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This chapter highlights the regional distinctiveness of Polish Hasidism and attempts to quantify its regional expansion. Polish Hasidism shared the broader theological and experiential features of Hasidism in other regions. But the impact of the unique Central Polish context is reflected in its more urban, cosmopolitan, and economically adept leaders and adherents, as well as in its meritocratic tendencies during leadership succession. In estimating the size of the Hasidic community in Central Poland by the early 19th century, we must account for the considerable proportion of women and adolescent men whose participation seldom registered in official estimates. The chapter concludes with a mapping of Hasidism's geographical spread in the region during this period.

This chapter evaluates the movement's grassroots appeal through its miracle working enterprises, arguing that Polish zaddikim were neither charlatans, nor were they, technically speaking, “popular” leaders. In their embrace of folk religion, they were apparently sincere and differed little from traditional mystical practitioners,ba'alei shem, but differed markedly in their social status and concomitant influence among the Jewish masses and Polish officialdom. Women and youth obtained unprecedented access to zaddikim; yet followers from the Jewish elite granted special or lengthier audiences and were groomed for leadership succession. The chapter concludes with a look at the most ambivalent zaddik with respect to miracle working, R. Simha Bunem of Przysucha.

This chapter focuses on the work of Ya’akov Koppel who lived on the cusp of the Hasidic movement. The chapter focuses is the doctrine of the zaddik and its similarities to the Christian notion of kenosis, the act of incarnation through divine emptying. Koppel’s writing offers the novel idea that the lowest kabbalistic sphere malkhut, thought to be empty of divinity is, in actuality, the fullest manifestation of pure divinity (eyn sof). This notion is strikingly similar to the Christian idea of kenosis from Philippians 1 whereby God empties Godself into the body of Jesus in the act of incarnation in order to fulfill divine disclosure. The zaddik thus serves as the fullest manifestation of the divine in the world. Not identical to incarnation, the zaddik as malkhut is presented as a Jewish example of kenosis and thus a Jewish articulation of incarnational thinking.

This chapter focuses on the zaddik. The bulk of the scholarship concerned with the position of the leader in hasidism has been focused on the ideology, usually referred to as the doctrine, of zaddikism rather than on the social institution of the zaddik. There are two principal reasons for this preference. First, for the past few decades, the academic study of hasidism has been dominated by the late Gershom Scholem and his students, all of whom have approached the subject primarily from the point of view of the history of ideas. Second, while the religious teaching of hasidism has been preserved in an abundance of primary literary sources, the documentary sources for the study of hasidism as a social movement have been scarce. It is therefore not surprising that much of the discussion on the doctrine of the zaddik has been conducted without reference to the socio-historical phenomenon of zaddikism. As a result, the relationship between doctrine and social institution has not been addressed in a systematic way. Scholars have tended to view the theory as a blueprint for social action—a programme by which the institution of the zaddik was ultimately shaped in reality. The chapter then examines the relationship between the theory and practice of zaddikism.

This chapter studies personal redemption in hasidism. The question of messianism or redemption is one area where the distinctions between the popular and élitist aspects of hasidism can be clearly discerned. Though messianism in hasidism has been discussed at length, there is very little discussion of personal redemption, a theme closely related to the élitist aspect of hasidism. Personal redemption is relevant to a small spiritual élite who attempt to attain this state in their personal lives without regard to the redemptive state of the world as a whole. This concept is found in the writings of R. Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye who attributes it to the Baal Shem Tov. The Maggid of Mezhirech relates it to his doctrine of unio mystica. His disciples moved away from this concept as the idea of the popular zaddik grew in prominence. Personal redemption again became a central concern with the rejection of popular zaddikism by the Przysucha-Kotsk school. It reached its fullest development in the writings of R. Mordecai Joseph of Izbica who made it the cornerstone of his teachings.

This chapter discusses hasidism as a socio-religious movement on the evidence of devekut. Nothing throws the socio-religious élitism in hasidism into sharper relief than the treatment of devekut. This is exemplified by the subdivision of the concept into ‘first-class’ devekut for zaddikim and ‘second-class’ for the common people. R. Jacob Joseph's second category signifies recognition of the authority of the zaddik and the duty of providing material support for him. Although devekut was not associated with zaddikism to begin with, the two became integrated during the formative stages of the institution of the zaddik, and it was not for nothing that R. Jacob Joseph's remarks on the second category of devekut were accompanied by a fervent polemical criticism of the common people—a term in which he included householders and communal leaders—who refused to recognize the special authority of new leaders.

This chapter investigates the concept of ‘sin for the sake of Heaven’ (averah lishmah) in the teachings of R. Zevi Elimelekh of Dynow. In broad terms, there are two types of ‘sin for the sake of Heaven’, one intended for zaddikim only, the other for ordinary people. The first type solves a problem which faces the zaddik: his usual concern is with mitsvot which by their nature draw down the benign forces of heavenly deliverance and grace on the world; but how is he to deal with cases in which it is his duty to bring down divine retribution on the heads of the enemies of Israel? In such cases, he is called upon to commit a sin—albeit for the sake of Heaven—an act which by its nature brings judgements and accusations into being. Although this type of ‘sin for the sake of Heaven’ is more commonly found in his writings, one shall, however, give more attention to the second type. At every moment of the life of the hasid, he deliberates over every action or omission, and the halakhah is powerless to guide him. In addition to all other considerations he must also take account of ‘the Will of God’, a will that is not written in the Torah, since it changes according to time and place and to the spiritual condition of the individual at any particular time.

This chapter discusses the doctrine of the Zaddik with respect to Hasidic prayer. The Zaddik is the spiritual superman whose holy living not only provides his followers with inspiration for their lives but who raises them aloft with him through his spiritual powers. The central idea of the Zaddik’s connection to Hasidism is that the Zaddik’s prayers on behalf of his followers can achieve results far beyond the scope of their own puny efforts at prayer. Among many Hasidim, the Zaddik acted as the prayer leader, so that his prayers could assist the prayers of the whole congregation to speed their way to God. The whole doctrine is based on the idea that in the Kabbalah, the term Zaddik refers to the Sefirah Yesod (‘Foundation’) which, in the anthropomorphic symbolism favoured by the Kabbalah, is represented in the human body by the organ of generation.

This chapter analyzes the image of the Besht as a man who fit in with the institutions, doctrines, and practices of his time. It points out how the Besht was considered a religious or social activist and a near-ignoramus or profound thinker. Nearly all the standard accounts made the Besht into a religious revolutionary who established something new and virtually unprecedented. His accounts were perceived as doctrinal and institutional constellations that quickly coalesced into the new Hasidic movement. The chapter highlights the image of the Besht that emerged around the Lubavitch, or Habad, Hasidic court at the time of its transition from the generation of its first zaddik, Shneur Zalman of Ladi, to its second, his son, Dov Ber of Lubavitch.

This chapter attempts to add yet another perspective to the already extensive scholarship on the tsadikim, which has been based so far mainly on elitist, rabbinical sources of a normative, rather than a descriptive, nature. It asks what simple pilgrims expected to achieve from their visits to a Hasidic court and how they expressed it. By analyzing a mass source of popular petitions brought to one Hasidic leader by thousands of his followers, the chapter arrives at the conclusion that the simple pilgrims expected from the tsadik mainly intervention in the matters of health, income, and family matters, most typically connected to fertility and business problems. It also shows inroads of a modernizing vision of the world in the way the image of the tsadik and his powers were constructed in the petitions.