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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2017
The Ba‘al Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism (known by the acronym, the “BeShT”), was a charismatic teacher with extraordinary impact. While hasidic traditions record his vehement opposition to documentation of his teachings, his disciples nevertheless wrote what they remembered, and hasidic literature is suffused with traditions about him and conveyed by him.
The research for this article was facilitated by a grant awarded by Beit-Shalom, Kyoto, Japan.
1 See, for example, Green, Arthur, “The Hasidic Homily: Mystical Performance and Hermeneutical Process,” in As a Perennial Spring: A Festschrift Honoring Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm (ed. Cohen, Bentsi; New York: Downhill Publishing, 2013) 237–64Google Scholar, at 237–40.
2 Many studies have questioned the reliability of these traditions, while others have tried to reconstruct the Besht's personality and philosophy on the basis of the most reliable among them. See, for example, Rapoport-Albert, Ada, “Hagiography with Footnotes: Edifying Tales and Writing of History in Hasidism,” in Essays in Jewish Historiography (ed. Rapoport-Albert, Ada; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1991) 119–59Google Scholar; Rosman, Moshe, Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Baal Shem Tov (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996)Google Scholar; idem, “Hebrew Sources on the Baal Shem Tov: Usability vs. Reliability,” Jewish History 27 (2013) 153–69; Etkes, Immanuel, The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader (trans. Sternberg, Saadya; Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2005)Google Scholar; Idel, Moshe, “‘Adonay Sefatay Tiftah’: Models of Understanding Prayer in Early Hasidism,” Kabbalah 18 (2008) 7–111 Google Scholar; idem, “Modes of Cleaving to the Letters in the Teachings of Israel Baal Shem Tov: A Sample Analysis,” Jewish History 27 (2013) 299–317.
3 By R. Nachman's generation, there existed a number of hasidic leaders, all of whom viewed themselves as successors of the Besht; however, unlike R. Nachman, they did not claim exclusivity to this role.
4 For references, see Rapoport-Albert, Ada, “Concerning Y. Liebes’ Article” (Zion XLV, 1980, pp 201–245),” Zion 46 (1981) 346–51Google Scholar, at 348, n. 16 (Hebrew).
5 These studies generally compare R. Nachman's position on a variety of topics to that of the Besht, “in and of itself,” as arising from other sources. See, for example, Green, Arthur, Tormented Master: A Life of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (University, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1979) 33 Google Scholar, 107, 142, 146–47, 183–85, 326–30, and more. See also Mark, Zvi, Mysticism and Madness: The Religious Thought of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (London: Continuum, 2009) 46–47 Google Scholar, 69–70, 111–16. An exception is the discussion of R. Nachman's perception of the Besht's journey to the land of Israel (ibid., 197–207), which focuses on the manner in which the story is recounted from R. Nachman's perspective.
6 See, for example, Idel, Moshe, Messianic Mystics (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998) 118–20Google Scholar; Stroumsa, Guy G., “Mystical Descents,” in Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys (ed. Collins, John J. and Fishbane, Michael; Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995) 139–54Google Scholar; Elliot R. Wolfson, “Weeping, Death, and Spiritual Ascent in Sixteen-Century Jewish Mysticism,” in ibid., 209–47; Lawrence Fine, “Contemplative Death in Jewish Mystical Tradition,” in Sacrificing The Self: Perspectives on Martyrdom and Religion (ed. Margaret Cormack; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) 92–106; Garb, Jonathan, Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011) 21–45, 75–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also the references in Travis, Yakov, “Adorning the Souls of the Dead, Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav and Tikkun Ha-Neshamot ,” in God's Voice from the Void: Old and New Studies in Bratslav Hasidism (ed. Magid, Shaul; Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002) 155–92Google Scholar nn. 1–4, 177–79.
7 Travis, “Adorning the Souls.” See also Green, Tormented Master, 252–53, 272–73.
8 Mark, Zvi, The Revealed and Hidden Writings of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav: His Worlds of Revelation and Rectification (trans. Shulman, Yaacov David; Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2015) 278–311 Google Scholar.
9 See, for example, Sagiv, Gadi, Dynasty: The Chernobyl Hasidic Dynasty and Its Place in the History of Hasidism (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center Press, 2014) 13–38 Google Scholar (Hebrew).
10 See, for example, Natan Shternhartz of Nemirov, Shiḇḥey haran (Jerusalem, 2011) 25–26; Nahman, R., Śiḥot haran (Jerusalem, 1990) 165–66Google Scholar.
11 Travis, “Adorning the Souls,” 157.
12 Natan Shternhartz of Nemirov, Ḥayyey moharan hammenukad (Jerusalem 1995), “His Journey and Dwelling in Uman,” 217.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., 190. See Mark, Zvi, The Complete Stories of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (Tel Aviv: Miskal, 2014) 377–78Google Scholar (Hebrew).
15 Natan Shternhartz of Nemirov, Ḥayyey Moharan HaMenukad, “His Journey and Dwelling in Uman,” 191. For more on R. Nachman's self-consciousness as a repairer of the souls of the dead, see ibid., “His Journey to Navritch,” 151–52.
16 This subject, too, has been addressed in the research. See Travis, “Adorning the Souls,” 157–58, 162–67; Mark, The Revealed and Hidden Writings, 298–99, 309–11.
17 Travis emphasizes R. Nachman's reliance on the story of the Besht but does not dwell on the fact that the Besht does not repair souls with his death. He understands the story as an expression of R. Nachman's continuation of his great-grandfather, rather than as an expression of differentiation from him. See Travis, “Adorning the Souls,” 157–58, 163. See also Green, Tormented Master, 252–53.
18 In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov: The Earliest Collection of Legends about the Founder of Hasidism (ed and trans. Dan Ben-Amos and Jerome R. Mintz; Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1970) 126–27, quoted here and below with slight amendments.
19 There is a seeming discrepancy concerning terminology: R. Nachman speaks of elevating “souls,” while the story from In Praise of the Besht speaks of elevating “great sparks.” As evidenced in many places in the teachings of both masters, these terms are often used synonomously. See also below.
20 Concerning the reliability of sources in In Praise, see above, n. 2. For our discussion, suffice it to note that the stories in In Praise display a certain manner of structuring the image of the Besht among his successors, which is different—as shown here—from the structuring of his image by R. Nachman.
21 In Praise (ed. and trans. Ben-Amos et al.) 24–26.
22 Ibid., 218–19.
23 Ibid., 34–36.
24 Ibid., 86–87. Much has been written about this story. See, for example, Liebes, Yehuda, On Sabbateanism and its Kabbalah: Collected Essays (Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute, 1995) 238–65Google Scholar (Hebrew); Pedaya, Haviva, “The Baal Shem Tov's ‘Iggeret HaKodesh’: Towards a Critique of the Textual Versions, and an Exploration of Its Convergence with the World-Picture: Messianism, Revelation, Ecstasy and the Sabbatean Background,” Zion 70 (2008) 311–54Google Scholar.
25 In Praise (ed. and trans. Ben-Amos et al.) 60–61.
26 For the importance of this specific time for elevating souls in kabbalistic tradition, see Travis's references in “Adorning the Souls,” 185 n. 51, 186 n. 58–59. Travis draws a connection between this story and the Besht's ’Iggeret haqqodeš, on the one hand, and Sepher qaṭan—a commentary on Ps. 107 that is attributed to the Besht—on the other (ibid., 163–64).
27 In Praise (ed. and trans. Ben-Amos et al.) 127.
28 Ibid., 255–57.
29 Ibid., 256.
30 It seems that R. Nachman was familiar with those stories, even though the book itself was published after his death. See Piekarz, Mendel, Studies in Breslav Hasidism (Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute, 1995) 128–31Google Scholar (Hebrew). See also Meir, Yonatan, “Yosef Perl, Rabbi Natan of Nemirov, and the Invention of the ‘Holy Books,’” in The Library of the Haskalah: the Creation of a Modern Republic of Letters in Jewish Society in the German-Speaking Sphere (ed. Feiner, Shmuel et al.; Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2014) 350–92Google Scholar, at 383–90 (Hebrew).
31 This includes assuming that he was familiar with the ’Iggeret haqqodeš, and the Sepher qaṭan; see above, n. 26.
32 Both Travis and Mark point to R. Nachman's “Beshtian” sources. Travis treats the repair of the souls as a practice that R. Nachman learned from the Besht, but attributes no great importance to the difference between repair during the life of the ṣaddiq and repair through his death. Mark treats Sepher qaṭan as a source for elevation of souls by the ṣaddiq on the eve of the Sabbath, and connects this to the story of the Besht—but, likewise, without addressing the difference between repair in life or through death. In the context of giving meaning to death as qidduš haŠem and martyrdom, Mark compares the story that R. Nachman tells about the Besht with R. Nachman's dream about being dedicated as a sacrifice and running away to escape. Both Travis and Mark emphasize the similarity to the Besht and the element of continuity, which certainly holds true.
33 See Kauffman, Tsippi, “The Baal Shem Tov's Journey to the Land of Israel,” Zion 80 (2015) 7–41 Google Scholar (Hebrew).
34 See Rapaport, Ada, “Two Sources for the Journey of R. Nachman of Breslav to the Land of Israel,” Qiryat sefer 46 (1971) 147–53Google Scholar (Hebrew).
35 Garb, Shamanic Trance, 31–36; Fine, “Contemplative Death.”
36 See R. Ḥayyim Vital's comments on parašat re'eh in Ša‘ar hammiṣvot (Tel Aviv: Hoṣa'at Kitvey Rabbenu Ha'Ari, 1962) 112.
37 See Liebes, Esther, “Lay Not Thy Hand Upon the Lad: The Highest Point of Abraham's Experience,” in Judaism: Topics, Fragments, Faces, Identities: Jubilee Volume in Honor of Rivka Horwitz (ed. Pedaya, Haviva and Meir, Ephraim; Beer Sheva: Ben-Gurion University Press, 2007) 439–52Google Scholar (Hebrew).
38 In Weiss's view, the ideal of dying for qidduš haŠem (an act that lies in the realm of the man-God relationship), which R. Nachman held in his youth (see below), is exchanged for a sacrificial death (a personal sacrifice for the sake of repairing the many). See Weiss, Joseph, Studies in Bratslav Hasidism (Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute, 1975) 172–78Google Scholar (Hebrew). As I understand it, R. Nachman views sacrificial death, too, as martyrdom and qidduš haŠem. See Mark, The Revealed and Hidden Writings, 288–89. For more on qidduš haŠem, see 280–311.
39 R. Nathan cites in the name of R. Nachman himself a teaching concerning the ṣaddiq who passes through Gehinnom after his death in order to elevate souls from there, but he does not connect this with his own death. See Ḥayyey moharan, ‘Avodat haŠem, 602.
40 Boyarin, Daniel, Dying For God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999) 94–95 Google Scholar, 116.
41 See Liqquṭey moharan 1:21, 144.
42 See above, n. 38.
43 In his youth, R. Nachman begged God to show him the soul of someone who had died; he was indeed shown such a soul, and a great fear came upon him. Later on, “he saw many dead and was no longer afraid, certainly not at the end of his life, when he became the master of the field” (“His Birth and Dwelling and Journeys,” Ḥayyey moharan, 100). Travis notes that already in Sepher hammiddot, R. Nachman relates to the ṣaddiq's repairing of the souls of the dead. See Sepher hammiddot, Ṣaddiq, part 1, 26. See also ibid., 54.
44 Liqquṭey moharan, 1:65; See “Sermons and Stories,” in Ḥayyey moharan, 28.
45 Near his death, R. Nachman was questioned explicitly by R. Naftali, his student: “Did you not say, in the teaching ‘And Boaz said to Ruth,’ that the great and superior ṣaddiq is able to complete the matter during his lifetime?!” R. Nachman's response was: “I told you only one aspect of it, because it is necessary to go and die for that purpose” (Yemey moharnat, 1:59).
46 See Green, Tormented Master, 212–13; Travis, “Adorning the Souls,” 167–69.
47 Mark, Mysticism and Madness, 36–38.
48
The zoharic tradition speaks of the ṣaddiq as a “gardener.” The zoharic imagery deals with the connection between the ṣaddiq and the Šeḵinah—the earth, or the garden. The ṣaddiq, representing the sefira of Yesod, the “spouse” (
) of the Šeḵinah, is also the “master of the field” (
); he “unites” with and “impregnates” (
) it, as it were, causing its fruit to grow. See Zohar 1:216a. See also Zohar 2:166b. Piekarz, (Breslav Hassidism, 80) also notes that the appellation “master of the field” appears in a Sabbatean document in which it is God Himself Who is the “Master of the field,” while Shabbetai Zvi is the “reaper of the wheat” in His field. See
Scholem, Gershom, Shabbetai Zvi and the Sabbatean Movement During His Lifetime (2 vols.; Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1957) 2:716–17Google Scholar (Hebrew).
49 Liqquṭey Moharan, by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (trans. Moshe Mykoff; 11 vols.; Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute, 2005) 8:9, here and below with slight amendments.
50 Ibid., 13.
51 Ibid., 15.
52 Ibid., 19.
53 Ibid., 3.
54 In this regard see also Liqquṭey moharan 1:4, “’anokhi,” and the discussion of this teaching in Mark, Mysticism and Madness, 28–34.
55 This connection seems to suggest itself but is not addressed in the research.
56 Liqquṭey moharan (trans. Mykoff), 29.
57 Here, again, R. Nachman repeats what he said in the teaching “’anokhi.” See Mark, Mysticism and Madness, 32–33.
58 There are other places where R. Nachman's teachings serve simultaneously as Torah that is conveyed to his disciples and as reflection on the manner in which this Torah comes into existence. See, for example, Liqquṭey moharan 2:88 and Śiḥot haran, 153. This teaching about the “simple” ṣaddiq comes into being from within R. Nachman's experience of simplicity and his willingness to inhabit it.
59 As opposed to Travis (“Adorning the Souls,” 169), who bases his opinion on the zoharic description (Zohar 2:200b) of the soul needing a garment in order to ascend to the Garden of Eden, here this garment is woven from prayer. Therefore, to his understanding, the ṣaddiq who prays for souls is repairing the prayers of the sinners and dressing their souls in anticipation of their entry into the field. As we understand it, even if R. Nachman relies on the zoharic sources, he identifies prayer with the soul requiring repair, and not just with one of the means of achieving that repair.
60 Schatz-Uffenheumer, Rivka, “The Besht's Commentary to Psalm 107: Myth and Ritual of the Descent to She'ol,” in Hasidism and Mysticism: Quietistic Elements in Eighteenth Century Hasidic Thought (trans. Chipman, Jonathan; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) 342–81Google Scholar, at 356.
61 In this context we must keep in mind the Besht's words in ’Iggeret haqqodeš, that every letter contains “worlds and souls and Divinity.”
62 Research on Hasidism devotes many discussions to the question of the concreteness versus abstractness of the holy sparks, letters, vitality, and souls. See, for example, Jacobs, Louis, “The Uplifting of Sparks in Later Jewish Mysticism,” in Jewish Spirituality from the Sixteenth-Century Revival to the Present (ed. Green, Arthur; New York: Crossroad, 1987) 99–126 Google Scholar; Wolfson, Elliot R., “Walking as a Sacred Duty: Theological Transformation of Social Reality in Early Hasidism,” in Hasidism Reappraised (ed. Rapoport-Albert, Ada; London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1996) 180–207 Google Scholar; Kauffman, Tsippi, In All Your Ways Know Him: The Concept of God and Avodah Be-Gashmiyut in the Early Stages of Hasidism (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2009) 121–160 Google Scholar.
63 The zoharic text is explained in note 48 above.
64 In Praise (ed. and trans. Ben-Amos et al.), 221.
65 A similar version of the story appears in Keter Shem Tov, which was first printed in 1794, during R. Nachman's lifetime. See R. Aharon HaKohen of Apte, Keter šem ṭov (Jerusalem, 2003) 102.
66 b. Roš. Haš. 35a.
67 See, for example, In Praise (ed. and trans. Ben-Amos et al.), 131: “Once the Besht traveled from Kamenka to his home . . .. The Besht said: ‘We will pray Minhah in such and such place.’ This was in the winter time and it was intensely cold. They were still a few versts from that place, and they were becoming chilled to the bone. They said: ‘It is impossible to reach that place. It is still far away and we will freeze.’” This suggests that the “place” was not a spot that they would pass on their way, but rather a destination for the sole purpose of praying there.
68 See, for example, ibid., 39: “When the Besht came to the holy community of Whitefield . . . (he) prayed in the field along the way and when he arrived in the town, they were still praying in the synagogue. He went to listen to the kedushah.”
69 This is in contrast to the souls who come at a particular time, during the afternoon prayer on the eve of the Sabbath.
70 Liqquṭey moharan 1:65:4.
71 Śiḥot haran 57. R. Natan, ad loc, characterizes the connection between the fear of death and the wish for death as a sort of victory. In other words, it is specifically because R. Nachman is so afraid to die that he deals with his fear by means of “shattering” it, by asking to die. A different explanation might be that the wish to die in qidduš haŠem softens the terror of death because it removes its sting, the sting of extinction, lack of free will, and banality (see Weiss, Studies, 173). See also Mark, The Revealed and Hidden Writings, 280–307.
72 See Mark's extensive discussion above, in nn. 32, 38.
73 See Liqquṭey moharan 1:207. The reference seems to be to the Frankists's criticism of rabbinical Judaism and the rabbinical criticism of them in turn. See Kauffman, Tsippi, “R. Nachman's Besht– The Construction of the Father Figure,” Kabbalah 36 (2017) 157–91Google Scholar (Hebrew).
74 Ḥayyey moharan, “His Journey and Dwelling in Uman,” 197. See also Liqquṭey moharan 1:190. Travis comments on this in “Adorning the Souls,” 191, n. 93.
75 R. Nachman also speaks with his living disciples about the connection that will remain between him and them after their deaths. See, for example, Ḥayyey moharan, “New Stories,” 101.
76 Green, Arthur, “The Zaddiq as Axis Mundi in Later Judaism,” JAAR 45 (1977) 327–47Google Scholar.
77 See in this regard also Magid, Shaul, Hasidism Incarnated: Hasidism, Christianity and the Construction of Modern Judaism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014) 31–49 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Maggid notes that Hasidim, in contrast to their Maskilim contemporaries, did not live their religious lives under Christian gaze and were therefore not afraid to express ideas that resembled Christian perceptions. His discussion focuses on the concept of incarnation but could also apply to the idea of the sacrificial death of the redeemer, and more.
78 For example, R. Nathan continues to regard R. Nachman after his death as repairing the souls of his disciples and others. See ‘Alim LiTruphah: Letters of Rabbi Nathan (Jerusalem, 1972) 42b.