Habad Contemplation in Context

Habad teachings on prayer give a personal, individualistic dimension to the life of the hasid, as do Bratslav teachings on hitbodedut. Further, Habad teachings on contemplation, particularly in the twentieth century, constitute an interesting form of response to modernity: a reaching into the deep spiritual resources of hasidism in order to confront a changing world. However, would spiritually demanding systems of contemplation be relevant to the average member of the hasidic community? Does Habad contemplation lead away from the world or towards it? Such issues are discussed in this chapter together with consideration of examples of the contemplative individual, who, rather than being a lone mystic, fulfils a significant role in Habad society as a mashpia, spiritual guide, seeking to bond people together and maintain awareness of spiritual values.

The Hasid and the ‘Other’

At this point I am enlarging on the theme of the previous chapter. The concept of hafatsah, of bursting through borders, recognizes and enfranchises the ‘other’. Or does it? We saw the steps which Rabbi Menachem Schneerson and his Habad movement made towards the estranged Jew. But what about the non-Jew? Does he or she remain irredeemably ‘other’, beyond the sacred canopy?

Hippy in the Mikveh: The Hasidic Ethos and the Schisms of Jewish Society

This chapter and the next consider the same phenomenon from different perspectives. The present chapter is a story of historical processes: the emergence of the enclave form of the haredi paradigm, contrasting with early hasidic inclusivism and the revival of the inclusivist ethos in twentieth-century Habad. Chapter 2, with the ‘Sacred Epistle’ of the Ba’al Shem Tov at its centre, considers the development of Habad outreach in terms of the idea, expressed in the Ba’al Shem Tov’s letter, that the ‘spreading forth of the wellsprings’ hastens the advent of the messiah.

Habad, the Rebbe, and the Messiah in the Twenty-First Century

We have looked at a number of aspects of the Habad-Lubavitch movement in their historical context: its relationship with general Jewish society, the theme of outreach, including beyond the Jewish community, rationalism, the role of the individual, contemplation, women, the messianic idea, and the fact that Rabbi Menachem Mendel passed away without a successor. This concluding chapter explores some further theological questions: What are the positions within Habad in relation to the teachings of the last Rebbe and his messianic thrust? What might the contemporary movement have to say for the future?

From Ladies’ Auxiliary to Shluchos Network: Women’s Activism in Twentieth-Century Habad

The previous chapter focused on changes in the education and roles of women in early twentieth-century eastern Europe and on later developments in the West. We considered the women and girls of Satmar, Bais Yaakov, and Habad, with some attention to the Habad sheluḥah, the empowered woman who, with her husband, was sent by Rabbi Menachem Mendel to strengthen Judaism and create a Habad outpost in a locale often far from the organized hasidic or haredi community where she was brought up. In this chapter I examine some of the details of this process, in which young hasidic women are transformed into charismatic sources of Jewish inspiration for their communities and sometimes further afield.

Finding and Transcending the Individual

The focus on rationalism in Habad leads us to consider another aspect of the nature of hasidism: what, if anything, is the role of the individual? The crucial relationship of the hasid with the tsadik immediately presents the contemporary mind with the question of personal freedom and individuality. An early twentieth-century Yiddish song, ‘And when the Rebbe sings, all the hasidim sing’, describes the hasidim as imitating their rebbe. In another stereotype, based on contemporary observable fact, the hasid would not take a job, move to a new home, or decide to get married without first asking the rebbe. These images obviously run counter to a central theme of modernity: the autonomy and independence of the individual. To what extent do hasidic followers see themselves as individuals? How might this question relate to the history of hasidism, and to its context in Western culture?

The Ba’al Shem Tov’s ‘Sacred Epistle’ and Contemporary Habad Outreach

Historical processes often revolve around ideas, and ideas are formulated in texts. This chapter investigates the way a somewhat mysterious phrase in a letter of the Ba’al Shem Tov became the key to the development of the outreach ethos in twentieth-century Habad.

Introduction

This chapter analyses the theme of German Orthodoxy and eastern European Hasidism that is fragmented by modernity. It provides a study of Hasidism, particularly of Habad-Lubavitch Hasidism, from its beginnings to the present. It also focuses on the thought and activities of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe named Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson and looks at a variety of contrasts, including premodern and postmodern, enclave and outreach, particularism and universalism, faith and reason, and rationality and mysticism. The chapter mentions Dr. Judith Grunfeld and her significance for the Bais Yaakov movement in the 1920s in Kraków. It concentrates the study of Habad thought and their historical and social context, using conventional methods of analysis to find an existential guide to life.

Habad Messianism: A Combination of Opposites

The previous chapters about women in Habad hasidism brought together concepts such as the Lower Unity, in which the Divine is recognized in the here and now, and the empowerment of women to ‘spread the wellsprings’. For observers of contemporary Habad it is clear that a central goal of this empowerment is the quest to bring about the messianic redemption. In this chapter I explore some of the inherent combinations of opposites in that ideal.

Women and the Dialectic of Spirituality in Hasidism

This chapter concerns the role of women in Hasidism and in Habad, which is considered pivotal in terms of the relation of Hasidism to modernity. It discusses how Hasidism is openly premodern with its rigorous modesty rules and other strictures that limit female public participation in religious life. It also outlines modernistic elements that recognize and empower womanhood. The chapter focuses on Ada Rapoport-Albert's famous article in 1988 entitled On Women in Hasidism: S. A. Horodecky and the Maid of Ludmir Tradition, which debunked the significance of the Maid of Ludmir as a female rebbe and Horodecky's belief that 'the woman was given complete equality in the hasidic movement'. It presents the idea of a dialectic of spirituality in Hasidism.