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Chasidim and Old Order Amish: A Comparison The two groups to be examined are
the Chasidim and the Old Order Amish. We will begin with a brief look at the
history of each group. The Chasidim, or Hasidim, as more commonly known, are a
cult within the tradition of Judaism. The word “Hasid” derives from the Hebrew
word for “pious”. Hasidism dates back to the early eighteenth century and
originated in central and Eastern Europe.
Its founder was a man named Israel ben
Eliezer (c.1700-1760). He is otherwise known as the Baal Shem Tov. In Hebrew
“Baal Shem” means, “master of the [good] name”. It is a title given to men who
are endowed with mystical powers. According to Hasidic belief, Adonai (God)
chooses these men.
The Baal Shem Tov taught a new way of practicing Judaism that
was strikingly different than what was considered acceptable at that time. It
was his contention that God was everywhere and in all things—including man.
There was no need for rigorous study of Torah (the Pentateuch, or Five Books of
Moses).
A man’s education—or lack thereof, is unimportant. Accordingly, an
honest prayer from an unlearned Jew is just as powerful than a prayer made by a
talmid chachem (an expert in Talmud).
The Besht insisted that unity with God was
possible through spontaneous prayer, ecstatic emotion, song, and dance. Jews
were to embrace their raw emotions, release their passions—and not to suppress
them as they might interfere with the analytic study of Judaism. This new way of
worship was unlike anything that had been previously seen in Judaism.
It
appealed to great numbers of Jews, namely the uneducated masses. The rise of
popularity of Hasidism was also aided by its timing. As Leo Rosten writes about
the Baal Shem Tov in his book The Joys of Yiddish, “He brought the excitement of
hope into the lives of Polish Jewry, who had been decimated during a decade of
savage Cossack progroms.
” Despite the renewed enthusiasm it engendered, it also
found strong opposition, namely from the misnagdim. For the misnagdim, study
figures as the supreme religious act. This is not so for the Hasidim. The
teachings of the Besht place an emphasis on the doing of mitzvahs. The literal
translation of this Hebrew word is “commandment” but when used commonly
“mitzvah” refers to any virtuous deed.
The Talmud-studying community considered
the Baal Shem Tov outrageous and heretical. However, this did not appear to
bother the Besht over-much as he “…derided the learned Talmudists, branding them
sterile pedants who “through sheer study of the Law have no time to think about
God.”” Despite the opposition the Hasidim grew to include approximately 10,000
Jews. After the death of the Baal Shem Tov in 1760, Rabbi Dov Baer took over as
the leader of the Hasidim.
It was during his leadership that the teachings of
the Baal Shem Tov were organized into a set doctrine. Hasidim membership grew
during this period, causing Jewish authorities to grow concerned and
subsequently to impose a ban on Hasidim. Nevertheless, Hasidism continued to
thrive in Europe until the rise of the third Reich.
It was after the devastation
of the Holocaust that the Hasidim immigrated to the United States. The decision
to leave Europe for America did not come easily, “Many Hasidim feared that the
religious and political freedoms of the United States would finish the job that
Hitler could not finish in the ovens of Auschwitz.” .
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