How Will Freedom Look Tomorrow?

In 1648, the Cossack massacres in Poland led by Bogdan Chmielnicki plunged European Jewry into nearly a century of spiritual darkness. Peasant uprisings fomented against the Polish nobility, with the Jews caught in the middle, left at least 100,000 dead, and perhaps many times that number.

Many Jews sought meaning within the senseless violence by imagining that the bloodshed constituted the chevlei Moshiach – the birthpangs of the messianic era. The appearance of the false messiah Shabbtai Tzvi raised, then dashed, the hopes of thousands, spreading depression and despair through Jewish communities across Europe.

The sages of Europe, fearing the rise of other charismatic personalities that might draw Jews desperate for hope into folly, issued decrees against the teaching of mysticism and against practices that might, by enflaming the emotions, lead the people astray. According to the law of unintended consequences, these edicts left many Jews without the means of expressing themselves spiritually and condemned them to life without either joy or inspiration.

It was a dismal time for European Jewry. The average Jew lacked sufficient scholarship to find inspiration in learning. Expressions of the heart and soul were not allowed. Potential leaders, like the saintly Ramchal, were literally chased out of Europe.

The appearance of Rav Yisroel Ba’al Shem Tov changed everything. Controversial, contested, and at first universally condemned, the Ba’al Shem Tov persisted against his many detractors and spread his message of inspired joy. The Chassidic movement transformed Europe, until even its most vehement opponents could no longer deny that it had saved the soul of European Jewry.

In stark contrast to many the reformers who would soon attempt to revitalize Judaism by stripping it of both form and content, the Ba’al Shem Tov offered no new ideas. Rather, he sought to re-emphasize that which had fallen dormant, stressing aspects of traditional Torah philosophy that had been actively suppressed. For his efforts, the Torah establishment demonized him and persecuted his early followers with vitriolic passion.

Perhaps, as we enter into the Festival of Freedom and prepare to celebrate HaShem’s overthrow of the Egyptian nation that oppressed us, it’s worth our while to contemplate whether a bit of revolutionary spirit is not consistent with Torah ideology. Condescension for – or outright contempt toward – legitimate expressions of Orthodoxy characterizes too much of today’s Orthodox community. When superficiality increasingly characterizes the right, when complacency increasingly characterizes the left, when arrogance and indifference frequent every quarter, uncompromising adherence to the status quo seems an unlikely recipe for redemption.

Virtually no one today would question the legitimacy of the Ba’al Shem Tov and his movement. It is sobering to contemplate how much violence was justified in the name of Truth and Torah in the early conflict between the Chassidim and Misnagdim. If the tensions and frustrations that afflict so many Torah Jews today can be directed and channeled by our leaders, perhaps we can prevent a similar upheaval. If not, the tortured history of those ideological adversaries may provide a solemn prophecy of what lies ahead.

6 comments on “How Will Freedom Look Tomorrow?

  1. Hello,
    An interesting topic.
    I have been reading a couple of secular histories of the Churban Sheni. One entitled, Apoclaypse, using Josephus as a primary source, identifies the several strands of Judaism, which fed the Revolution against Rome.
    The Zealots, Sicarians (Masada group with close ties to Zealots), the Essenes of Qumran (who were involved in the Battle of Jerusalem), the local aristocracy and propertied class (of which Josephus was a member, before he lost his battle as commander of Galil), and so on.
    At the end of the book, the author makes a critical reference to R. Yochanan Ben Zakkai and his establishment of an ‘accomodating’ Jewish tradition. This is in juxtaposition to the revolution of the peasant farmers, rallied to the Zealots. The Zealots, he identifies as ritual-oriented, maintaining the Bet HaMikdash schedule of sacrifices until the very last days of 70 CE destruction.
    The author inferring from Josephus, the relationship of growing banditry in the hills, knifings in the streets of Yerushalayim (by Sicarians targetting class enemies {the historian gives this revolution a class struggle definition}) (By the way, I inferred a little more background to the story of Resh Lakish and R. Yochanan Ben Zakkai, Resh Lakish being a bandit, probably a faithful Zealot, left over from the Roman destruction).
    With that background, I come to my idea about revolutionary Judaism. It seems that in those days there was a revolutionary Judaism, apocalyptically mobilized by the growing poverty, brutality of Rome, and offensive living on the Hellenized Greeks in the coastal plain.
    We should not forget, that economic justice is an important principle in our Masora, in my opinion. Treating the stranger with love, dealing with slaves with respect to them and their family, treatment of the Hebrew slave, debt relief during shmitta (which certain heters nullify, which bespeaks a bigger challenge: how do we justify indebtedness that leads to enslavement, both physical debilitating and spiritually enfeebling?) How I as a businessman will be judged in Olam Emet for keeping fair weights, not salting my measures.
    The crucible of Judea in the period of the late Hasmonean dynasty to Bar Kochba speaks of several traditions, some of which might provide us with direction and valid ideas for dealing with issues of enriching our traditions today.
    For instance, R. Shulman’s drasha this shabbos, drew an important line from VaYikra to American Founding Fathers’ inscription on the Liberty Bell: Declare Liberty throughout the Land.
    As we seek the richness of an existential spirituality, I believe, we must be vigilant that we do not seek the charisma strictly for the good feeling state it may engender. If past experience is any measure of the future, such isolated and alienated spiritualism can lead to horrible consequences.
    Yet, to heed only the physical circumstances and to seek justice as a laundry list of efforts and demands, this too will not create the ‘revolution from within’.
    Just some thoughts.

    Ronnie Fredman

  2. Rabbi Goldson,

    Yes, you did. And I, for one, have no doubts about your meaning. But it’s a crucial point that cannot be stressed too often. History has shown the havoc revolutionaries can wreak when they lack proper guidance.

  3. RC,

    I think I made it clear that innovation must remain within the bounds of normative Judaism when I wrote:

    “In stark contrast to many the reformers who would soon attempt to revitalize Judaism by stripping it of both form and content, the Ba’al Shem Tov offered no new ideas.”

    I like your observation about reforming Jews and not Judaism very much.

  4. “it’s worth our while to contemplate whether a bit of revolutionary spirit is not consistent with Torah ideology”.

    Intersting point. But we must bear in mind that a revolutionary spirit is consistent with Torah ideology only when it is informed every step of the way by the halachos and hashkafos of Torah. Otherwise, it will inevitably go off the rails.

    The Baal Shem Tov WAS a reformer, as was Rav Yisrael Salanter, and as was Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch. But they wanted to referm JEWS, not JUDAISM.

  5. Ron kean said, “The conflict between the Hasidim and Misnagdim didn’t have violence like we Jews know violence.”

    Ron, please bring support for this assertion.

  6. The conflict between the Hasidim and Misnagdim didn’t have violence like we Jews know violence. R’ Hayyim of Volozhim was an underrated hero of this mostly rhetorical conflict by abrogating the cherem and stressing the rule that one has to be over 40 to learn mysticism.

    Forgive me for using your thread to plug my opera about the Baal Shem Tov:

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