weave the many- colored tapestry that is its existence.
Sources:
Blake, William. Selected Poetry and Prose of Blake. Ed. Northrop Frye. Random House, New York, NY. 1953.
Buber, Martin. I and Thou. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. Scribner’s Sons, New York NY. 1970.
Buber, Martin. Between Man and Man. The MacMillan Company, New York NY. 1965.
Buber, Martin. The Legend of the Ba'al-Shem. Schocken Books, New York NY. 1969.
Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman. Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teaching and Tales of the Hasidic Masters. Ed. Nataniel M. Miles-Yepez. Jossey-Bass Pub. San Francisco CA. 2003.
Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman and Ronald S. Miller. From Age-ing to Sage-ing. A Profound New Vision of Growing Older. Warner Books. New York, NY. 1997.