Hasidism: Origins, Baal Shem Tov, Ideas and Currents

Fur hats, long black coats, wordless melodies, dances around a master called the Rebbe: the image of the Hasidim is familiar, and often reduced to a costume. Yet Hasidism (in Hebrew chassidut) is first and foremost a movement born in the eighteenth century in Eastern Europe, which sought to give back to every Jew, even the simplest, the joy of serving G-d and the certainty that his prayer counts as much as the learning of the scholar. This article goes back to the sources: the word itself, in the Mishna and the Talmud; the historical context; the Baal Shem Tov and his heirs; the central ideas, with Hasidic texts in Hebrew; the great quarrel with the Mitnagdim; the main currents; and finally what belongs to law (halakha), to custom and to mysticism.

In short: Hasidism is a current of Orthodox Judaism founded around Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov (“Master of the Good Name,” around 1698-1760), in Podolia (today in Ukraine). It stresses joy (simcha), attachment to G-d (dveikut), the divine presence in all things, the sincerity of prayer, and the role of the spiritual master, the tzaddik or Rebbe. It did not invent a new law: Hasidim observe the same halakha as other Orthodox Jews, with customs of their own. Its opponents, the Mitnagdim (“those who oppose”), among them the Gaon of Vilna, feared for the study of Torah and the rigor of the law. Today the two worlds have largely drawn closer, and Hasidism is divided into many “courts” (Chabad, Gur, Belz, Vizhnitz, Satmar, Breslev…).

An Ancient Word: What Does “Chassid” Mean?

The word comes from chesed, kindness, a benevolence that goes beyond what justice requires. Long before the eighteenth century, the Mishna and the Talmud speak of the chassid, and their texts shed light on what the movement would seek to recover.

The Mishna of the Fathers defines the chassid by his way of sharing:

“‘What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours’: the chassid.”

(Mishna Avot 5:10) — שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד.

He gives without calculation: he does not say “what is mine is mine” (the average measure, or even, some say, the “measure of Sodom”) nor “what is yours is mine” (the profiteer). The Talmud, for its part, asks how one becomes a chassid. Rav Yehuda answers: by fulfilling the laws on damages (those that protect others); Rava: by fulfilling the words of the Fathers; others: the laws of blessings.

“Rav Yehuda said: one who wishes to be a chassid, let him fulfill the laws on damages. Rava said: the words of the Fathers. And some say: the laws of blessings.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma 30a) — אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה: הַאי מַאן דְּבָעֵי לְמֶהֱוֵי חֲסִידָא – לְקַיֵּים מִילֵּי דִּנְזִיקִין. רָבָא אָמַר: מִילֵּי דְאָבוֹת. וְאָמְרִי לַהּ: מִילֵּי דִּבְרָכוֹת.

Another aspect, prayer, appears in the Mishna: “The early chassidim (chassidim rishonim) would wait one hour, then pray, in order to direct their hearts toward the Omnipresent” (Mishna Berakhot 5:1) — חֲסִידִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים הָיוּ שׁוֹהִים שָׁעָה אַחַת וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּכַוְּנוּ אֶת לִבָּם לַמָּקוֹם. Eighteenth-century Hasidism would claim this demand for intention (kavana) in prayer as its own.

Modern Hasidism should not be confused with the “Chassidei Ashkenaz,” a pious and moral movement of the Rhine valley in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, whose principal figure is Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid (died 1217) and whose work is the Sefer Chassidim. This is a different current, separated by more than five centuries. The two share the word, not the history.

When and Why Hasidism Was Born

The context is that of Poland-Lithuania in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The massacres of 1648-1649, linked to the Cossack uprising of Khmelnytsky, had wounded the communities of Ukraine. The episode of Shabbetai Tzvi (the false messiah of 1666) and its aftermath had left a deep distrust of mystical enthusiasm. Religious life, finally, was dominated by an elite of scholars, rabbis and yeshiva students; the simple Jew, who knew little Talmud, could feel left out. Hasidism responds to this situation: it affirms that the service of G-d is open to all, through the heart, prayer, joy and good conduct as much as through study.

The Baal Shem Tov: What We Know and What Tradition Tells

Yisrael ben Eliezer was born around 1698-1700 (the exact place, Okopy or Moldavia, is debated) and died in 1760 at Medzhybizh (Mezhbizh), in Podolia, where he had been settled since the 1740s. His nickname, Baal Shem Tov, means “master of the Good Name”: a baal shem was a man reputed to be a healer and wonder-worker, able to act through divine names. He left no book: his teachings were transmitted by his disciples, in particular Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye, whose Toldot Yaakov Yosef, printed at Korets in 1780, is the first Hasidic work to be published.

History must be distinguished from legend. Direct contemporary sources are rare: Polish census documents, from around 1740-1760, mention a “holy man” of Medzhybizh, a kabbalist and baal shem; beyond that, the accounts are late. The great collection of legends, the Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, dates from 1815. The historian Moshe Rosman invites us to read these accounts as testimonies of the tradition rather than as biographies.

The letter attributed to him and addressed to his brother-in-law Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, dated Rosh Hashana 5507 (1746), is a capital text of the Hasidic tradition. In it the Baal Shem Tov recounts an “ascent of the soul” in the course of which he asks the Mashiach: “When will you come, master?” The answer: when his teaching is made known in the world and his “wellsprings overflow outward.” This episode explains the missionary character of the movement: to spread spiritual life out to the margins. (On the authenticity and history of this letter, specialists hold nuanced views.)

A collection of sayings attributed to him, the Keter Shem Tov (published in 1794 and supplemented afterward), gathers a few of his ideas. Here is one, on the divine presence:

“In every movement the Creator, blessed be He, is to be found, for one cannot make any movement or say any word without the power of the Creator: this is the meaning of ‘the whole earth is full of His glory.'”

(Keter Shem Tov, attributed to the Baal Shem Tov) — בכל תנועה נמצא הבורא ית’ שא”א לעשות שום תנועה ושום דיבור בלי כח הבורא ית’ וזהו מלא כל הארץ כבודו.

His successor is Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch (1704-1772), who organized the teaching into a circle of disciples. They spread across Eastern Europe: people would speak of Hasidic “courts” led by a Rebbe, often designated after the town that housed him.

The Central Ideas of Hasidism

Joy

Joy is the first mark of Hasidism. It has ancient roots: “Serve the L-rd with gladness” (Tehilim 100:2), and the Talmud draws from this an almost physical rule: the divine presence does not rest on sadness.

“‘Serve the L-rd with gladness, come before Him with singing.'”

(Tehilim 100:2) — עִבְדוּ אֶת־ה׳ בְּשִׂמְחָה בֹּאוּ לְפָנָיו בִּרְנָנָה

“The Shekhina does not rest through sadness, nor through laziness, nor through laughter, nor through levity, nor through idle talk, nor through vain words, but through a word of joy connected to a mitzva.”

(Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30b) — אֵין שְׁכִינָה שׁוֹרָה לֹא מִתּוֹךְ עַצְבוּת וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ עַצְלוּת וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ שְׂחוֹק וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ קַלּוּת רֹאשׁ וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ שִׂיחָה וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ דְּבָרִים בְּטֵלִים, אֶלָּא מִתּוֹךְ דְּבַר שִׂמְחָה שֶׁל מִצְוָה

One must read the end of the sentence: it is the joy of a mitzva, not entertainment. Rabbi Nachman of Breslev (1772-1810), a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, would turn it into a famous formula:

“It is a great mitzva to be always in joy, and to strengthen oneself with all one’s strength to drive away sadness.”

(Likutei Moharan II, 24) — מִצְוָה גְּדוֹלָה לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד, וּלְהִתְגַּבֵּר לְהַרְחִיק הָעַצְבוּת וְהַמָּרָה שְׁחֹרָה בְּכָל כֹּחוֹ.

The same Rabbi Nachman also knows that life is not always joyful: “A person must cross a very narrow bridge, and the essential principle is not to be afraid at all” (Likutei Moharan II, 48) — וְדַע, שֶׁהָאָדָם צָרִיךְ לַעֲבֹר עַל גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאֹד מְאֹד, וְהַכְּלָל וְהָעִקָּר. Hasidic joy is not a refusal of pain: it passes through it.

Attachment to G-d (Dveikut)

The Torah asks us to “cling” to G-d: “But you who cling to the L-rd your G-d are all alive today” (Devarim 4:4) — שֶׁלֹּא יִתְפַּחֵד כְּלָל. And again: “…to love the L-rd your G-d, to walk in all His ways and to cling (uledovka) to Him” (Devarim 11:22). The Sages ask how a person can cling to the Shekhina, the divine presence: by joining with the wise and their disciples (Talmud, Ketubot 111b); and, regarding the verse “You shall walk after the L-rd your G-d” (Devarim 13:5), by imitating His attributes, clothing the naked, visiting the sick (Sota 14a). Hasidism made this attachment the center of avoda, the service of G-d. The sayings attributed to the Baal Shem Tov return to it constantly: dveikut is not reserved for moments of prayer, it can accompany a person at every moment, “even when he goes about his business.”

G-d Is Present in Everything, and We Serve Him Through Ordinary Acts Too

The vision is that of the verse of Isaiah: “Holy, holy, holy is the L-rd of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Yeshayahu 6:3) — וְאַתֶּם הַדְּבֵקִים בַּה׳ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם חַיִּים כֻּלְּכֶם הַיּוֹם. For Hasidism, there is no place and no activity where G-d is absent. Eating, speaking, working can become a service of G-d when one keeps Him in mind, which tradition calls avoda begashmiut, “service through the material.” The kabbalistic source is that of the “sparks” (nitzotzot) of holiness scattered in the world, which a person can “raise up” through his deeds (an idea from the Kabbalah of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Ari, in the sixteenth century).

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye, reporting the teaching of his master, expresses it in connection with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son coming out of the cave (Shabbat 33b): the path of kindness is the one on which G-d is served “in all the details of human action”:

“…the way of mercy, which is called the service of G-d in all the details of a person’s actions.”

(Toldot Yaakov Yosef, Vayetze) — דרך הרחמים, שנקרא עבודת הש”י בכל פרטי מעשה האדם

It is a way of telling ordinary people, craftsmen, merchants, mothers, that their daily life is the place of holiness. This rests on the verse of Mishlei: “In all your ways, know Him” (Mishlei 3:6).

The Soul, Humility, Demand

The intellectual branch of Hasidism, Chabad, gave the movement a reference work, the Tanya (“it was taught”), by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), published in 1796. In it he describes two souls in every Jew: the animal soul, the source of desires, and the divine soul:

“And the second soul, in Israel, is literally a part of G-d above.”

(Tanya, Likutei Amarim, chapter 2) — וְנֶפֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִית בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, הִיא חֵלֶק אֱלוֹהַּ מִמַּעַל מַמָּשׁ

This work does not propose only ecstasy: it invites each person to become a “beinoni,” an intermediate man, who commits no transgression and struggles every day (a principle developed in the following chapters). The Tanya opens with the warning of the Talmud: “They make him swear an oath: be righteous and do not be wicked, and even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, be in your own eyes as a wicked person” (Tanya, chapter 1, citing Niddah 30b). Joy and demand thus go together.

The Tzaddik, the Rebbe

The tzaddik, the “righteous one” to whom one attaches oneself, is the most visible figure of Hasidism: he guides, teaches and prays for his disciples, who visit him, hand him a note of request (kvitl) and take part in his “tisch,” the Shabbat table at which he teaches. Hasidic courts are often hereditary. In Breslev, by contrast, Rabbi Nachman, who died in 1810, named no successor: his disciples remain “attached” to him. In Chabad, the role of the Rebbe has expanded into a large network of emissaries (shluchim) throughout the world.

This centrality of the tzaddik is one of the points that worried the opponents: does it not risk diverting attention from G-d alone? Hasidic masters answer that the Rebbe is a guide, not an object of worship. (See the misconceptions below.)

The Mitnagdim and the Quarrel of 1772

Hasidism aroused fierce opposition, particularly in Lithuania, of which Vilna is the spiritual capital. The opponents are called “Mitnagdim.” The first great offensive dates from 1772: letters of excommunication (cherem) were issued against the Hasidim, notably from Vilna and other cities, with the support of the Gaon of Vilna, Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720-1797).

The reproaches concerned several points, according to historians: prayer at hours judged too late, the use of a different prayer rite (the Nusach Sefard, inspired by the Ari, in place of the Ashkenazi nusach), ritual slaughter knives held to stricter rules than others’, the creation of separate synagogues, and above all the fear that emotion and fervor would take precedence over the study of Talmud and the rigor of the law. This insistence on intention can be compared with what the “early chassidim” were already aiming at (Mishna Berakhot 5:1, cited above).

The story does not stop at opposition. The Gaon was himself a great kabbalist. His disciple Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821), founder of the great yeshiva of Volozhin in 1803, wrote the Nefesh HaChaim, which takes up many kabbalistic themes, in a framework where the study of Torah is the pinnacle of the service of G-d. The two paths, that of the heart and that of study, drew closer with time, notably in the face of the common threat of the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment) in the nineteenth century. Today, the heirs of the Mitnagdim are called “Litvaks” or “yeshivish” and stand within the Orthodox world, alongside the Hasidim.

A snowy street in a small Eastern European town at dusk, wooden houses with lit windows and chimney smoke

The Great Hasidic Currents

There is not one Hasidism, but dozens of courts, each with its Rebbe, its style, its history.

Chabad (Lubavitch). Founded by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya and of the Shulchan Aruch HaRav; its name is the acronym of Chochma, Bina, Daat (wisdom, understanding, knowledge), because it insists on the intellectual understanding of faith. Under the last Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), it developed a vast network of emissaries around the world. Some of the Hasidim saw in this Rebbe the Mashiach, which remains much debated in the Orthodox world.
Breslev. Founded by Rabbi Nachman of Breslev (1772-1810), known for his tales, his teachings on joy and on hitbodedut, solitude and personal speech to G-d. Without a successor.
Gur (Ger), Belz, Vizhnitz, Bobov, Satmar. Dynasties mostly originating in Poland, Galicia, Hungary or Romania; Satmar is the largest, according to the counts of the historian Marcin Wodziński (2016), followed by Chabad, Gur and Vizhnitz. According to this study, the Hasidic world numbers about 130,000 households, mostly in Israel and the United States.

The Holocaust destroyed entire courts, some of which numbered tens of thousands of followers in 1939 and did not survive. Many dynasties were reconstituted after the war in Israel, in America, in Belgium and elsewhere.

Halakha, Customs, Mysticism: Telling Them Apart

To understand Hasidism, several levels must be separated.

1. Halakha (law). Hasidim follow the Shulchan Aruch like other Orthodox Jews, with the halakhic authorities of their own current (Chabad follows its own Shulchan Aruch, that of Rabbi Shneur Zalman). There is no “Hasidic law” distinct from Jewish law. The differences mostly concern stringencies or customs (prayer times, slaughter, mikveh, etc.). 2. Minhagim (customs). Prayer according to Nusach Sefard or the Ari, dress, names, dances, Shabbat meals with the Rebbe, the observance of the night of Lag BaOmer, etc. These customs vary from court to court. The black attire of many Hasidim comes from the Eastern European fashion of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and is not a law; one should not confuse the garment with the substance (see our article on black and white clothing). 3. Mysticism. Hasidism draws on Kabbalah, especially that of the Ari, but translates it into inner life and psychology, and puts it within everyone’s reach. There are real differences of reading here: the Kabbalah of the Zohar is speculative and cosmic, while Hasidism wants to make it “useful” to the soul. 4. Stories. Tales (Rabbi Nachman) and stories of tzaddikim are a form of teaching; they are not read as historical facts, and it would be wrong to say that “Hasidim believe everything.” The masters themselves distinguish legend from halakha.

Common Misconceptions

“Hasidim = ultra-Orthodox Jews.” Hasidim are one part of the Orthodox world; there are also the Litvaks (descendants of the Mitnagdim) and traditional Sephardic communities that are not Hasidic.
“Hasidism is a sect.” No: it is a current within Orthodox Judaism, with the same Torah and the same halakha. It was violently opposed in its early days, but the quarrel has long since subsided.
“Hasidim worship their Rebbe.” False: the Rebbe is a guide; worship is due to G-d alone (see the thirteen principles of faith, fifth principle).
“Hasidim despise study.” This was the accusation of the Mitnagdim in the eighteenth century. In reality, study remains central, and the Hasidic courts have yeshivot. What changes is the emphasis: studying with the heart, with joy and with intention.
“The costume is required by the Torah.” No: it is a custom (minhag) from Eastern Europe.
“Chabad = all the Hasidim.” No: Chabad is one current among others, notable for its network of emissaries.

What Rav Raphaël Benizri Teaches

Without devoting a lecture to Hasidism as a movement, Rav Raphaël Benizri cites the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Breslev several times, and he sheds light on the very word “chassid.”

In his introduction to Pirkei Avot, he starts from the Talmud (Bava Kamma 30a): to be a chassid, must one apply the laws of damages, or the words of the Fathers? The debate, he says, concerns the source more than the content: is just conduct learned in law or in transmission? He then contrasts two figures: the tzaddik, like Noach, who “walks with G-d” step by step, the man of the rational; and the chassid, who “walks before”: he may stumble, but he announces a revealed word. This is Avraham, the man of chesed, whose “shield” is recalled in the first blessing of the prayer. He adds that chassidut is the ultimate degree before the holy spirit (ruach hakodesh), and that whoever does not know how to share with others cannot claim access to the secret of the absolute.

In the same lecture, he reports the prayer of the Baal Shem Tov: save Your people, but if You judge that they do not deserve it, save the other nations, for through their deliverance ours will come too. The Rav draws from this that one does not answer hatred with hatred.

In his lecture on Pirkei Avot 5 (“serving without reward”), he tells the story of the etrog: on the eve of Sukkot, the Baal Shem Tov cannot find an etrog; a man agrees to give his up only in exchange for his share in the World to Come; he accepts and dances that day more joyfully than ever, because he finally has proof that he does not serve G-d out of self-interest. In “Noach: The Liberation of Morals,” he tells the tale of the candelabrum by Rabbi Nachman: a son returns from exile saying that he has learned to make a menorah; no one likes his work, and he says he is fulfilled, because he wanted to show that each person has his own light.

The lectures cited are found on the site: Pirkei Avot, Part 1: Introduction, Pirkei Avot 5: Serving Without Reward, Noach: The Liberation of Morals.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hasidism

What is the difference between a Hasid and a Mitnaged?

Historically, the Hasid emphasizes fervor, joy and attachment to G-d, and follows a Rebbe; the Mitnaged, the heir of the Gaon of Vilna, emphasizes rigorous study of the Talmud and the discipline of the law. Both observe the same halakha and recognize each other today.

Who was the Baal Shem Tov?

Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer (around 1698-1760), settled at Medzhybizh in Podolia. He is known mainly through his disciples. He is considered the founder of Hasidism. The accounts surrounding his life are in large part legendary.

Why do Hasidim dance?

Because joy is a service of G-d (Tehilim 100:2; Shabbat 30b), and dance and song are forms of prayer. Rabbi Nachman made it a principle: “It is a great mitzva to be always in joy” (Likutei Moharan II, 24).

Is Hasidism a branch of Kabbalah?

Not exactly. It draws inspiration from Kabbalah, especially that of the Ari, but translates it into teaching for daily life and prayer. See the article on Kabbalah.

Are all Hasidim alike?

No. Chabad, Breslev, Gur, Belz, Satmar, Vizhnitz, Bobov and many other courts each have their own style, customs, Rebbe and sometimes very different positions.

Can one study Hasidism without being a Hasid?

Yes. The Tanya, the Keter Shem Tov or the Likutei Moharan are studied well beyond Hasidic communities; one approaches them with a teacher, after a solid grounding in Torah, as with Kabbalah.

Can a Sephardic Jew be a Hasid?

Hasidism was born in Eastern Europe, in an Ashkenazi setting. Today there are Sephardim drawn to Chabad or Breslev, and Hasidism is present in many communities. But the Sephardic tradition has its own spiritual history (see Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews).

What Is Hasidism?