Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 399-400. The title given from the earliest days of the movement to the hasidic master, probably in order to distinguish him from the rav, the traditional rabbinic leader. Although the term “tzaddik” is used in the hasidic literature for the holy guide and…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 375–77. In the traditional rabbinic scheme, prayer, for all its significance, yields to the study of the Torah as the supreme religious obligation. In Hasidism, however, there is a marked tendency to give priority to prayer. The early hasidic text Keter Shem Tov…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 357. The identification of the all with God. Hasidic thought has frequently been described as pantheistic in that it tends to see God as the only ultimate reality, so that He is “in” all things. However, Hasidism, for all its stress on the…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 316-18. In every version of Hasidism it is believed that the tzaddik, as the channel through which the divine grace flows, has the power to perform miracles, the miracle (mofet) being conceived of as a supernatural intervention by means of which the laws…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 314-15. The high spiritual value connected to frequent immersion in the ritual bath (mikveh) is stressed in Hasidism from its early beginnings and in every branch of the movement, though there is a hasidic tradition that, because of an infirmity, the Maggid of…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 311-12. In his famous letter to his brother-in-law—Gershom of Kutov (printed at the end of Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye’s Ben Porat Yosef)—the Besht describes a meeting he had with the Messiah during an ascent of soul. On the Besht’s requesting the Messiah to…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 275. A halakhic authority of universal recognition, Landau was a determined opponent of Hasidism, considering the claim made for the hasidic tzaddik as a “seer” (ro’eh) gifted with prophetic powers to be a serious departure from the rabbinic norm. His particular opposition was…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 265-6. Klippot are shells or husks, the name given in the Kabbalah to the demonic forces. The klippot are nourished by the good and holy but seek to destroy them or, at least, to encroach on their domain. The Shekhinah is especially prone…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 259-60. Intention, or concentration, especially during prayer. The concept of kavvanah (lit., directing, i.e., the mind) has had a long and complicated history, The Talmud frequently urges the worshiper to maintain kavvanah during prayers, where the meaning of kavvanah is twofold: having God…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 249-52. Although a number of the hasidic masters—the Maggid of Kozienice, Barukh of Kossov, Tzvi Hirsch of Zydaczov, Yitzhak Eizig of Komarno and his son Elazer Tzvi, the tzaddikim of Munkacs, and all the Habad leaders—were expert in the Kabbalah, Hasidism generally places…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 246. Joy is a key concept in Hasidism; its opposite, atzvut (melancholia), is held to be, as a well-known hasidic maxim has it, not a sin in itself but the main cause of sin. As in other areas, the hasidic teachings on joy…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 188-92. The followers of the Besht did not coin the term hasidim with which to describe themselves but found it ready to hand among the early eighteenth-century ascetics and pneumatics, groups of whom existed in Eastern Europe and some of whose forms together…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 169-71. The legal side of Judaism, the practice and study of the rules, customs, and observances. There is no doubt, despite occasional accusations to the contrary on the part of the Mitnaggedim, that the hasidim always accepted the complete authority of the halakhah…....

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 133-4. It cannot be maintained that there is a special hasidic doctrine of free will. The hasidic sources, when referring, as they do frequently, to human freedom, generally content themselves with simply repeating the standard Jewish teaching that man is free; otherwise there…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 124. Ansky’s very popular play The Dybbuk has, as a central theme, an exorcism practiced by a hasidic tzaddik. There are, in fact, numerous tales of tzaddikim being called upon to use their magical powers to drive out a dybbuk (lit., “attachment”). The…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 123-4. Atheistic existentialism, in which nothing is given, not even God, is obviously at variance with Hasidism. Religious existentialism, with its preference for involvement over detachment, its mistrust of rationalism or attempts at “proving” the existence of God, its recognition of the importance…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 121-3. The principle behind hasidic exegesis of the Bible, as evidenced in the classical hasidic works, is that of the Zohar (III, 152a), according to which, in addition to the plain meaning, Scripture has an esoteric meaning, the “soul of the Torah.” Once…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 100. The term generally used in Hasidism for burning enthusiasm in prayer and worship is hitlahavut, from lahav, a flame. The term used for the raptures that result from the nearness of God in prayer and worship is hitpaalut, from paal, to do,…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 99-100. Eating as an act of devotion occupies a prominent place in hasidic life and thought. In addition to the sacred meal in which the hasidim gather round the tzaddik (the tish, “table”) and eat of the food he has consecrated (shirayyim), the…...

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 88. Attachment to God, cleaving to Him in thought at all times, having God in the mind constantly—this idea is found in the work of a number of medieval authors, especially in Nahmanides’ comment: “To love the Lord your God, to walk in…...