The Rise of Chassidut

The Torah is an Eitz Chaim: a living, breathing source of truth. It is at once eternal and creative, staunchly rooted and widely open. There are branches of thought, layers, interpretations, and a wide variety of lifestyles that express it. 

Often misunderstood and usually misrepresented, Chassidut represents a sizable portion of today’s Orthodox Jewry. This article will explore its birth, rise, and basic tenets. 

Cradle Chassidut

The Chassidic movement was founded by Rav Yisrael ben Rav Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov. He was born in Okup, in modern-day Ukraine, in 1698, an only child to the pious Rav Eliezer and Sarah. At five, he had lost both his parents.

Yisrael spent his youth wandering the forests of the region, working in the Carpathian region and studying and practicing the hidden aspect of Torah – known variably as Kabbalah, nistar, or sod. He was part of a group of elevated Jews known as the Nistarim, the hidden ones, who studied the deepest wisdom and committed themselves to helping the masses. 

In 1740, he appeared in Mezhbizh and began to teach. He attracted a following, traveling around in the towns and villages and lifting people up, teaching them the beauty and sanctity of every Jewish soul and each minute action. Most of all, he emphasized the service of Hashem to be done with all of one’s heart, in total love and deveikut, attachment. 

Part of the mystery of the Baal Shem Tov is that he left us no writings, only disciples. However, later chassidim have curated and recorded his teachings, and even as Chassidut has exploded and evolved, its adherents trace its every theological thread back to its founder. 

Heaven-Sent

In 18th century Europe, the Jewish class divide was definitive. The learned elite spent their days in the Beit Midrash, toiling in the words of Torah and producing tremendous scholars and books. The majority of the population, however, were involved in menial labor from dusk to dawn, barely eking out a living. The infamous Khmelnytsky massacres (1648-1649) had left thousands without property and bereft of their prior source of livelihood. Children were required to help feed the family from a very young age, and Jewish education became a privilege for the illustrious minority. 

The teachings of Chassidut are sourced in Kabbalah, the esoteric wisdom that comprises the fourth and deepest level of Torah interpretation. Kabbalah was given to Moshe at Sinai every bit as pshat was; it is a system of interpretation that carries its own set of principles and traditions. 

It took only a generation until the average Jew in Europe was a well-meaning, hardworking, but largely clueless am ha’aretz. 

The Jewish world was primed for a fresh perspective on Judaism, one where not having the luxury to delve into the words of Gemara did not preclude a Jew from a connected, spiritual life. It was high time for the wagon driver and blacksmith to find the meaning in their every action, interaction, to discover the light they had within and the power they held to transform the world. 

Nothing New

With the rise of the haskala and its rationalizations, the Chasam Sofer laid down his psak.  “חדש אסור מן התורה – Newness is prohibited within Torah.” The eternity of the Torah is one of our principles of faith, and perhaps the single uncontested survival mechanism of Judaism through the ages. How does the rise of Chassidut, a purportedly fresh philosophy and new set of practices, comport with the Torah’s unchanging essence?

The teachings of Chassidut are sourced in Kabbalah, the esoteric wisdom that comprises the fourth and deepest level of Torah interpretation. Kabbalah was given to Moshe at Sinai every bit as pshat was; it is a system of interpretation that carries its own set of principles and traditions. 

For most of Jewish history, knowledge of Kabbalah was supremely rare. Since the death of Rav Shimon bar Yochai, we have records of kabbalistic exploration from scholars like the Ramban, Arizal, Rav Yosef Karo, Rav Moshe Cardovero, Maharal, Ramchal, and the Shelah.

The Kabbalah that Chassidut bases itself on is sourced on the Arizal, Rav Yitzchak Luria (1534-1572), who in his short life revitalized the teachings of the Zohar, written by Rav Shimon bar Yochai. The teachings of the Arizal were recorded by his devoted student Rav Chaim Vital, and they hold the key to the contemporary understanding of this subliminal wisdom. 

Much of the original chiddush of Chassidut was about the changing world order, the social upheaval it brought when scholars no longer held the monopoly on closeness to Hashem, nor Torah the exclusive key to such a relationship. Now deep secrets about the Jewish soul and the Oneness of revelation manifested in a heightened awareness of the intrinsic Jewish power, the love and fear that must undergird our every move, and the ripple effect of our every thought, word, and action.

Enduring Legacy

Chassidut spread rapidly; by the 19th century, huge portions of Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Bavaria, Romania, and Hungary were thoroughly chassidic. Within two generations after the passing of the Baal Shem Tov, chassidism was splintered into sub-sects, with each community following their unique approach to the Torah of Chassidut. Until today, dozens of sub-communities comprise the greater Chassidish multiverse, spanning from Chabad to Belz, from totally insular to more open, and from Beit Shemesh to LA.

The teachings of chassidut, however, have traveled much further. They are in every kiruv institution, every Torah website (case in point, this one), and on the bookshelves of nearly every Orthodox Jew. Its “softer” teachings, the study of the inner mechanism within spiritual processes and the Jewish soul, are now completely conventional Jewish teachings. 

While designated Chassidic communities dot the globe, the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov are available, and accessible, to every Jew. It has transformed the greater Torah world and given all of us more meaning, connection, and the tools to find Hashem wherever He places us. 

Based on the lectures and writings of Rabbi Berel Wein, Ken Spiro, Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, and others.