[Cz-L] information about the Rebbes

Following the latest correspondence about the Rebbes and Czernowitz,
I would like to correct a few mistaken views about the Rebbe's
(distinct from the Rabbis in Yiddish vernacular). It is true that in
German the Rebbe was called WunderRabbi, (I do not know who coined
this expression), but this was not perceived as his function.

In order not to be suspected of being an orthodox defender of
Hassidism, I wish to declare that though I was educated in an
orthodox family and milieu (Yeshiwoth in Wijnitz and Jerusalem) I am
utterly irreligious and critical of the theological foundation of
Hassidism. However, since I know it from the inside and most of my
family members are fervent Hassidim, I believe being able to think
about this movement in an impartial way.

I do not intend to go into the question of the circumstances that
engendered the emergence of the Hassidic Movement and its founder the
Baal Shem Tov in Mezritch, Ukraine, and soon expanded in that area,
despite the strong opposition of the Lithuanian intellectual Jews,
led by the charismatic and legendary Gaon of Wilna. It demonstrates
that this movement fulfilled the need of this segment of the Jewish
society in that area and at that time. It offered the wretched Jews
hope, a path to attain, by intermediary of the Rebbe, an intimacy
with God (a sort of Christian Communion) and a motive for joy,
expressed by ecstatic song and dance.

The Rebbe does not make wonders; the Hassidim believe that he has a
closer relationship to God than they have, and therefore ask him to
pray for them to God and plead for the fulfillment of their requests.
The Hassidim present to the Rebbe a written note (a Kwittel) with
their name and requests and he wishes them a realization of their
requests. The Rebbe's wish is a pleading to God, and when it is
fulfilled the Hassidim believe that it occurred because of the
Rebbe's invocation, and possibly a miracle, when the Rabbe's promise
happened. This is not identical with the assumption that the Rebbe
made miracles, but rather that God made the miracles, induced by the
Rebbe's invocation.

Though, as said above, I am critical of the current hassidic
movement, from many aspects, it is nowadays a vibrant segment of
Jewish society, spread over the entire world, and as such is studied
and researched in many academies. One can accept it or rebut it, but
it is not a subject of derision. As a matter of fact, The Jewish
community of Czernowitz was composed roughly of 3 segments: at one
end the orthodox, who kept the Sabbath and other religious
obligations, at the other end assimilated Jews, who barely could read
the Kaddish in Hebrew characters, and in the middle the bulk of
society, whose stores were open on Sabbath, but went to the Synagogue
for prayers Sabbath morning and holidays, and gave "Kwittels" to the
Rebbes at their visit to Czernowitz. There were very few real
"Epicorsim" (from the Greek philosopher Epicurus) or atheists in
Czernowitz.

I do not take a position whether the tales of the Rebbes has a place
in the Czernowitz website, I just thought it appropriate to inform
objectively, as I believe, its readers of the hassidic movement's
nature.

Pessach/Paul Heger

P.S. Answer to Mimi: The Rabbi of Sadigura or as called the Sadigurer
Rebbe was a scion of the Ruzhin Dynasty, started by the Ruzhiner, who
escaped from Russia and settled in Sadugura. They behaved like a
royal dynasty; the male children, usually except one who remained,
left Sadigura and became the Rebbe of the location where they lived,
taking the name of the town, as for example, Boianer, from Boian in
Bukovina, Kipitchinizer from a "stettl" in Galizia and so on. The
Wijnitzer Rebbe came from another dynasty, founded by Rabbi Menahem
Mendel of Kossov, a town in Galizia, close to Wijnitz in Bukovina.
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Received on 2009-11-05 12:03:12