(a book review draft for SHOFAR, vol. 26, no. 1, Fall 2007)
The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov: Studies in Hasidism
By Abraham Joshua Heschel, edited by Samuel H. Dresner (1985, Chicago)
JACOB YUROH TESHIMA
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The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov contains Heschel's four essays of Hasidism originally published in Hebrew in different periods: [1] "Rabbi Pinhas of Korzec"(1948-52); [2] "Rabbi Gershon Kutover: His Life and Immigration to the Land of Israel"(1950-51); [3] "Rabbi Nahman of Kosow, Companion of the Baal Shem" (1965); [4] "Rabbi Isaac of Drohobycz" (1957). According to Samuel Dresner, the editor, "By July 1947 Heschel had completed his essays on R. Pinhas of Korzec and R. Gershon of Kutov". These four essays in original Hebrew were different each other in syntax, tone and style, which reflected the passion and sincerity of Heschel infused behind the text. The readers in English translation might notice it.
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The essay "Rabbi Pinhas of Korzec" begins with words of lamentation; "Many were the sorrows that the Jews suffered from the time they were exiled from their land, but none more terrible than the persecutions of 1648-49 (gezeyrot tah vetat). The dead exceeded those killed during both the Crusades and the Black Death in Western Europe. Some 700 communities were destroyed, while those that remained were left penniless and terrified."
If his first English book, "The Earth is the Lord's" was his eulogy over the tragedy of the East European Jewry, this was his prescription for the remedy of Jewish piety after the Holocaust.
R. Pinhas's family were descendant from R. Nathan Shapiro (d. 1633), a renowned kabbalist, a rabbi of Cracow. R. Pinhas's grandfather, R. Pinhas the elder, "travel from place to place, urging the apostates to repent, or promising them a share in the world to come, if only they would swear to recite each day, "Shema' Yisra'el - Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." "Do whatever wickedness you wish," he tells them, "but say Shema' Yisra'el" .
Not only this essay but also other three essays were Heschel's fierce rebuttal against the superficial understanding of Hasidism presented by outsiders such as Gershom Scholem, who criticized Hasidism for "departing from the ideal type of man to which they ascribe the function of leadership. For rabbinical Jewry... the ideal type recognized as the spiritual leader of the community is the scholar, the student of the Torah, the learned Rabbi." (. See, Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p. 333.) Throughout all of the four essays Heschel portrayed the early leaders of Hasidism as men of scholarship and piety as well as kabbalists highly respected by the community.
"R. Pinhas... had mastered not only the Talmud and its commentaries, but also several of the secular branches of knowledge. 'An expert in the disciplines of grammar, geometry, mathematics, and other subjects,' he was among the few of his time who urged that 'one must acquire such learning in one's youth'." This reference reminds us that R. Elijah, the Vilna Gaon, was deeply involved in acquiring the knowledge of secular sciences such as geometry, geography, astronomy and medicine.(See, Elijah ben Solomon Zalaman, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 6, 651-58.) R. Pinhas mastered also the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works, such as Pardes Rimonim, Sheney Luhot Haberit, and Yoseph Caro's Maggid Meysharim,
R. Pinhas was nominated by the Besht to succeed him alongside with R. Dov Ber, the Maggid of Miedzyrzez but not took it actually.
R. Pinhas did not recognize the maggid as the leader of the generation. The maggid introduced the method of the Lurianic Kabbalah into the teaching of the Besht. The Maggid taught that the essence of serving the Creator was devekut (cleaving to God), and hitlahavut (burning enthusiasm), "to be bound up with the Lord in ecstasy," through wisdom and meditation, while R. Pinhas preferred to teach his students honesty and humility and purification of one's character as the way to the service of God. Heschel described very carefully the polemic between R. Pinhas and the school of the maggid.
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In the essay "Rabbi Gershon Kutover: His Life and Immigration to the Land of Israel", Heschel illuminates the figure of R. Abraham Gershon, brother-in-law of the Besht, through the light of several manuscripts discovered by Heschel.
R. Gershon spent many years in the town of Kuty (Kutov), where he was a member of the "Society of Hasidim" headed by the kabbalist R. Moses. Later he moved to live in the city of Brody, where he became a member of the famed "Kloiz of Brody". He was a presiding judge at one of the four rabbinical courts in Brody.
As the title shows, one of the main purposes of this essay was to prove the detail of R. Gershon's mission in the Land of Israel. Heschel says, "The view that he went there to propagate the teaching of the Besht is incorrect." He was merely one in a continuous movement from the Diaspora of Hasidim and kabbalists of those generations who settled in the Holy Land.
Although he lived in Kuty, Brody and Miedzyborz - the land of Ashkenazi, R. Gershon was a Sephardi. Heschel proved this from the title of the salutation and address to R. Gershon written in the manuscripts; "hakham Avraham Gershon" instead of "hehakham" which was addressed to an Ashkenazic scholar, and from the remittance recorded in the so-called ﾒPinkas Constantinople.ﾓ
In Constantinople, R. Gershon gained the friendship of R. Moses Soncino, a member of the famous family of printers. R. Moses Soncino acted as intermediary in the correspondence between Gershon and the Besht .
He sailed to Palestine in the company of R. Isaac Rosanes, chief of the rabbinic court of Constantinople, and R. Abraham Rosanes who was among the fiercest opponents of the Sabbateans.
In the holy land he joined to Bet El of Jerusalem, the prestigious kabbalah center, the "conventicle of the pietists" in 1758 .
It is generally accepted that R. Gershon first journeyed to the Land of Israel in 1746/47. But Heschel, after examining the stories of Shivhei Habeshit and other documents, assumes that Gershon's first visit in Israel was probably before 174/42 .
R. Gershon, initially showed antipathy to the Besht, even attempting to persuade his sister to divorce the Besht, became deeply attached to the latter.
One of Gershon's teachings quoted by the Besht about the treatment of the inappropriate thought visualizes us the atmosphere of his circumstances. His instruction to R. Tzvi the scribe of the Baal Shem Tov, dealt with the problem of the inversion of the Hebrew letter "nun" in the Torah scroll also demonstrates his untainted scholarly attitude to the halakhic problem.
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In the essay "Rabbi Nahman of Kosow: Companion of the Baal Shem", Heschel seemed to focus on the original Hasidic teaching that was shared with the Besht and R. Nahman.
"R. Nahman was the most prominent member of the ﾔsociety of Hasidimﾕ [hevrah shel hasidim] of Kuty (Kutov)... from which the first disciples of the Besht were drawn [such as] R. Nahman of Kosow, R. Abraham Gershon of Kuty and his brother, R. Aaron, R. Judah Leib, known later as the mokhiah of Polonnoye, and R. Alexander, the first scribe of the Besht and the father-in-law of the author of Shivhey Habesht."
They would gather by R. Moses in the afternoon for the third Sabbath meal, "and remain until the middle of the night," listening to "words of the living God. The beginnings of the emerging Hasidic movement can be traced to this society.
According the local legend, the Besht had lived in that city and in its neighboring villages during the early period of his life. He paid great respect to the head of the "society", R. Moses of Kuty. "It was R. Moses who revealed the Besht. ... R. Moses knew the Besht before his emergence.... A letter of the Besht has been preserved, an answer to R. Mosesﾕs request that the Besht 'travel [to Horodenka] and cure the child of [R. Moses's] brother, R. Hayim, who had fallen ill.' The content of the letter reflects the ongoing exchange and the mutual admiration between R. Moses and the Besht. The Besht writes: 'Behold, I descend and ascend according to your wish. I set out as you instructed and pressed myself in the urgent journey to the community of Horodenka and used your method in solving the matter satisfactorily'" .
As Rabbi Pinhas of Korzec, Rabbi Gershon Kutover and Rabbi Isaac of Drohobycz at first opposed the Besht, so did R. Nahman of Kosow. He had a suspect about the Besht's ability of knowing other's thought.
Once R. Nahman asked the Besht, "What I am thinking about at this moment." The [Besht] answered: "If you focus your mind on one thing, then I will know." R. Nahman did so. The Besht said: "The name YHVH is in your mind." R. Nahman said: "You would know this is any case. For I must always think that thought, as it is written, And I have set the Lord (YHVH) before me always. It is obvious, therefore, that if I put aside all other thoughts and concentrate my mind on only one, it must be the name YHVH." ... From that time forth he drew close to the Besht and would travel to him.
R. Nahman held no religious office. He was neither rav nor maggid, but a man of some wealth who leased an estate near the city of Kuty. As a prosperous grain dealer, he traveled with his merchandise throughout the cities of Galicia and Podolia.
It was R. Nahman's custom when he came to a city to go to the synagogue and lead the congregation at prayers, sometimes even without the permission of the synagogue officials. He demonstrated the prayer with passion and sincerity in hitlahavut, the burning fervor, and encouraged the people to adopt the Hasidic way, namely, the Lurianic-Sephardic rite in contradiction to the prevailing Ashkenazic rite.
A favorite byword of his was "Pay no heed to the fathers!" ('al tifnu 'el ha'avot). When people complained about some new religious practice introduced by the Besht and his circle, "But my father and my father's father did not do this," he would answer: "Pay no heed to the fathers! ... And moreover, did [your father] bring the Messiah? ... " Only Lot's wife looked backward!
In the words of the Besht: "Wherever R. Nahman has traveled, people know what prayer is, and wherever R. Nahman has not traveled they do not know what prayer is."
Although the Besht and R. Nahman were the pair of the wheels of the new movement, the way of R. Nahman was different from that of the Besht. While the Besht faced the world with love, joy, and compassion, and sought to understand the way of each man, R. Nahman approached the world with tension, bitterness, and revulsion. He was short-tempered and demanded that they stake their lives uncompromisingly.
Heschel spared a large portion of the essay to analyze the two different approaches of the Besht and Nahman in their way of dealing the problem of the yetzer hara', including self-interest and "keri" (involuntary nocturnal seminal emission) which so disturbed the conscience of the pious Jews.
Heschel's comparison of their difference reminds the readers his comparison of Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Ishmael in their rabbinical scopes. Indeed, the time when he wrote this essay was probably quite close to the period of writing his Hebrew magnum opus, "Torah min Hashsamayim."
R. Nahman's analogy on the words of the sages, "All Israel has a share in the world to come" (Mishnah, Sanhedrin, 10:1) is noteworthy.
The intent of the above passage from the Mishnah is not "as people commonly understand it," that everyone will just parade into paradise. The accurate analogy is "to a prince who had many poor servants to whom he distributed portions of the land that they might work and seed it. If they do not work, they do not eat. But in the case of a stranger, even if he wanted to work it would be of no avail, because he never had a portion in the first place. And this is the meaning of 'All Israel has a share in the world to come' - if they work it!"
In the Appendix B, Heschel referred to R. Jacob Joseph's use of titles "Moharan" in distinction of R. Nahman of Horodenka and R. Nahman of Kosow.
Furthermore, Dresner explored the delicate usage of the titles in his footnote #160. This will be helpful to a novice in study of Hasidic writings in Hebrew.
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Heschel's essay "Rabbi Isaac of Drohobycz" gives a strange impression to the reader. It was true, as Samuel Dresner comments; "R. Isaac of Drohobycz seemed to have remained somewhat distant until the end." Nevertheless, Heschel counted R. Isaac "among the movement's founders." On the other hand, his son R. Yehiel Mikhel of Zloczew became one of the most fervent fighters for the movement. It was before his house in Brody that the first Hasidic book, Toldot Ya'akov Yosef written by R. Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye was publicly burned.
Rabbi Isaac was important to Heschel, first because of his integrity as a leader of Jewish community rather than his relationship with the Besht. After the brief description of Rabbi Isaac's ancestral anecdotes, Heschel introduced the life of R. Isaac as a maggid meysharim (preacher), traveling far and wide to revoke his fellow Jews and to return them from the paths of sin. He was once a judge in the rabbinical court in Brody.
His significance was not limited merely in ethical dimension. He was very important to Heschel as well as to the entire Hasidism because he was the person who possessed a very high level of spiritual ability equitable to that of the Besht.
When R. Isaac of Drohobycz heard of the remarkable powers of the Besht's amulets, he thought this was most certainly accomplished by means of the sacred Names written in them. So he decreed the ban against the amulets of the Besht and nullified the power of the amulets. And that, indeed, is what happened. The talismans issued by the Besht had lost their special potency. This state of affairs kept up for twelve months. When the Baal Shem finally realized that his amulets lost their efficacy, he sought the reason. It was eventually revealed to him that it was because of the tzaddik R. Isaac's pronouncement. Then the Besht met R. Isaac and asked. "Why has you taken from me the power of my amulets which I dispense to help people?" Said R. Isaac, "It is forbidden to make personal use of the Holy Names." "But there are no oaths nor any Names in my amulets," argued the Besht, "save my very own, 'Israel, son of Sarah, Baal Shem Tov'." R. Isaac, unwilling to believe this, said that it was not possible for the Baal She's name alone to possess such awesome powers. Upon opening several amulets, which were brought for R. Isaac's scrutiny, he became convinced of the truth of what he had been told. Then he liquidated his previous ban. From that time forth, the Besht again worked mighty and awesome deeds by means of his amulets.
The authorization of R. Isaac to the Besht's amulets was truly essential in support of spiritual dimension to the new movement.
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It is an exceeding honor to me writing a review of the book of my teacher, my master, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel of blessed memory. I was his last doctoral student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he taught on the Kotzker Rebbe in the course of Hasidism in 1972. I deeply appreciate the tremendous efforts and toils of editing this book devoted by Rabbi Samuel H. Dresner of blessed memory who became the first student of Heschel in the United States. His introduction and supplicated notes shall be useful resource for the people who study Heschel as well as Hasidism. (J.Y.T.)