Hasidism: Key Questions

369 Pages·2018·49.24 MB·English

by  Marcin Wodzinski

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Hasidism
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Hasidism
Key Questions
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MARCIN WODZINSKI
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wodziński, Marcin, author.
Title: Hasidism : key questions / by Marcin Wodziński.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2018] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017057153 | ISBN 9780190631260 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190631291 (online component) | ISBN 9780190631284 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Hasidism—Historiography.
Classification: LCC BM198.W63 2018 | DDC 296.8/332—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017057153
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Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
The views and opinions expressed in this book, and the context in which
images are used, do not necessarily reflect the views or policy, nor imply approval
or endorsement by, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Drawings by Noam Nadav.
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Contents
List of Figures  ix
List of Tables  xiii
Acknowledgments  xv
Note on Transcription and Place Names  xix
Introduction  xxi
1 A Definition  1
The History of a Definition 3
A Sect 11
Sectarian Features? 17
Questioning Sectarianism 22
Grassroots Definitions 27
Confraternity 32
Consequences 36
Conclusions 40
2 Women  43
Statements of Identity 47
Prayer 52
Pilgrimages 57
Public Activity 65
At Home 72
Were There Any Female Hasidim? 76
Conclusions 83
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vi Contents
3 Leadership  87
The Tsadik as a Holy Man 91
The Tsadik’s Authority: Image vs. Reality 94
The Kvitl 102
The Horizon of Expectations 111
Who Is a Tsadik? 123
Conclusions 130
4 Demography  133
Early Approximations 135
Re- evaluation 139
Extrapolation 158
Conclusions 162
5 Geography  165
The Boundaries of Hasidic Expansion 168
What Stopped Hasidism? 176
Aharon Halberstam of Biała 178
Internal Boundaries 185
Center and Periphery 190
Conclusions 198
6 Economy  201
Images and Their Uses 203
Doctrine and Its Impact 207
Method, Sources, Data 211
How Reliable? 220
Explications 222
Limitations 234
Conclusions 239
7 The End and the Beginning  243
East- European Jews and the First World War 244
The War’s Effect on Hasidism 248
Migrations: A New Geography 251
Urbanization 259
New Ideologies, New Desertions 265
Hybridization vs. Fundamentalization 268
Conclusions 275
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Contents vii
Conclusion  279
Bibliography  287
Index  323
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Figures
1.1 Salomon Maimon (1753– 1800) 6
1.2 The shtibl of the Ołyka Hasidim in Równe
(Volhynia) 18
1.3 R. Shneur Zalman of Lady (1745–1 812) 20
1.4 The Lurianic-S ephardic prayer book (nusaḥ sefarad) 29
1.5 R. Moshe Ḥayim Efrayim, Degel maḥaneh
Efrayim (Piotrków, 1912) 31
2.1 The daughter of the tsadik of Biała 46
2.2 Hasid and his wife according to Leon
Hollaenderski (1846) 49
2.3 Moysei Maimon, U ravina 58
2.4 The kvitl of Tsevi Hirsh ben Lipshe from Uniejów 61
2.5 The wall decoration for the festival of Purim by
Maier Schwartz, Vienna 1929 65
2.6 Berek Sonnenberg (1764– 1822) and his wife
Temerl (d. 1830) 70
2.7 Pauline (Pesele) Wengeroff of Brisk (1833–1 916) 74
2.8 Sarah Schenirer 85
3.1 R. Israel Hepstein (1737– 1814), known as the
Magid of Kozienice 88
3.2 The Hasidic court of Sadagura 96
3.3 R. Eliyahu Guttmacher (1796–1 874) 105
3.4 The kvitl found in 1939 at the grave of R. Shlomo
Rabinowicz (1801– 1866) 107
3.5 The kvitl by R. Yeshaia Kalisz of
Pshiskha [Przysucha] 108
3.6 Distribution of requests in kvitlekh of the
Guttmacher collection 113