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Tfc# "Rlghtmoui Onmt"
When mmh unci mm,
82-year-old spiritual trader of
the Ger Hassidim died last
mouth, some 60,000 of hit
followers, mostly ia the
traditional black caftan and hat
of the Hassid, converged upon
Jerusalem. In sober silence they
followed the body of their
revered rabbi through the main
streets of Jerusalem, through
the suburbs of East Jerusalem
and onto the Mount of Olives
where Rabbi Israel Alter was
laid to rest.
Historian Cecil Roth describes
Hams id ism as a revivalist move
ment which sprang up among
Jews in 18th century Poland and
eventually permeated all sec
tions of Jewish society. Its first
leader, Israel Ben Eliezer,
known as the Baal Shem Tov
(Master of the Good Name),
stressed piety over scholarship.
He taught that any man, no
matter how ignorant, could
reach communion with God
through spiritual exaltation and
abandonment of his sense of
self. Disciples gathered around
the Baal Shem Tov and their
stories of his greatness and ac
complishments spread. The con
cept that Zaddikim (Righteous
Ones) could intercede on behalf
of men developed, as well as a
hereditary Zaddikate of great
rabbis who served as in
termediaries between man and
God.
At first, traditional Jewry op
posed Hassidism as a deviant
movement. Through time, as
Hassidism became more
traditional, their opponents
became more tolerant and the
bitter antagonism receded. The
warmth and heartiness of the
Hassidim is credited by some
with having melted their opposi
tion. They were convinced that
every deed is sacred if per
formed with joy.
Professor Howard Morley
Sacher has described Hassidism
as having elements which are
superstitious, primitive and
crude, while others which are
beautiful and meaningful in
cluding their warm and
wholesome camaraderie.
Martin Buber gave his inter
pretation of the essence of
Hassidism in these words: "In
spite of intolerable suffering
man must endure, the heartbeat
of life is holy joy, and that
always and everywhere, one can
force a way through to that joy
— provided one devotes oneself
entirely to his deed.”
By the 19th century, a majori
ty of Eastern European Jews
were Hassidim. Before the Nazi
Holocaust engulfed Europe, one
of the largest Hassidic groups
was that of the Rabbi of Ger, a
suburb of Warsaw, whose
following numbered in the hun
dreds of thousands.
Many Gerer Hassidim perish
ed in the Nazi Holocaust, in-
it Hassidism
Hassidim, undertaking
tbetask of mainUdir—
nanta of his follow!
„ He was always
- tragic role as kiww « w wwr
' nants of a once great Hassidic
house, the protector of a tradi
tion that had alt but been
destroyed. He encouraged his
disciples in Israel and in other
Jewish centers around the world
to maintain the traditional garb
of their fathers, to study the
classical works of Gerer
Hassidism, and to adhere to the
customs and practices of Polish
Orthodoxy.
RABBI ALTER
tablish the State of Israel. In
1948 Rabbi Israel Alter succeed
ed his father as leader of the
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eluding Rabbi Israel Alter’s first
wife and children. He, his two
brothers, and his father, barely
succeeded in getting out of
Europe and establishing
themselves in Jerusalem, where
the elder Rabbi Ajter died dur
ing the days of struggle to es-^
c..
P«* 21 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE April 8, 1977