The figure of Abraham in Hasidic literature

Harvard Theological Review

Volumn 91, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 279-300

  Gellman, Jerome ^a  

^a BEN GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0001795649     PISSN: 00178160     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0017816000032144     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. Recent scholarship has questioned whether the Baal Shem Tov was the founder of Hasidism, as opposed to its inspiration. See Moshe Rosman, Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
2. For more on the shift of Hasidism from a small circle of devotees to a mass phenomenon, see Shmuel Ettinger, "The Hasidic Movement - Reality and Ideals," in Gershom Hundert, ed. , Essential Papers on Hasidism (New York: New York University Press, 1991). More on this later in this paper.
3. See Rivka Schatz-Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism: Quietistic Elements in Eighteenth-Century Hasidic Thought (Princeton and Jerusalem: Princeton University Press and Magnes, 1993).
4. For the thought of this early period see Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schoken, 1941)
5. and Abraham J. Heschel, The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
6. I have written on a different aspect of Hasidic interpretations of the binding of Isaac in Jerome Gellman, The Fear, The Trembling, and The Fire, Kierkegaard and Hasidic Masters on the Binding of Isaac (Lanham: University Press of America, 1994).
7. See Arthur Green, Devotion and Commandment: The Faith of Abraham in the Hasidic Imagination (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1989).
8. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, Pri Ha'aretz (Jerusalem: Hamesorah, 1990-91) 21.
9. Genesis Rabbah (Vilna Edition, Jerusalem, 1962-3), 56. 8. Some versions of this midrash have: "He went in joy to do the will of his creator. " This midrash does not appear in manuscripts of Genesis Rabbah. J. Theodor and C. Albeck (Bereshit Rabbah [Jerusalem: Wahrmann, 1965] 604. 11) suggest it is a late alternative to a tradition that the angels cried at the akedah. I am grateful to Zev Gries for pointing this out to me.
10. Nifiaot Hadashot (Pietrekov, 1898-9) 15.
11. Genesis Rabbah, 56.
12. Levi Isaac of Berdichev, Qedushat Levi (Warsaw, 1876-77) 25.
13. Jacob Kranz, Ohel Yaakov (Warsaw, 1925-6) 114-16.
14. Or Torah (Jerusalem: 1968-9) 18.
15. Elimelech of Lyzhansk, Noam Elimelech (Krakow: Tarnow, 1896) 9b-10a.
16. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, Pri Haaretz (Jerusalem: Hamesorah, 1988-9) 20.
17. (Jacob Isaac, Divrei Emet [Warsaw, 1882] 7b).
18. Menahem Mendel of Rimanow, Divrei Menahem (Krakow, 1936-7) 3.
19. I have not found a source for this in rabbinic literature. Zev Gries has informed me that this supposed midrash resembles an old adage that appears, apparently for the first time, in R. Shimon Frankfurter, Sefer Hachayim, in the early eighteenth century. The old adage is: "A person worries over the loss of his money [or blood] but does not worry over the loss of his days. "
20. See Elazar Blankenstein, Proverbs of Israel and the Nations (Jerusalem: Kiryat. Sepher, 1963-4) 57-62 [Hebrew].
21. Jacob Isaac, Kedushat Ha Yehudi (Bene Brak, 1996-7) 115.
22. Otzar Hahasidut: Midrash Simchah (Jerusalem: Mosad Harim Levin, 1985-6) 37.
23. Menahem Mendel of Lubavich, Derekh Mitzvotekha (Brooklyn: Kehot Publishing, 1992-3) 372.
24. Judah Leib Eger, Shevet Yehudah (Lublin, 1922) 66.
25. Judah Leib's recognition of Abraham's anguish might reflect his own personal history. He was the grandson of the outstanding rabbi and archenemy of Hasidism, Akiva Eger (1761-1837) and son of the equally anti-Hasidic Solomon Eger (1786-1852). The relationships between Judah Leib and his elders were reportedly especially acrimonious during the latter's conversion to Hasidism, and after.
26. For a fuller treatment of this topic see Jerome Gellman, "Hasidic Existentialism?" in Yaakov Elman and Jeffrey S. Gurock, eds. , Hazon Nahum (New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1997) 393-417.
27. Genesis Rabbah, 58. 5.
28. Israel of Koznitz, Avodat Yisrael (Bene Brak, 1972-73) 7b. This commentary times Sarah's death at the moment of the akedah itself, and not later.
29. For more on this, see my article, "Hasidic Existentialism?" in Yaakov Elman and Jeffrey S. Gurock, eds. , Hazon Nahum (New York: Yeshiva University, 1997) 393-417.
30. b. Yoma, 28b. Eruv lavshilin pertains to the preparation of foods for the Sabbath on holidays, and is considered rabbinical in origin and thus part of the oral law. Abraham's observance of this law is an example of how he kept the oral law in addition to the written one.
31. Green, Devotion and Commandment.
32. For the kabbalistic concept of the primal Torah see Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism (trans. Ralph Manheim; London: Routledge, 1965).
33. See also Moshe Idel, "The Concept of the Torah in the Hekhalot Literature and in the Kabbalah," Mehkarei Yerushalyim, Vol. 1 (1981) [Hebrew].
34. Dov Baer, Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov (ed. Rivka Schatz-Uffenheimer; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1990) 234.
35. Jacob Joseph, Toldot Yaakov Yoseph (Jerusalem, 1972-3) 7.
36. See Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, The Mystical Messiah (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973).
37. Dov Baer, Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov, 235.
38. Menahem Nahum, Meor Aiynaim (Jerusalem: Yeshivath Meor Enaim, n. d. ) 53.
39. Dov Ber, Or Torah (Jerusalem, 1957-68) 15.
40. Jacob Joseph, Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, 1. 70.
41. Pri Ha'aretz, 70
42. Schatz-Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism, 115.
43. Thus R. Menahem Mendel is following a different teaching of the Maggid: "The Rabbis said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, wished to grant merit to Israel, He gave them an abundance of Torah and commandments. This means that the commandments are really 613, however when a person fulfills 'In all your ways, know Him," he can fulfill manyfold 613, without end, since all his acts are for the sake of Heaven. So he fulfills the commandment of the creator at each and every moment" (Dov Ber, Or Torah, 147).
44. Menahem Mendel, Pri Ha'aretz, 72.
45. Yehiel Michel, Yeshuot Malko (Jerusalem: Mosad Harim Levin, 1973-74).
46. Elimelech of Lyzhansk, Noam Elimelech, 43.
47. The theme that Abraham was able to know God's will on his own forms the basis in later Hasidism of Abraham becoming a paradigm for the performance of a "sin for the sake of Heaven," a sin that one knows to be in accordance with the Divine Will. Abraham appears thus in the writings of R. Zadok of Lublin. See R. Zadok of Lublin, Takanat Hashavin (Bene Brak: Yahadut Press, 1966-67). Abraham thus keeps the Torah in the sense of obeying the divine will whatever it turns out to be.
48. Jacob Joseph, Keter Shem Tov (Brooklyn: Kehot, 1987) 113.
49. For this theme in early Hasidism, see Rachel Elior,"'Yesh and Ayin' in Hasidic Thought," in Ada Rapaport-Albert, ed. , Hasidism Reappraised (London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1996) 168-79.
50. Ada Rapaport-Albert, "Hasidism after 1772: Structural Continuity and Change," in Hasidism Reappraised, 134.
51. Immanuel Etkes, "The Study of Hasidism: Past Trends and New Directions," in Rapaport-Albert, ed. , Hasidism Reappraised, 452.
52. See also, Immanuel Etkes, "Hasidism as a Movement: The First Stage," in Bezalel Safran, ed. , Hasidism: Continuity and Change (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988) 1-26.
53. Pesiqta Rabbati, 33.
54. Ada Rapaport-Albert, "Hasidism after 1772," 133.
55. Ronald Green, "Deciphering Fear and Trembling's Secret Message," RelS 22 (1986) 110.
56. Qedushat HaYehudi, 180.
57. Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye, Ben Porat Yoseph (Pietrekov, 1883-84).
58. R. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein, Moor V'shemesh (Jerusalem: Or Hasefer, 1993) 1. 72.
59. As the Hasidim tell it, R. Kalonymus Kalman, with his wife's encouragement, left Krakow for Lyzhansk for thirteen weeks after having met R. Elimelech. On his return he endured great resistance, which culminated in a herem ("excommunication") edict that forced him to leave Krakow for good. Maor V'shemesh 1. 69-73.
60. Noam Elimelech, Igeret Haqodesh, 111.
61. For more on this issue see: Rivka Schatz' Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism, 28-30 and 108-10.
62. On the impact of the Baal Shem Tov's antiasceticism, see Moshe Rosman, Founder of Hasidism, 181-84.
63. For the distinction between the select saintly ones and the masses in early Hasidism see Samuel Dresner, The Zaddik, The Doctrine of the Zaddik According to the Writings of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye (London: Abelard-Schulman, 1960).