One of the
great Rabbis
who lived in
Poland in the
mid 19th century
was Reb Tzadok
Hakohen. Reb
Tzadok came
from a family
that opposed
Chassidism .
From a young
age he was
known as an Ilui, a Talmudic genius.
Unfortunately, his marriage to his first
wife was complicated and Reb Tzadok
wanted a Get from his wife. Because his
wife refused to give him the Get, Reb
Tzadok started out on a journey to collect
the signatures of one hundred Rabbis
known as "Heter Maoh Rabbonim", that
would allow him to remarry. Among the
many Chassidic Rebbes that Reb Tzadok
visited was none other then Rabbi
Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the Ishbitzer
Rebbe. In Ishbitz, the Rebbe wasn't able
to give Reb Tzadok his signature on the
spot so Reb Tzadok sat in the house of
Study and listened to the Ishbitzer Rebbe
give a lecture. The Ishbitzer Rebbe was
unique in being so innovative in his
thinking that Reb Tzadok saw in his
teaching something that surpassed his
already towering intellect that was considered
one of the greatest of Poland.
Reb Tzadok went back home and eventually
was given a Get by his wife without
the "Heter Maoh Rabbonim", but his
inspiration from Ishbitz captured his
imagination and he became a Chosid.
This was a time of great of change in
Eastern Europe. People were questioning
the status quo. Many people broke with
their upbringing to become more secular,
less traditional. The Reform movement
and the Haskalah where expanding in
Europe, primarily in Hungary and
Germany.
The Chassidic movement was a
revivalist movement. It was trying
to bring a more joyful and loving
spirit into Judaism. In Poland, the
Seer of Lublin, in his own lifetime,
transformed Poland and made it
quite Chassidic. However, the new
Chassidic movement diminished the
supremacy of Torah Study as the highest
religious goal that defined the
Lithuanian Rabbinic world which held
sway over the elite Talmudists of Poland.
The power of prayer, faith in G-d, and
faith in the tzaddik became now as
important as Talmud study. In opposition
to this mass appeal of the tzaddik, a
Chassidic movement known as Pshyscha
was founded and flourished with a
growing number of Talmudic scholars in
their ranks. Many of these scholars came
from Misnagdik (anti Chassidic) families.
This movement that was intensely spiritual,
and took Torah study very seriously,
was very appealing to them. One such
individual was the Grandson of Rabbi
Akiva Eiger, the renowned Talmudist of
Posen. Reb Leibele Eiger was destined
for greatness, but before he could take his
birthright as a leading light of Poland, his
attraction to Chassidism led him first to
Kotzk, which is a branch of Pshyscha,
and then to Ishbitz, which broke away
from Kotzk, in one of the most dramatic
successions in Chassidic history. When
Reb Tzadok became involved in Ishbitz,
he became a close friend of Reb Leibele
Eiger. When Rabbi Mordechai Yosef
Leiner left this world, instead of joining
Rabbi Mordechai Yosef's son Rabbi
Yackov Leiner as the next Rebbe, Reb
Tzadok became a follower of Reb Leibele
Eiger.
Following the advice of our Sages, “do
not become a communal rabbi”, Reb
Tzadok became the right hand man of Reb
Leibele Eiger and spent much of his time
studying, writing and corresponding on
Halachic questions. Eventually, after
Reb Leibele Eiger's passing, the
Chassidim where able to prevail upon
Reb Tzadok to become a Rebbe.
One of Reb Tzadok’s main accomplishments
was to bridge the gap that
separated the Chassidim from the
Misnagdim. He was able to accomplish
this because of his greatness in both
Talmudic and Kabbalistic aspects of
Torah. Although there where great
minds in the Chassidic tradition that had
already written in both these areas, his
contribution was that he truly synthesized
the Kabbalah and the Talmud until
one felt that one couldn't understand
one without the other. The first and third
Rebbes of Chabad have been outstanding
legal scholars and innovative interpreters
of Kabbalah and Chassidism, but
they did not go as far as Reb Tzadok in
bringing the two disciplines together. In
Breslov, Reb Nossan's seminal work, “Likutai Halachos”, did strive to bring
the two worlds together, but the
emphasis tended to be the Mystical. It
is only in the work of Reb Tzadok that
the two worlds of Talmud and
Kabbalah are synthesized.
There is a certain respect that the
Lithuanian Yeshiva world grants Reb
Tzadok. To be a follower of Reb Tzadok
does not entail becoming a member of a
group. The 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe (who
in my opinion modeled his early work
on Reb Tzadok and was as great a
genius) also integrated the two worlds of
Chassidim and Talmud, but he was not
embraced by the Misnagdim because his
teachings were connected to a living
movement that is still at odds with
Misnagdim over a number of issues.
Two other Great Chassidic Rebbes who
were great scholars of the Talmud and
Chassidism in the lifetime of Reb
Tzadok, were the Sfas Emes of Ger and
the Avnei Nezer of Sochatchov, both
connected to Kotzk, are now widely
respected by the Non Chassidic
Yeshiva world. Their writings were still
categorized in two distinct areas, Talmudic
writings and Chassidic writings.
The uniqueness of Reb Tzadok’s
writings is that, unlike his contemporaries,
who separated the Talmud from
Chassidus and Kabbalah, Reb Tzadok
meshed the two together so that one can no
longer feel as if they were two different disciplines.
For example, one of his most
beloved books called “Tzidkas
HaTzaddik”, is a commentary on
Tractate Brachot of the Talmud. Reb
Tzadok explains, like the
Vilner Goan, that the first
Mitzvah that a Bar Mitzvah is
obligated to do is to say the
evening Shema the night of his Bar
Mitzvah, and that the reason the first
Mishna in the Talmud begins with the
laws of the evening Shema, is to reflect
on how to begin our spiritual service.
This Biblical commandment serves as
a foundation for the rabbinic concept
of praying every morning, afternoon
and evening. The reason that we pray
at these times is that every change in
the world, Day to Night and Darkness
to Light, calls out to us to connect us to
the infinite through prayer. Meshing
together a number of concepts of
spiritual development and Talmudic
principles, Reb Tzadok forms a basis
of a world view that explains that
Mitzvoth are a path to know the
Divine and a reminder to examine
our lives and connect to the Holy in
everything we do.
Reb Tzadok’s world view is a combination
of the Theology of Chassidus in
general and of Ishbitz in particular.
Ishbitzer Chassidism is a very deep
original way of looking at such issues
as Divine influence on our free choice.
According to Ishbitz, even when a person
sins, that is the will of
G-d, and it has a somewhat antinomian
bent. Reb Tzadok tones down the
ramifications of this antinomian
bent. He explains that when one sins,
one must first acknowledge the wrong
deed and severely regret it, and only
then one can perceive that G-d was
there, even in the time of the sin. His
teacher, the Mei Hashiloach, seemed
to have said, that even before you
sin, know that whatever you do is
from G-d and not you. The obvious
danger in such a statement is why
Reb Tzadok tried, in many subtle
ways, to distance himself from fully
embracing this radical concept. We
have to remember that even in the
first three generations of Chassidism,
certain Rebbes changed or reinterpreted
many of the most radical teachings of the
Bal Shem Tov. In Tanya chapter 28, the
idea of elevating improper thoughts
during prayer, an important teaching
of the Bal Shem Tov, is interpreted to
be only the duty of the Tzaddik. In
other words, perhaps in the time of
The Mei Hashiloach, it was said one
way, but based on the new reality, Reb
Tzadok taught it differently. It isn't
that Reb Tzadok wasn't radical.
Indeed he was, but in his own way. Reb
Tzadok's radicalness is an integration
that brings the Talmud and the Midrash
front and center. By the respect his
learning achieved, he was able to
bring the teachings of Chassidus and
Kabbalah in general and the teachings
of Mordechai Yosef of Ishbitz in
particular, into the mainstream.
What Reb Tzadok changed is our
perception that there is a duality
between the Lawyer and the
Mystic.
Today there is the potential to go even
further with the ideas of Reb Tzadok and
truly meet the challenges of our time.
Just as the Modern Orthodox movement
has tried to bring together the Torah
with modernity, there needs to be a way
to bring together the Mystical with the
normative. This is still a work in
progress. It is only relatively recent
that his work is receiving an amount
of attention that is growing every day
We are looking forward to a time of
more synthesis between the various
schools of competing ideas that, in
times past, asked of people to take
sides. Now people are realizing that
they can live in both worlds. The
challenge today is that there are
different aspects of community.
We sometimes overlook the fact that
people are looking to religious
affiliation with a group not only for
their spiritual needs but also as a
social group that will provide for such
needs such as Shidduchim (Arranged
Marriages) for their children, friends
and business associates, schools and
shuls. In short people are looking
to belong partly because of the
philosophy of the group, but their
social needs remain dominant.
Therefore, many people may be
integrated in the social fabric of
the various Jewish communities,
but may not be getting their spiritual
needs.
The need for a network or Chevrah
for people who believe in this synthesis,
has its limitations and its issues.
However, what this trend is lacking
is an institutional framework.
While I know there may be schools in
Israel and Shuls in the United States
that somewhat fit into this concept,
there is a serious shortcoming in the
United States, in our educational system
within The Jewish Community.
Many schools have not integrated
these two sides of Judaism into their
curriculum and still are wary of what
they refer to as the “superstitious element”
which is somehow not authentic
Judaism. This idea does not reflect
the history of Judaism which has
always had some form of mystical elements
in it. If anything, Judaism
should allow for the heart and mind to
be integrated, just as Reb Tzadok was
able to bring together the Mind and
the Heart. Our Educators and Rabbis should look at Judaism where the normative and the Halachic are not at war with the mystical, but rather enhance each other. |
