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7 Yearning for Sacred Place Wiesel’s Hasidic Tales and Postwar Hasidism Nehemia Polen Prologue In Souls on Fire,1 Elie Wiesel begins his chapter on the School of Pshiskhe with the story of Eizik son of Yekel of Kraków, who dreams of treasure in Prague, but after his journey discovers that the treasure is really to be found in his own home.2 The point of the story is not, as is sometimes suggested, that since the treasure you seek is really already inside of you, you don’t need to make the journey, nor even that you need to make the journey in order to discover that the truth is inside you. Recall that, as ­Wiesel writes, Rabbi Simha-­ Bunam of Pshiskhe would tell this story each time he accepted a new disciple.3 Rabbi Bunam did accept disciples; he did not send them all back home where they came from. Apparently Rabbi Bunam wanted precisely those disciples who realized that they didn’t have to be there, who knew that their spiritual growth was in their own hands, not in those of the master they had sought out. The tale reflects on the School of Pshiskhe, its culture and values, the independence and boldness of spirit it sought to cultivate. In this understanding, the story and the journey, the tale of the rabbi of Pshiskhe and his disciples, each inform the other, reflect the other, interrogate the other, assist in defining the other. This story on the complex interaction of rebbe, Hasid, story, and place is a good point of entry for our inquiry into Wiesel’s contribution to our understanding of Ha­ si­ dism. Nearly all accounts of Hasidism point to the centrality of the zaddik in the movement . The zaddik is link between heaven and earth, conduit of blessing, center of his community, in some sense the center of the world itself.4 We also know of the importance of stories in Hasidism. From the earliest period hasidic tales conveyed the values of the movement and highlighted the role of the zaddikim. Hasidic storytelling is endowed with ritual holiness and has performative power; the telling of a story creates 69 70 | Nehemia Polen its own sacred space.5 My goal here is to explore the complex relationship between zad­ dikim, the tales, and hasidic reconstruction of sacred place, all in light of the work and contribution of Wiesel. The Nineteenth Century While the zaddik and the story were central to Hasidism from its very inception, both institutions continued to develop. Roughly around 1800, the zaddik’s charismatic leadership became hereditary; among other factors, the Polish-­ Russian pattern of inheritance of noble estates may have served as a model.6 In tandem with this development, the zaddik’s place of residence took on a new importance. Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, certain small and otherwise undistinguished provincial towns—­ shtetlach—­ won fame as the home of great masters, the seat of their lineage ’s court.7 This continued even after the death of the founder of the lineage, since the zaddik’s residence would typically be revered as a shrine.8 The belief was that the spirit of the master was still present at the residence, in the court, at the grave or sepulcher . Known as the Ohel (“Tent”), the burial place would be visited for petitionary prayer and during yahrtzeits, the anniversary dates of the passing of the saintly family members interred there.9 Thus the rebbe’s presence made the town into a hasidic center. He became in effect the town’s patron, responsible for its spiritual stature and material blessing.10 Indeed , the town of­ten owed its reputation and place on the map of the hasidic world to the rebbe who bore its name. (At a still later period, as we shall see, this relationship would sometimes survive the physical dislocation of the rebbe and even the destruction of its Jewish residents.) In a parallel manner, the role of hasidic storytelling continued to evolve through­ out the nineteenth century. The stories of a particular lineage encapsulated the collective wisdom of the school where they were told and the dynasty that preserved them. Tales pointed to core hasidic values as embodied in the life of the court. When the in­ di­ vidual Hasid reached a situation similar to that of the tale in some respect, he may have heard in the tale the voice of his rebbe, providing inspiration and...

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