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• 3 • WALKING AS A SACRED DUTY: THEOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIAL REALITY IN EARLY HASIDISM Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable. -T. S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton" One of the central images in both the homiletical and the folkloristic traditions in Hasidic literature is that of the itinerant. The importance of this image for the social history of early Hasidism has been well documented in several major studies with special reference to the role played by wandering preachers (mokhil)im and maggidim) and exorcists (ba (ale shem) in the formation of pietistic circles in eighteenthcentury Ukraine.1 What has been less carefully studied, however, is the theological significance that this image assumed in subsequent Hasidic thought.2 Even a cursory glance at the sources from the second and third generations of the Hasidic movement indicates the extent to which this literature is characterized by an impressive preponderance of imagery associated with walking, taking a journey,3 and the like, images, that is, derived from the itinerant lifestyle. It is the aim of this study to fill that scholarly gap by presenting some crucial aspects of the itinerant motif as it is developed in early Hasidism. At the outset, let me note that two distinct typologies can be distinguished, although only the latter is rooted in teachings ascribed to the Besht. The first involves the use of the walking motif as a 89 • 3 • WALKING AS A SACRED DUTY: THEOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIAL REALITY IN EARLY HASIDISM Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable. -T. S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton" One of the central images in both the hOll1iletical and the folkloristic traditions in Hasidic literature is that of the itinerant. The importance of this ill1age for the social history of early Hasidism has been well documented in several major studies with special reference to the role played by wandering preachers (1110khihil11 and maggidinl) and exorcists (ba (ale shenl) in the formation of pietistic circles in eighteenthcentury Ukraine.1 What has been less carefully studied, however, is the theological significance that this ilnage assull1ed in subsequent Hasidic thought.2 Even a cursory glance at the sources from the second and third generations of the Hasidic movell1ent indicates the extent to which this literature is characterized by an impressive preponderance of iInagery associated "\lith walking, taking a journey,~ and the like, images, that is, derived froll1 the itinerant lifestyle. It is the ain1 of this study to fill that scholarly gap by presenting some crucial aspects of the itinerant Inotif as it is developed in early Hasidism. At the outset, let Ine note that two distinct typologies can be distinguished, although only the latter is rooted in teachings ascribed to the Besht. The first involves the use of the V\Talking Inotif as a 89 90 ALONG THE PATH symbol for the spiritual progression through various grades, culminating ultimately in a state of deFcqut, "cleaving" or "attachment" to God. This usage is found in a wide range of authors, including two of the most prominent followers of the Besht, Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye (d. 1782)4 and Dov Baer, the Maggid of Miedzyrzecz (1704-1772),5 as well as many of the latter's disciples." One can indeed distinguish between at least two models of cleaving to God in Hasidic sources: (a) the vertical one that entails the metaphor of ascent and descent, and (b) the horizontal one that entails the metaphor of traversing from place to place. Hasidic writers used both models to dclineate the individual's intimate relationship with God; it cannot be said, therefore , as it has been recently argued, that the one took precedence over the other.7 Hence, the image of the itinerant was upheld as a model for the mystic path. It is true, however, that some Hasidic writers viewed the itinerant lifestyle as a distraction and an obstacle for the ?addiq, drawing him away from a state of cleaving to God through contemplative prayer and Torah study.~ Yet there is an abundance of textual evidence that demonstrates conclusively that the early writers saw no conflict between walking and the spiritual state leading to devequt. On the contrary, the proper worship of God was said to be realized even as one physically walked about and was engaged in social commerce .Y As such, ha1ikhah became a popular metaphor for the spiritual path. The second typology, which is traceable to the Besht himself, at least as one may gather from the Hasidic sources, is decidedly soteriologicalJ[) in...

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