94. The Birth of Hasidism (Jewish History Lab) 

Henry Abramson, you're so great. Thank you so very much. Keep it up. I'm learning so much, and growing so much. Not in inches, but by feet.

Thank you - as a non jew I’ve always wondered about the Hasidic Jews and I’m finding your lectures extremely interesting

Rabbi, you have taught me immensely. I thank you for your wisdom from Adonai.

Good Voch! Shavuah Tov! Great albeit very brief Summary! It's after Shabbos here in Australia I listened with interest from here in Melbourne Australia (Down Under!)! Dr Henry Abramson when are you coming to Australia to honour us with some lectures!?! We would be honoured to have you. Keep up the great work - especially these lectures and the 2 minute "quick" history on the Daf Yomi PS If you come to Melbourne please let us know. Bring your "Cake and kisses' (Aussie slang for your Rebbetzin, your Mrs) and Mishpocha------- we'll go to Yankel our Kosher butcher and we can have a Fabrengen/Tish/Melave Malka ------ we'll put some Kosher steaks, snags and chops on the BBQ, open up a few cans of VB and Have some Divrei Torah and Sing some Beautiful niggunim, I suspect you have a "Chassisher Neshoma!" despite your Litvak yechis. Yasher Koach, Be Gbentched!!

This is an important and inspiring story, and it changed the way I read and interpret the Maran's Shulchan Aruch and, to a lesser extent, Rav. Moshe's guide for the perplexed and the Ramban, and that has allowed me to uncover a deeper meaning, life , and vitality from both texts in my own practice of Judaism, the works of the Baal Shem Tov and the Rebbe both have important messages on observance that are derived from before the split between sephardic and Ashkenazi practices that allow a kind of synthesis perhaps not possible for previous generations of Jews. Thank you for highlighting the role the great hassidim have played in that.

Very good lecture, next week I am traveling to Antwerp staying in a hotel which is in a Hasidic area so it is great to get an insight into their culture I remember being in a local Lidl, Hasidic Jews queing up in the supermarket , the cashier was a Muslim headscaf etc. I thought to myself what incongrueous sight!

Keep up these great interesting videos!

Thank you sir i now have a more in depth under standing of the resentments and historic prejudices deeply embedder in Eastern European society's.

Interesting history. I need to watch more videos.

The information on the “reclaiming” of the Rabbinate is really interesting …

Awesome.

Interesting.

Thank you Dr. Abramson - your lectures are so interesting and informative....also, how do you make your beard so pointy?

My grandfather (fathers side) lived in the Town the Baal Shem Tov was from, Mezibiche (spelling?) And on my mothers side is a rather famous Misnagid of his time Rabbi Meshulum Igra. I own his book (but unfortunately don’t read Hebrew) and there’s very little of his information online.

Excellent תודה רהה

When teaching kids,I translate בעל שם as 'wizard', and בש״ט as 'The Good Wizard'.

Isaiah 40:15-17 Isaiah 65

Can you mention the Jews who hid as Mennonites as my family has it the 1600s. The ones I mention are from the Swiss area centered in Bern and or Zimmerwald area. Some might have converted but most hid. The Mennonites end up persecuted also.. Only started looking into this for medical reason. My parents are related 3 times over. Our family book goes back to the 1400s. My great great grandmother was a Hershey of Milton Hershey. Also distant related to Steit Matzo family. I have been shunned by my father for even talking of these things. Our group was a Sub group with in a sub group of Swiss Mennonites. Some Polish Mennonites who went to Russia are also practising Jewish. Most Mennonites are German or Swiss German here. Sorry about English. In homes you know by the yellow badge on the wall. My mom also had a yellow star on wall until some one knew what it was. Just would like info if you have it. My Grandfather's brothers had WW2 Jewish serviceman ID cards. He was of the Appalachian miner Jews who came from Silselia Germany. So we do marry English peoples outside the family but not to many Goyish persons.

Pale of settlement? Two hundred years together book

Rabbi Rosenthal was Rabbi of Timmins, before moving to Sudbury. Do you know about him?

Very concise and well-done review of Chassidism. However, in your section defining its main concepts (at the 5-minute mark), I think there are two indispensable aspects of Chassidic teaching that you omit -- as they often are in descriptions of Chassidut -- leading to a highly misleading understanding of the movement. 1) You state that they sought to attain deveikut thru prayer, song, fellowship. This is the typical definition pushed by Misnagdim, which implies that it was primarily an unlearned movement that replaced deep Torah study with song, prayer and the Chassidic "tisch" to attract simple masses. While this may unfortunately be true of some (but certainly not all) Chassidic dynasties today, it is exceedingly far from a true description of early Chassidut. The main view of Chassidut was that one must not merely study Torah and do the mitzvot in a dry, cold manner, since their main purpose is to allow one to achieve a deeper understanding of G-d and His ways, and thus be able to become close and attached to Him. Studying the Kabbalistic secrets of Torah by those capable of understanding them also allows aids them in attaining deveikut. 2) In point 3 you list the "valorization of the common, often uneducated Jew" as a central teaching. This is also often listed as a primary teaching of Chassidut, but it too is unfortunately a highly misleading descriptor. In fact, the essence of Chassidic teaching is that it is insufficient for a Jew to merely study Torah and perform Mitzvot, as the Torah's true demand of every Jew is to study and delve as deeply as possible to understand G-d, and to know why you are performing each mitzvah. For if one performs all 613 mitzvot by rote, they are almost worthless, since the kavanah is more important than the mere physical performance. However, the simple Jew, who is incapable of achieving this higher standard because of his limited mental capacity and knowledge, can also become close to G-d through performing Mitzvot with kavanah and through emotional and heartfelt prayer. Thus, rather than being the primary goal, this is only a backup plan for those who are incapable of the much higher level of Avodas Hashem and deveikut obtained thru being deeply immersed in the learning and understanding of Torah.

They look like Christian pietists in a sense. Interesting. Thanks for the video.

You kept everything positive, but the Hassim are very controversial in Israel and New York.

All Russian peasants, and non-peasants, had restrictions on movement and residency. This was to prevent refugee flows and homelessness in the big cities. Do you think a random Russian Orthodox, or Belorussian peasant in the Pale could just pack a suit case and move to Moscow? I think not. The newly incorporated Polish Lithuanian State was treated as a newly acquired national block. People movements, totally unregulated, are an uniquely modern American concept. As if nothing bad could happen. Only good stuff. But poverty and disease and unemployment were more likely.

Some were charlatans? Amulet makers are by definition precisely that.

What does Catherine the Great have to do with the appearance of this new version of Judaism? Probably not a thing. Historical facts don't explain anything about the "why" nor, given all the geography and such, the "why here? Why now?" Kind of a disappointment.