The Knife that Split Communities
And How Technology Came to the Rescue.
In the winter of 1772 two members of the new Hasidic movement visited Elijah, the renowned sage of Vilna (modern day Vilnius). The two Hasidim, Shneur Zalman of Liady and Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk were both important figures in the hasidic world, leaders whose names are still venerated today. Yet they were both overawed by the very thought of the man they were planning to visit. Also known as the Vilna Gaon, Elijah was universally acknowledged as the leading rabbinic authority of his generation, an austere scholar, who, according to rumour, studied continually, day and night; keeping his feet in a bowl of cold water to stop himself from falling asleep.
The Hasidic movement was still in its infancy when Shneur Zalman and Menahem Mendel travelled to Vilna. The movement had started as a small mystical circle, followers of the charismatic Israel ben Eliezer, better known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, Master of the Good Name. Shneur Zalman and Menahem Mendel were students of the Ba’al Shem’s chief disciple; and it was under their generation’s leadership that Hasidism started to develop into a large and flourishing institution. As the movement grew in popularity and influence, it began to encounter significant opposition.
Hasidism was an enthusiastic, exuberant form of religion with an emphasis on piety, ecstasy and joy. Its opponents criticised it for deviating from traditional forms of prayer and religious observance. They didn’t like the wild and noisy way in which Hasidim prayed, some were even said to turn somersaults or stand on their heads as they worshipped. Nor did they like the white garments that Hasidim wore on festivals; garments, that traditionally, they said, should only have been worn by serious kabbalists. They objected to Hasidic laxity over prayer times, over the forms of prayer they adopted and their preference for studying the mystical kabbalah rather than the more formal, legalistic Talmud. They most certainly did not like the fact that the Hasidim appeared to be breaking away from the traditional social and communal structures, regarding themselves almost as if they were a separate community.
The opposition to the Hasidim was led by Elijah of Vilna. He used his tremendous authority and reputation to encourage his followers to formulate legal challenge to the Hasidim, but that wasn’t the real reason why he objected to them. He knew, far more than most, that there was nothing wrong with what the Hasidim were doing, that their practices may have been decidedly odd but they weren’t in defiance of religious law. The reason why he objected to them was his fear that history might be about to repeat itself.