5/16/11
Why was there a “war” between the Chassidim and the Misnagdim?
v R. Israel Ben Eliezer- Ba’al Shem Tov
¨ Rough earlier life
Ø Lived in the 1700s
Ø Orphan at a young age
Ø Not a great student- cut class and went into the woods to be inspired by Hashem rather than learn in cheder
Ø First job- assistant to the “aleph beis” rebbe (basically the worst job you could get)
Ø Got married, and lived with his wife in the mountains for a period of self introspection, getting close to G-d, and a mystic appreciation
Ø Came back from the mountains and his wife ran an inn
¨ People seemed to gravitate towards him- he was just so easy to talk to and he would make you feel better and give you good advice and a blessing.
Ø Many people would come to him when they felt down about their yiddishkite- they didn’t feel like such good Jews because they were working to supply for the family, and not learning Torah. Ba’al Shem Tov answered them that learning Torah was important, but there are 612 other mitzvoth. He reassured people that learning Torah was not the only thing that mattered
5/18/11
¨ Outlook on Judaism
Ø Simple, sincere prayer, as opposed to strictly learning
Ø “D’vekut”- being glued to G-d
Ø “Kavana”- thinking about what you are saying when you pray and having it come from the heart
Ø Fully enjoy performing all the mitzvoth, even simple ones
Ø Song and dance
¨ Role of the rebbe (tzadik)
Ø The rebbe is a spiritual leader
Ø Who qualifies to be a Chassidish rebbe?
It’s hereditary- the Ba’al Shem Tov’s descendents, and the descendants of his early followers
¨ Miracles
Ø Ascribe miracles to the Ba’al Shem Tov that he apparently performed
¨ Followers
Ø Earliest followers tended to be poor and non-scholars
v Eliyahu Kramer- Vilna Gaon
¨ Born 20 years after Ba’al Shem Tov
¨ Scholarly genius from his earliest childhood
Ø Had private tutors his whole life because he was too smart for the other children
Ø Mastered Chumash at the age of 3
Ø Gave a very complex Talmudic lecture in shul at the age of 7
Ø By 8, his idea of play was kabala (and making a golem out of clay)
Ø Wrote commentaries on almost everything
Ø Also studied math, grammar, astronomy, and other secular subjects to understand Torah better
¨ Agreed with Ba’al Shem Tov on:
Ø Kavana in praying
Ø Enjoying all mitzvoth
Ø BUT, he insisted on the importance of scholarship to be able to perform mitzvoth sincerely
Ø Leaders should also be extremely scholarly
5/19/11
¨ Attack on Chassidim
Ø Based on lack of scholarship
Ø His followers were called “Misnagdim”
Ø Accepted some of the Chassidic ideas, but you can’t enjoy performing mitzvoth unless you fully understand them, and to understand them is to learn Torah and commentaries
Ø Said the Chassidim were deriding scholarship and accepting simplistic mysticism instead (which is not acceptable)
Ø Also disagreed with the idea of worshipping G-d with your good conscious and bad conscious.
Ø He also attacked the Chassidic idea of learning just for learning’s sake, not learning to get a reward or respect. The Vilna Gaon said it’s okay to start out learning for a reward, and then as one develops he will learn just to learn (l’shmah)
Ø Didn’t like the role of the Chassidic rebbe
There shouldn’t be a middleman between man and G-d
Also, some people treated their rebbe close to an idol (people believed that the rebbe had the power to do things G-d is supposed to)
Ø Emphasis on inner emotion will lead people to transgress to Torah (it will lead people off the derech)
¨ Vilna Gaon and other rabbis excommunicated the Chassidim
Ø Chassidim separated themselves from the community and from the leadership of the rabbis
They prayed separately in shteiblach
Ø Improper behavior in praying
Jumping, dancing, chanting at the wrong time, praying at the wrong time, changed the nusach (format of the prayer)
Even though the Vilna Gaon also changed the prayers, he considered himself the “brain surgeon” who had the knowledge to do so, not the Chassidim. He could do safely what other people could not
Ø Accused them of being Sabbatean (like “Shabbetai Zevi”) in regard to their treatment of the rebbe as a supernatural being (he also believed the rebbe’s and the Ba’al Shem Tov were ignorant, but he never would have said that)
Ø De-emphasis on Torah study à putting unlearned people on the same level as scholars, and an emphasis on kabala instead of Talmud
Ø General improprieties- drinking, smoking,
Ø Why did they want to excommunicate the Chassidim?
To contain them so that their ideas don’t influence others. They intended for it to fade their appeal
5/20/11
v R. Schneor-Zalman of Liadi
¨ Chassidic scholar
¨ Tried to bring the two groups together
Ø However, the Vilna Gaon refused to meet with him
¨ Started a new group- ChaBaD (Chochma, Bina, Deah)
Ø He became the first Lebavitch rebbe
Ø Tried to create a new type of Chassidim that combined elements of Chassidim but also emphasized learning
Ø Updated the Shulchan Aruch for Chassidic use
Ø Wrote a book that explained Chabad principles
Ø Nussach Ari
v Vilna Gaon died during Succoth à more intense conflict
¨ Misnagdin were mourning, but the Chassidim singing and dancing on Simchat Torah outraged them à more bad blood in Vilna
¨ Later on both groups would turn each other in to the authorities for different “crimes”
v Peace at last
¨ The two groups began to come together a little bit
Ø Chassidim let their children learn gemara, Misnagdim decided to sing some zmirot at the Shabbat table
¨ Enlightenment produced Jews who denied Torah, so the Chassidim and Misnagdim realized that they are both Orthodox and follow Torah law, they just argue over how
Ø Agreed on the basic: Hashem gave us the Torah and we are required to fulfill His commandments
¨
v
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