“The Secret of that Herb”: Mystical Smoking from Italian Sabbateanism to Hasidism

This article is dedicated to the notion of “mystical smoking” in Kabbalah and Hasidism. In spite of the fact that many researchers have dealt with the smoking habits of the Hasidim, the sources and meanings of this behavior have not yet been fully clarified. This paper will reexamine “mystical smoking” by reading some of the writings of R. Moshe David Valle, an eighteenth-century Italian kabbalist. According to Valle, the act of smoking plays a crucial role in the enduring struggle of the righteous person (tsaddik) against the powers of the Evil Side (sitra achra) and the impure husks (qelipot). From several paragraphs of Valle’s writings, it becomes clear that smoking is equated with sacrificing to the sitra achra, and is as necessary and important as the biblical scapegoat in the struggle against the sitra achra. Moreover, the calming, relaxing, or clouding effect that comes naturally with smoking causes the sitra achra within the tsaddik’s soul to be satisfied and to restrain itself from fighting against the Holy Side. In light of “the secret of the pipe,” which Valle discusses at length, Hasidic stories and sermons in which smoking plays an essential role will be reevaluated. Until now, these sources have been subject to ultra-positivist, psychological, or literary explanations, which are unsatisfying and insufficient. In this paper, a new explanation, based on specific kabbalistic ideas, will be suggested, and conjectures regarding the transmission of knowledge from Italy to Eastern Europe will be proposed. Corrigendum