Matter and Spirit - Hasidic Doctrine According to R. Solomon of Lutzk (1984)

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General Introduction, Hasidism (1995)

This book offers a corrective to the popular impression that early Hasidism was incorrigibly, blithely, and profoundly unintellectual by presenting annotated translations of selected passages, arranged according to topic. The introductory sections provide an overview and a context for the subject matter of each chapter. The general introduction aims to do the same for the entire volume – sketching the historical background of the early Hasidic movement and charting the central ideas in their intellectual context. We must also consider the nature of Hasidic literature itself in order to evaluate the significance – for Hasidism and for the history of Jewish thought in general – of the texts and ideas in this book. Our discussion will furthermore make explicit some of the reasons underlying the choice of passages included here, in light of current scholarship.ORIGINS: THE BESHT AND HIS APPEALOf the founder of che Hasidic movement, ־מי Israel Baal shem Tov *the Besht), little is known for certain. Even the authenticity of the few letters ascribed to him is debated^ The scanty information at our disposal testifies to a youth during which his spiritual powers were concealed, followed by a revealed stage, beginning in his late thirties, during which he was active at various sites in Eastern Europe (primarily in present-day Ukraine) until his death (1760) in his early sixties. His disciples, to whom we are indebtedfor the transmission of his teaching, were no doubt overwhelmed byhis personality; yet his contemporaries did not, so far as we know, refer to him, in their written works, by name. Posthumous reports make it possible to reconstruct his ideas, and suggest what books were important to him. Yet the original intent of the movement, like the biography of its charismatic founder, remains shrouded in mystery.Among several phenomena proposed by historians as major factors in the rise of Hasidism, with a continued effect on its ideology, two deserve our attention. The fi…

General Jewish Thought Chasidim & Mitnagdim