The movement in the history of Judaism which produced the greatest number of “Masters of freedom” was the Hasidic movement. For these Masters taught the art of becoming free beings amid the most uncertain, and often the most oppressive, conditions. These Masters did not speak only for their disciples, or only for the Hasidim in general. Their teaching could be applied to all social categories. The human condition they revealed contained the potential for access to the highest points of spirituality, based on reality as it presented itself to everyone, and not based on an optic of political or philosophical certainty linked to an ideological vision. Rabbi Levi Isaac de Berditchev was one of those Masters, whose teaching, based on love and not pity for the most spiritually and materially deprived, has left legendary traces in the psyche of the Jewish people until today. Many luminaries have arisen from the intellectual and cultural space of Hasidism.
Rabbi Nahman of Breslev acquired the position of a central lair in approaching the general framework of Jewish thought, as narrated by herself. Why does this teaching, dating from the 18th century, still speak to the social being of the 21st century?
And why does this affect minds beyond the definitions of observance or secularity? It is precisely because these teachings, born in exile and oppression, seek to reach a level of liberation which is affected neither by exile nor by oppression, and which must be integrated by everyone. its own level. The aim of the teaching of Hasidism is to lead the individual to “Devekout”, the attachment to the One and Indivisible Divinity. For this the individual must go beyond “Yesh”, the illusion of independent and arbitrary existence, and reach “Ayin”, the feeling of total connectivity through the absence of ego which allows the return of spontaneity. This is done by the two axes of joy and love for one’s neighbor. The simplicity of the means is also very important. It allows us to have access to meditative spaces that we ignore by ego of sophistication. Also, learning to refine ourselves spiritually by the things that disturb us, by granting them an honorable place in our evolution, is a constant work. This cultivates patience and long-suffering, which seem impossible to achieve as long as the “Yesh” still dominates the mind. The idea of founding communities around these teachings had a revolutionary impact on Jewish culture. Arbitrary hierarchies are found in a space that ultimately allows them to be questioned. The most materially endowed understood that they needed those who know how to live humbly, to learn the spiritual meaning of the path of existence. The Hasidic Masters were very socially engaged, and dealt continuously on the vital subject of mutual aid, in order to create islands of humanity in a hostile context. The Hasidim lived in the ghettos of the time, in millions of stateless people, aware of their social status, their cultural uniqueness and their sense of shared destiny. What the doubly saving teachings of Hasidism have introduced is that spirituality is not held back by the reducing contingencies of human existence, and also that love of one’s neighbor is sufficient cause to trigger a true spiritual transformation and social. The Baal Shem Tov, who initiated the Hasidic movement, directly involved the spirit and soul of the ghetto people in the articulation of their spirituality. It takes not only study, but also dancing and singing to come into contact with the soul and the potential of the people. You have to know the art of storytelling, of healing through storytelling which gives the person back his capacity to love. Today more than ever, the teachings of these great Masters can be used to better understand a general condition of displacement of human values, and of exile in an oppressed landscape of consumption and fragmentation. The general isolation of social categories through the “Yesh” calls for a reconnection. But those who think that the teachings of Hasidism relate only to practicing Orthodox, or only a past historical period, fail to realize the extent of their reach.
Hasidism today
