Untold Tales of the Hasidim

by Assaf, David; Ordan, Dena

• ISBN13: 9781611681949
• ISBN10: 1611681944
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-12
• Publisher: Brandeis Univ

Summary

This fascinating volume reveals some of the dark, dramatic episodes concealed in the folds of the hasidic --cloak--shocking events and anomalous figures in the history of Hasidism. Using tools of detection, Assaf extracts historical truth from a variety of sources by examining how the same events are treated in different memory traditions, whether hasidic, maskilic, or modern historical, and tells the stories of individuals from the hasidic elites who found themselves unable to walk the trodden path. By placing these episodes and individuals under his historical lens, Assaf offers a more nuanced historical portrayal of Hasidism in the nineteenth-century context.

Author Biography

David Assaf is professor of modern Jewish history at the Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University.

Table of Contents

Preface to the English-language Edition	p. xi
Translator's Note	p. xv
List of Abbreviations	p. xvii
Introduction	p. xix
ôLies My Teacher Told Meö: Hasidic History as a Battlefield	p. 1
Orthodox Historiography's Strategies of Memory and Repression	p. 7
ôI Too Am Not Objectiveö: History as It Should Have Been	p. 27
Apostate or Saint? In the Footsteps of Moshe, the Son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady	p. 29
ôWould That My Parents Had Been Cruelö: Straying Children of Zaddikim and Rabbis	p. 30
ôAnd to Anger You I Will Convertö: Parent-Child Relations and Conversion	p. 31
Polemic and Apologetic Memory	p. 34
ôHe Has Regained His Former Strengthö: Moshe Prior to His Conversion	p. 35
Leon Yulievich or Piotr Aleksandrovich? The Archival Testimony	p. 40
ôHe Had Done So in Sane, Sound Mindö: Maskilic Memory Traditions	p. 48
ôHe Was in His Right Mindö: The Apostates' Testimony	p. 58
In the Historian's Workshop	p. 64
ôThe Time Has Come for Moshe's Story to Be Revealedö: Hasidic Memory Traditions	p. 76
ôHe First Lost His Mind and Then Left His Faithö	p. 91
ôIt Never Happenedö? The Ongoing Struggle over Memory Traditions	p. 94
One Event, Multiple Interpretations: The Fall of the Seer of Lublin	p. 97
ôA Flame Hovering over His Headö: The Seer of Lublin in His Hasidim's Eyes	p. 97
ôThis Was No Simple Matterö: The Fall of the Seer in Hasidic Memory Tradition	p. 99
ôFoolish and Ignorantö: The Seer of Lublin in His Opponents' Eyes	p. 102
Ma'asei harav or Sefer nekiyut uferishut: The Satire's Transmission and Its Author's Identity	p. 104
Sefer nekiyut uferishuk Structure and Content	p. 108
ôFrom Drunkenness and Heavy-headedness I Fellö: Tracing the Maskilic Version of the Fall	p. 111
The Seer's Fall: A Suicide Attempt?	p. 116
ôHappy Are the Persecutedö: The Opposition to Bratslav Hasidism	p. 120
Three Waves of Persecution	p. 120
ôA Fearful, Soul-shaking, Bone-shattering, Dispiriting Sceneö: The Maskilic Testimony	p. 122
ôPer the Hooligans' Codeö: The Talne Hasidim's Anti-Bratslav Campaign	p. 126
The Rzhishchev Affair and the Edict Forbidding Zaddikim to Travel	p. 128
ôThe Bratslav Hasidim Eat Treyfö: The Teplik Scandal	p. 137
ôThey Are Not Beholden to Any of the Leaders of Our Timeö: The Clash over Obedience	p. 142
ôGod Seeks the Persecutedö: The Reflection of the Persecutions in Bratslav Historiography	p. 144
The Persecutions Continue	p. 149
ôLegacy of a Mistakeö: An Epilogue?	p. 152
ôExcitement of the Soulö: The World of Rabbi Akiva Shalom Chajes of Tulchin	p. 154
From Foe to Friend	p. 154
Chajes's Literary Legacy	p. 155
ôOut of My House, Impure One!ö Rabbi Akiva Chajes in Light of Memoir Literature	p. 157
Rabbi Akiva Chajes's Change of Heart	p. 164
Rabbi Akiva Chajes's Appointment as Rabbi of Dubova and the Kadavar Controversy	p. 170
In the Thicket of Memory	p. 175
ôHow Times Have Changedö: The World of Rabbi Menahem Nahum Friedman of Itscan	p. 175
Hasidism and Philosophy	p. 175
Biography	p. 177
Literary Legacy	p. 180
ôReligious Zeal Is a Plague Recounted in the Torahö: Between Innovation and Conservatism	p. 193
Disregard or Polemic? Hatov vehatakhlit	p. 197
A Humanist among Hasidim?	p. 200
ôWhat Befell the Rebbes' Grandchildren Who Left the Foldö?	p. 202
ôIt Is Forbidden to Uphold This Bookö	p. 204
ôConfession of My Tortured, Afflicted Soulö: The World of Rabbi Yitshak Nahum Twersky of Shpikov	p. 206
Shpikov Hasidism	p. 206
Biography	p. 207
ôFreedom, Freedom!ö The Twersky Sisters	p. 210
ôA Sacrifice on My Mother's Altarö: Taking Stock of the Confession	p. 213
ôThe Spirit of the Timesö: The Confession's Historical Context	p. 216
ôMy Tiny, Ugly Worldö: The Text of the Confession	p. 218
Notes	p. 237
Works Cited	p. 311
Index	p. 325
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