Discuss Perspectives of Deveikut

Discuss Hasidic and Mitnagdic perspectives of the concept of ‘Torah Lishma’.

…ולשמה היינו כדי לקשר נפשו לה' ע"י השגת התורה.

“For its own sake – meaning in order to connect one’s soul to G-d through attainment through Torah.^[1]

        Taken in isolation, this quote could easily be mistaken for a quote from Nefesh HaChaim. The fact it forms a large part of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi’s credo makes trying to understand the source of the Hasidic-Mitnagdic rift, as well as their different approaches to the subject all the more difficult.

Within all of this subject matter, there is a need to discern a particular point of contention from which all other points of contention can be derived. To use a Talmudic metaphor, this would be referred to as a nekudat hamachloket (central point of dispute) and a nafka mina (practical difference or ramification). In our context, this would necessitate asking the following questions: “What was the most incendiary point that caused the uniquely introverted GRA to declare all-out war against the Hasidic movement? How did the Hasidic movement respond? Who was prominent in leading this opposition? How did they justify their position, going up against the most pre-eminent sage of the generation?

        There are other questions that will also need to be examined, namely, how did Mitnagdic attitudes evolve with respect to the approach towards Torah Lishma? How far were Hasidic attitudes assimilated into the corpus of mainstream Jewish thought? Following the death of the GRA, were there a softening of attitudes towards the Hasidic movement, and was this reflected in subsequent Mitnagdic writings?

        It will be necessary to spend some time defining terms, firstly: Hasidism. The word is derived from the Hebrew word Hasid, pietist, which was ascribed to individuals who took on particularly strict and ascetic practices, such as regular fasting, self-flagellation and rolling naked in snow^[2], even though they were not required by Jewish Law (Halakhah). The term has been used throughout Jewish literature and can be traced back as far as the Babylonian Talmud. These pietists were also known to be very knowledgeable in the esoteric side of Jewish thought, specifically, that of Kabbalah. It being understood in Jewish tradition, though, one was discouraged from studying the so-called “hidden wisdom” until one had reached proficiency in the more exoteric wisdom i.e. Talmud, had reached a certain age, and was married^[3]. The emergence of Hasidic movement however, can only really be fixed from after the death of Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezhirech, in 1772^[4]. It was his contemporaries and disciples that diffused across Eastern Europe, such as Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Habad Hasidism.