Hasidic Performance as a Reconstruction of Biblical Life

The shift in focus in the study of kabbalah and hasidism from the search for systematic thought and theology to an enquiry into kabbalistic techniques, practices, and rituals was a breakthrough introduced by Moshe Idel just over two decades ago. This does not merely constitute a change in methodology but rather signals a veritable paradigm shift in kabbalistic scholarship.¹ It has had an impact on every other field in the study of Judaism, which is, after all, a distinctly performative religion.² Religious experience cannot be understood in isolation from the way of life in which it occurs.³ It is the performative dimension of experience, not the ideology or theology in which it may find literary expression, that is responsible foremost for shaping the Jewish way of life and should therefore be the backdrop of any study of the textual sources for Jewish theology or intellectual history. However, Idel in his studies of hasidism was primarily interested in performance by the ‘elite’, the tsadikim, excluding from consideration a whole range of more popular ritual practices. It should also be noted that the performative dimension of hasidism had been investigated, prior to Idel’s studies, by a number of other scholars, whether in the context of halakhah, folklore, or mystical praxis as such,⁴ but there is no doubt that his publications have bolstered the performative approach to the study of Jewish thought.

Nevertheless, this approach has not so far gained much traction in the study of hasidism.⁵ The theological and philosophical aspects of hasidic texts, as a means of charting the mystical character of the movement, still enjoy the highest priority among scholars of hasidic thought, while the interpretation of performative accounts, as an insight into the mystical nature of hasidism, rarely, if ever, features in their studies. The recent dispute between Shaul Magid and Arthur Green concerning the mystical nature of the hasidic leader may serve as an example. Magid notes the link between the concept of tsadik and the Christian doctrine of incarnation and claims that, through various channels (primarily medieval kabbalah), this doctrine permeated hasidism, where it found full expression.⁶ Green, on the other hand, claims that, while many expressions that appear to deify the tsadik may be found in hasidic texts, they are not comparable to the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation whereby God is embodied in the flesh and blood of Jesus. According to him, the doctrine of the Incarnation has separated Judaism from Christianity from the time of the latter’s formation up to and including the rise of hasidism.⁷ I do not wish to address the actual disagreement between Magid and Green but rather to note that both of them seem to be driven by the same approach which emphasizes and gives preference to theology and philosophy over praxis. Their dispute is fundamentally theological: do certain characteristics of the tsadik, as reflected in hasidic literature, resemble the Christian concept of the Incarnation or not? Despite the gaping gulf between Magid’s and Green’s claims, they nevertheless emerge respectively from the same scholarly vantage point, one that examines the subject from a theological-philosophical perspective. However, if we recall that the performative dimension is the quintessence of Judaism—including hasidism—then we reach a different conclusion. While it may be possible to find texts within the hasidic corpus that contain clear expressions of deification of the tsadik, I do not know of a single hasidic text which suggests that one should pray to the tsadik himself. In actuality, it is in the performative aspect that one finds the clearest division between Judaism and Christianity. That is to say, even if, from a theological standpoint, there are parallels between the tsadik and Jesus, at the end of the day, the Christian prays to Jesus, while the hasid directs his prayers to God and not to his tsadik.⁸

The forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are, following kabbalistic tradition, presented in many hasidic texts as a ‘chariot of the Shekhinah’—from whose throats the Shekhinah speaks—and as ‘separated from worldly matters...