It’s About Eliyahu HaNavi
Someone sent me a link to a chassidishe “mashpia” telling how Chassidus preceded Kabbalah(apparently all the way back to Moshe Rabbeinu) and that Kabbalah is only a tool that Chassidus uses to teach… If you are guessing by now that I was more than a bit underwhelmed, you would be guessing correctly. So let’s get down to the root of this and what it would be saying.
So Chassidus then, though supposedly pre-existing to the days of Moshe Rabbeinu(though without something like the Zohar, or other hidden literary tradition to back up that claim) springs into existance in the late 18th century entirely from the mind of the Baal Shem Tov. It stands in no line of tradition, and has no solid claim on it’s source of authority(say gilui Eliyahu HaNavi). Then to put the cherry on top, the major leaders of the generation opposed it. So divorcing Chassidus from Kabbalah really doesn’t seem that good of an idea now does it?
Now let’s talk about the source of modern Kabbalah(i.e. the Arizal). First the Arizal stood in the line of tradition, having received the tradition passed from the Amoraim to the Geonim, from the Geonim to the Rishonim, and from the Rishonim to those early Achronim who made up his teachers as well as his students. In addition to that he had gilui Eliyahu HaNavi(he was taught by Eliyahu HaNavi) as to which traditions were correct and which error had crept into, as well as the corrections for that error. This he codified in what we have today as the Kitvei HaAri, which was almost universally accepted by the leaders of the generation, so much that even Rav Yosef Karo sat under him. Which would very much be like Rav Ovadia Yosef sitting down to learn from a 37yr old Avereich somewhere.
Really it all comes down to Eliyahu HaNavi, or rather Gilui Eliyahu HaNavi. The Besht didn’t have it. Sure he had some dreams about Mashiah, but he didn’t have recognized Gilui Eliyahu HaNavi, the Arizal… well he did. Personally I think that Chassidus is an interpretation, or a revelation of one of the aspects of Kabbalah, as is the system of the Rashash, the Ramchal or the Gra. To divorce Chassidus from Kabbalah… well that is a grade A royal mistake, and the early Chassidic masters are probably rolling in their graves over it.
Anyway you can see the video that so riled me up here, the insults start at about the 10min mark.
you do not need to take this seriously. it is Chabad and they have a revisionist view of Chassidus.
I agree with you, but important to note that the Besht did have Achiya haShiloni as a teacher. Also, he visited the “chamber of Moshiach,” as the tradition has it. To call it a “dream” I think is like saying the Ari dreamed about Eliyahu. They were obviously two giants, and need not be compared.
I have never heard anyone claim that Chassidus came first. And I don’t see any benefit in making that claim. It is a natural progression from Kabbalah.
I called it a dream because that was what he called it in his letter to his brother in law. As far as whether or not the Besht had Achiya HaShiloni as a teacher, do you have a source for that? I know of no major contemporary who says they knew that of him.
Personally I think that the Besht did have a valid tradition going back to the Arizal, there is a fairly well researched sefer called Baalei Shem that details the history of the Nistarim, also called Mahaneh Yisrael.
Yes Chassidus is a natural outgrowth of Kabbalah. If I were to take any of say Abir Yaakov’s drashim on the Torah, I could pass them off as Chassidic Maamarim of several sects and no one would know.
I am not trying to denigrate the Besht or Chassidus at all. I believe the Besht was a gift from G-d, just the claim that Chassidus is “superior” to Kabbalah, rubs me the wrong way.
I agree with you overall. The mesorah says that it was Achiyah haShiloni, and the Rebbeim have said as much, so I think it is reliable. Good enough for me, anyway. I am away from home, but will try to look into it.
I don’t have the original in front of me, so I don’t know what the original word for “vision” is, but the translation says “On Rosh Hashanah of the year 5507, I made a [Kabalistic] oath and elevated my soul in the manner known to you. I saw wondrous things in a vision, the like of which I had never witnessed since the day my mind first began to awaken.”
Obviously, much more than a dream is going on here.
Please forgive my ignorance, but from where do we see that the Arizal learned from Eliyahu?
And what is the status of the Arizal’s teachings in light of the fact that the Zohar, very probably and arguably, has portions that antedate Rashbi by a thousand plus years?
Title page of the Eitz Haim. Also various other Rabbanim who were alive in the time of the Arizal testified to it. Not the least of whom was Maran Yosef Karo.
“This he codified in what we have today as the Kitvei HaAri, which was almost universally accepted by the leaders of the generation…”
“he” is the Ari himself or R. Chayim Vital? Isn’t it universally recognized that the Ari himself didn’t write but permitted his one main student to do so? And more importantly, that the latter assembled Shemona Sha’arim after the passing of the Ari?
BTW: I noticed this article only because I was looking for some bio on the Rashash and for some reason this came up in the Rashash search. May I use some of your Rashash bio writings on kabbalaonline.org? With citing your name and blog or not, although I much prefer with.
He is Rav Chaim Vital. You may use whatever you like from my blog with proper accreditation.
Oh as far as Kabbalistic texts go:
Rav Chaim Vital himself wrote:
Until there is the Madura Kama, which is considered the least authoritative of his writings.
Until here was the Mahdura Teninia.
Until here is Mahdura Batra, considered to be the most authoritative of his works.
These works were written at the very end of Rav Chaim Vitals life, and stand alone, as the most complete in their respective subjects.
Rav Meir Paprish took works 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 from which he compiled the works Derekh Eitz Chaim(which we know today as Sepher Eitz Chaim) and Pri Eitz Chaim. These works were published widely in his lifetime both in Eretz Yisrael and in Europe and became the primary works that the early Chassidic masters relied upon.
Rav Yaakov Tzemach, Rav Avraham Azulai and Rav Shmuel Vital would take works 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10 and essentially compile them into the final version of the Shemoneh Shaarim which we have today. Unfortunately they were also placed under a ban from being taken outside of Eretz Yisrael. That ban stood until it was lifted by the Hakhamim and Rabbanim of Beit El 140yrs ago under the leadership of Rav Yedidyah Raphael Abulafia, seventh Rosh Yeshiva of Beit El.