Just Curious

The Way of Man According To The Teaching Of Hasidism (1964)

Notwithstanding my burning rage thanks to that religious bigot and hypocrite, I decide to write something about a beautiful mind and heart. This heart and this mind belongs to the late Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher who was the preeminent scholar in Hasidic theology.

Hasidism, whose certain understandings are not unlike those of Quakerism, was a mystical movement that captured the spirits of eighteenth century Jews in eastern Europe. If the Reform movement, led by Moses Mendelsohn, could be considered as the Jewish answer to the European Enlightenment, and an attempt to rationalize the Jewish faith, Hasidism should be understood as a mysticism that shares many methodology and spiritual understandings with the Christian Pietist movement, that gave birth to the Religious Society of Friends and the Anabaptist churches, namely, the Mennonites, the Amish, and the Brethren, during a slightly earlier period, in Commonwealth England and Thirty-Year War Germany.

Unlike mainstream Christianity, Judaism, Hasidism in particular, does not make each man's salvation his highest aim. Instead, our souls are regarded 'as serving members of God's Creation, which by our own work "is to become the Kingdom of God; thus no soul has its object in itself, in its own salvation." True, each is to know, purify and perfect himself, but not for his own sake--neither for the sake of his temporal happiness nor for that of his eternal bliss--but for the sake of the work which is to be performed upon the world.

Furthermore, Hasidism, while recognizing the absolute transcendence of God, believes that the world, while being an "irradiation of God," is endowed with "an independence of existence and striving...to form a crust around itself." Thus, a divine spark lives in every thing and being, but each such spart is enclosed by an isolating shell. Only man can liberate it and re-join it with its Origin and Maker: by "holding holy converse with the thing and using it in a holy manner, so that his intention in doing so remains directed towards God's transcendence." Thus, man could be aptly described as possessing a divine force within himself.

These are very Quakerly ideas. Like the Hasids, Quakers believe that there is that of God in every man, and every person is a potential channel of the Divine Truth. Man's sole purpose of living in the temporal world is to allow his Divine Seed to blossom, allow it to direct his every thought and every behavior. In short, man's sole purpose is to be an instrument of the Divine. It is from this very belief that God and His Kingdom reside not in a parallel space called "Heaven" but in our very heart that gave birth to the Quaker testimonies. The Peace testimony, which admonish us not to engage in violence against one another, due to the very fact that every one of us is created in the Divine image. The Equality testimony, which holds that no one should accord any honor that is due God to any temporal person, and whatever honor we accord to one person, we must accord it to all. The simplicity testimony, the truthfulness testimony, etc. all develop from the very initial belief of man's possession of something divine in himself.

The difference between Hasidism and Quakerism is essentially the fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity. Unlike Judaism, which does not address the question, Quakers could not help but ask themselves whether mankind is endowed with adequate strength to fully realize the Kingdom of God on Earth. Unfortunately, to the Christian understanding, the answer is negative. Due to distractions, due to human frailty and weaknesses, etc., human beings often fall short of the Divine expectation. It is at this juncture that Christians yearn for a living Truth. It is worth noting that the concepts of Jesus and Christ are in some way separate, the latter being the fountain of the law of nature, the first Word of God and God. It was always out there and human beings could always discern elements of It through the exercise of reason. It was due to human inability to uncover this universal Truth that Christ has to be materialized so that Truth could live among us, and show us its content in a concrete fashion. Whether Jesus of Nazareth, believed by the Christians to be the incarnation of Christ died for our sake, and whether we will receive salvation really are trivial and selfish questions for human beings like me to ask.

In this smallish book, which comprises of only 32 pages, Buber revealed to us many priceless gems in Hasidic thoughts. The book itself is divided into 6 essays, which contains various stories told by Hasidic rabbis. In short, the following themes are discussed. In the first chapter, Prof. Buber stressed the need for every one of us to search his own heart. After one has done this introspective search, one should choose one's own way to serve God. Before one start one's adventures, one must first bring about the unity of his being, and when one start it, one must begin with himself, finally, when one does it, one must not be preoccupied with himself and his own goodness and spiritual welfare, etc.

The stories are really touching. I'll include one of them here.

Rabbi Hayyim of Zans had married his son to the daughter of Rabbi Eliezer. The day after the wedding he visited the father of the bride and said, "Now that we are related I feel close to you and can tell you what is eating at my heart. Look! My hair and beard have grown white, and I have not yet atoned!"
"O my friend," replied Rabbi Eliezer, "you are thinking only of yourself. How about forgetting yourself and think of the world?"

We see a zaddik ("a proved one"--JC), a wise, pious, kindly man, reproach himself in his old age for not yet having performed the true turning. The reply given him is apparently prompted by the opinion that he greatly overrates his sins and greatly underrates the penance he has already done. But what Rabbi Eliezer says, goes beyond this. He says...."Do not keep worrying about what you have done wrong, but apply the soul power you are now wasting on self-reproach, to such active relationship to the world as you are destined for. You should not be occupied with yourself but with the world."

posted by James Chang @ 5:39 PM