Introduction
Rabbi Abraham Malach (1740-1776) is one of the most mysterious and little-studied faith teachers of the early Hasidic era. Though he was a son of Dov Ber of Mezhirech, one of the most influential leaders of the new religious movement, he, unlike his father’s disciples, never delivered public lectures, received pilgrims or attended synagogue services and was a long way from any public activity as such. Rabbi Abraham led a secluded life of an ascetic, who rejected everything that had to do with the secular world for the sake of contemplating the celestial world. He died before ever reaching the age of 36years. He was buried in Fastov. A compilation of his teachings under the title “Chesed le Avraham” (Mercy of Abraham) was originally published in Chernovtsy in 1851. According to Chasidic legends, followers of Besht had high regard for Abraham Malach[1]. However, researchers expressed their doubts regarding whether he may be considered a follower of the new religious movement. Sh.Dubnov wrote the following about him: “The author [of “Chesed le Abraham”] thought that he transcends the new Hasidism, that he has risen to heights of Kabbalah knowledge and is contemplating the mysteries of the Universe”[2]. According to A.Sh.Gorodetsky, Abraham Malach was going down a road which was different to one of Besht and of Maggid of Mezhirech. Whilst the latter rejected asceticism as such and encouraged pleasures allowed by the Law, rabbi Abraham was unrestrictedly zealous in mortifying the flesh[3]. A.Rubinstein in his commentary to a compilation of stories about life of Besht said: “Rabbi Abraham was a kabbalist and an advocate of extreme asceticism, far from the passions of this world, which is in conflict with the way of Besht’s Hasidism… I doubt whether we should include him among the followers of Hasidism”[4]. According to opinion of I.Alfasi, Abraham Malach returned to the tradition of mystics and ascetics, which was prevalent in the society before the advent of Besht’s teaching. Both information on his lifestyle and the fact that he was not guided in his teachings by works of classics and founders of Hasidism testify to the above[5].
It seems reasonable to question whether rabbi Abraham must be included in the number of the teachers of New Hasidism. He lived in times when the movement was just nascent. Ascetic views of cabbalist hermits, who followed the established tradition of the Eastern-European Jewish mysticism, were a force in the society, including Hassidic circles. It wasn’t surprising that the son of Maggid of Mezhirech preferred a teaching which was more authoritative for his generation to views of his father and his friend. However, an analysis of sayings of rabbi Abraham enables us to doubt this point of view. The article advances a hypothesis confirming that there are grounds to include Abraham Malach in the number of the teachers of New Hasidism.
Abraham Malach’s teaching on tzadik’s mission
In his lectures rabbi Abraham emphasizes over and over again that the point of serving the Lord is to increase the good things given to us from above for the sake of the heavenly world, which good things he also calls a revelation of the Kingdom of God. Realization of the objective is possible only thanks to tzadik’s intermediary activity. “Revelation of the Kingdom of God in this world takes place in two ways. Sometimes it happens “from below upward” thanks to tzadik who has subdued all his 7 qualities to the Lord, causing all good things to be sent down to this world. Sometimes it happens “from above downward”: notwithstanding the fact that tzadik has not managed to do a lot in his service, the Lord, may His Name be blessed, in His mercy sends down to the world all possible good things, and when His Kingdom is thus disclosed, “Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about” (Psalm 97:3) and then “All who do iniquity [are] scattered” (Psalm 92:9). And then all [fallen] sparks fly up to the Lord, may His Name be blessed. But it is impossible for the Shekinah to descend lower than the tenth degree (Suka 5a), because any degree may not reach any degree other than the closest higher degree, and if the first should reach the latter, it shall cease to exist. Therefore revelation takes place with tzadik’s help, who is on the ayn(self-denial) degree, for in it there is no destruction[6]”. Thus, Abraham Malachs sees only two possibilities to send down to this world the good things of the God’s Kingdom. Either the tsadik reaches a level enabling him to send them down independently, or the Lord does it by virtue of His limitless mercy. In this case, mediation of tzadik is also necessary, because without it the world is unable to come in touch with the higher beings without being dissolved in them. Only the righteous man of God, thanks to a special spiritual practice, set forth in detail below, is able to accept and to transmit the gifts of the heavenly world. The original plan was to impose responsibility to mediate between the Creator and the creation on the whole chosen people, but due to imperfection of ordinary people who were not able to reach a proper level of spirituality, the mission was imposed on the tsadiks. ‘“I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel” (Numbers 3:12). …For all sons of Israel must lift up sparks which are on the lower degrees of the creation, so that the world may be filled with understanding of the divine things, but they did not reach the proper degree. Therefore tzadik, who includes in him all Israel, is called a Levite. For he clings to the Lord, may His Name be blessed, and performs the action and lift ups the Kingdom… This is why it is said: “I have taken the Levites”, i.e. tzadiks[7]. In this passage tzadiks are bracketed together with the Levites, a priestly caste of the Biblical times, which was given the privilege of the temple service, which originally belonged to the whole people. They carry out their service thanks to the fact that the soul of a tzadik includes souls of all Jews of his generation. Therefore when they are lift upd, they lift up with them all the community of the faithful. Similar sayings are often found in works of teachers of faith of early Hasidism[8].
According to views of rabbi Abraham Malach, not only the Jews but also other nations of the world get good things from the higher powers only thanks to the mediation of their righteous. “Tzadik is the foundation of the world, for when he prays, he lift ups the whole world. The same is true for the nations of the world. There are 70 nations of the world against 70 souls of the house of Jacob, from which they eat the good things (literally “they suck”). Each nation has many degrees and each subsequent degree is closer to holiness. The one who gets closer to holiness than all the others, elevating his qualities to holiness, thereby lift ups all his nation to holiness. However, at that they reach just one of the holy souls which they such, one of the 70 souls of the house of Jacob”[9].
M.Idel among most characteristic features of the early Hasidism dogma mentions a doctrine, according to which tzadik is the channel connecting the divine and the created worlds. By using special mystical techniques tzadik rises and merges with the deity, and then comes down and endows all around him with good things he obtained from above. Abraham Malach gets back to discussing such service of tzadik in most of his lectures. In this matter he is more consistent than all other leaders of the early Hasidism. His father, Dov Ber of Mezhirech, who was one of the most influential followers of Besht, despite bent on discussing tzadik’s mission as a mediator, from time to time remarked that coming of God’s good things in this world depends on organized joint actions of all the community of believers. A typical example of this is his saying which explains why the Lord commanded to the people standing on the coast to be silent before making the great miracle of separating waters of the Red sea. “Be silent”, said the Lord, for at that point He had to change the nature by turning sea into dry land, while the Hebrews were praying and thus holding on to the speech world, which supports life of this created world. Therefore it was impossible to carry out a change in this world. And that’s why He said to them, “Be silent” – and the letters of speech which support life of this world were brought up to the “Ancient of Days” himself (God’s will), where there is no distinction between qualities, there is no sea and dry land but everything is the same, for this is the highest will. And no sooner when the sea returned to its abode, the people sang a song”[10]. The above passage describes a technique of influencing the deity by lifting up the letters of speech, popular among the Hassids. When used by all the people simultaneously, it enabled the miracle of salvation from persecution by the pharaoh’s army. The outstanding righteous people did not play any special part in what had happened. In lectures of Abraham Malach miracles and any manifestations of grace in this world as such, as well as elevation of the chosen people to degrees close to the Creator take place exclusively through tzadik’s mediation. In this matter his position was close to views of the founder of Hasidism rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. The following sayings are significant in this regard: “The generation leader is able to lift up all sayings and narratives of the people of his generation, thereby linking the material with the spiritual”[11], “The man is a small world. The first corresponds to the head and the latter corresponds to the feet. The one who is called the generation leader is the eyes of the community. When the generation leader changes himself into a cart where Shekhinah may abide, and from him it reaches all the people of his generation. This is why they say, that the spirit of creation flows from him”[12].
It is significant that Besht, as well as rabbi Abraham Malach, does not include the public preaching in the mystique practices which miraculously lift up souls of the descendants of Jacob. He sets his hopes in the first place on the exceptional abilities of the man chosen by God to secure the universal salvation by his own effort[13]. At the same time, the son of Maggid of Mezhirech and rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov took different views on the matter of participation of the righteous man in a collective prayer. Besht, according to Hassidic tradition, led festival prayers of worshippers and thereby he managed to cancel rulings of the heavenly court which were unfavorable for the Jews a few times[14]. According to a collection of lectures by rabbi Israel “Keter Shev Tov” the ecstatic prayer of a small group of devotees in a synagogue arouses ecstasy in souls of all others present[15]. As for rabbi Abraham, according to Hassidic stories, he did not use to attend the synagogue services and in exposition of his doctrine he does not place any emphasis on the importance of tzadik’s participation in the collective prayer.
To continue comparing views of the two outstanding teachers of faith, let’s recall a passage from Besht’s epistle relating his talk with the King Messiah: “I asked the Messiah: “When will you come?” He replied: “Be aware that when your doctrine spreads and becomes known to the world and when your springs break outside, the things I’ve taught you and you’ve learned, and they also (all the faithful) will be able to carry out mergers like you and to raise up their souls like you… then the time desired for and salvation will come”. I was amazed at this and was full of anguish because of how much time shall pass before this will be possible. But of the things I’ve learned while being there, three healing methods and three holy names are easy to learn and to explain. Then my mind was set at rest and it occurred to me that thanks to this my peers will also be able to reach my degree and my level. They will be able by using them (the names learned) to lift up their soul like me, they will be able to learn and will be like me”[16]. M.Idel suggests that we should translate the expression bney gili(literally “peers”) as contemporariesand believes that tendencies to introduce all to the elitist spiritual practices carried out by him were not alien to Besht [17]. If we agree with this interpretation, we must also acknowledge that rabbi Israel conceded in principle that all coreligionists may reach his level and his supernatural abilities, even though the King Messiah forbade him to disclose the secret to people.
In lectures of rabbi Abraham Malach tzadik invariably acts as a mediator between God and the people. The righteous man carries out the exalted service thanks to his exceptional spiritual perfection. Discourses of rabbi Abraham do not contain even the slightest hint to a possibility to transmit such abilities of the man of God to the whole generation by magic or by teaching and exhorting. In the introduction to his work rabbi Abraham speaks about granting a particular nature to the man depending on his merits “in incarnation of the soul or in its first incarnation in this world or the higher one[18]. This approach rules out any possibility for people to reach an equal degree of service to the Creator, since inclinations and abilities of the man turn out to be depending on the secret history of his preceding incarnations of his soul. In this case, position of rabbi Abraham is close to one preached by one of the closest disciples of Besht, rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye. According to his views, the humanity is divided into people of the matter and people of the form. Each of these two groups has own way of service. They must learn to understand each other and to help each other to realize the mission entrusted to them, but the difference between them shall not be eliminated, at least not in this world[19]. Father of rabbi Abraham, Dov Ber of Mezhirech believed that souls of people descend into this world from various levels of the divine world. Each of those levels is divided into a number of degrees. The degree of Moses is the highest degree the man can reach. By self-cultivation any man can rise up to the degree of Moses of his spiritual level, but no more than that[20]. Accordingly, from the beginning only few people are allowed to become tzadiks of the higher level
Thus, on the basis of the above we must conclude that comments of Abraham Malach on tzadik’s mission were close to the package of concepts which had been formed in the circle of founders of Hasidism. With that he used to choose the most elitist ideas from all great number of ideas proposed. Like Besht, he was inclined to diminish the role of the individual service of tzadik and did not believe that it was necessary to disclose the secret sense of Torah to the common people. Like his father and like rabbi Yaakov Yosef, he did not concede even in theory that the whole community could reach a level which would enable it to carry out all the spiritual practices of tzadik.
To finish this section, I would like to comment on the passage from the lectures of rabbi Abraham, on the basis of which Sh.Dubnov and A.Sh.Gorodetskiy reached a conclusion that rabbi Abraham substantially disagreed with Hasidism of Besht. The passage speaks of the well-known story from the Book of prophet Samuel about King Saul showing mercy on the captured king of amalekites, which made the prophet very angry. It was traditional for rabbinical and mystical literature to picture Saul as a great righteous man, who because of some weaknesses was not able to carry out the king’s mission properly. In particular, Abraham Malach wrote about him: “There is a sublime tzadik, who is unable to lead (lehanhig) his generation, and the generation is unable to tolerate him. For he both by his stature and by his level is above all the people, for his understanding is so great that the generation is unable to tolerate him. He is close to the higher wisdom and may not descend to a lower degree in order to lift up his generation”[21]. Dubnov thought that in this case the author speaks of himself. Exactly because of such views Abraham Malach never handled matters of the community and lived simple life of a mystic and an ascetic[22]. He consciously rejected the path of tzadik-leader, in which other teachers of Hasidism believed. However, if we read the passage carefully it makes us doubt such conclusions. The passage speaking of acts of King Saul, is preceded by the above-mentioned discourse on struggle between Mordechay and Haman. In particular, it mentions Haman’s intent to raise Mordecai in the higher spheres, so that he dissolves in the deity and ceases to exist. “So that he would cease to be himself there, God forbid, and there would be no one who is able to lead(lehanhig) the generation, for he would be raised to such a height where he would cease to be himself. This would make it possible that those at the lower degrees to fall in sin and there will be no one who is able to lead them to correction”. “But Mordecai learned about what had happened” (Esther 4:1). And he saved himself from this by means of Torah and prayer until he had brought a delivery. He brought it into the night, which is the great exile (galut). He brought a revelation of the first cause, which is the great name of the first cause itself. He brought it into the darkness of halut and destroyed halut”[23]. Thus, rabbi Abraham views as a great disaster tzadik’s refusal to guide the generation, even when it is caused by his ascension into the higher layers of the world. It is important to remark that as it follows from this passage, the guidance is carried out not by contacts between the righteous man and the community, but by his spiritual practice: studying Torah, prayers, acts performed by means of the secret names of God. It was because of these that Mordecai was able to destroy forces of darkness and to save his generation. In this context the verb lehanhig(literally to lead) becomes a specific term, which means the righteous man’s concern for the people expressed in mystical acts concealed from the eyes of the ordinary person. This attitude toward the mission of the man of God was close to views of rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. Concluding his discourse on Mordecai, Abraham Malach points out that Moses “reached a higher degree not as to become inapproachable (nitbatel) and be unable to lead (lehanhig) the generation, God forbid, but in such a way that he led the generation to a degree so high, that even if he himself should be on a degree which is still higher, he will be able to lead (lehanhig) the generation anyway”[24]. Then rabbi Abraham begins a discourse on King Saul. He also condemns his inability to lead (lehanhig) the generation. In this case, the son of Maggid of Mezhirech warns the righteous about a danger of a different kind. Whilst Mordecai was in danger of complete break-up with his generation, Saul got into trouble due to his attempts to correct this world by using a spiritual practice which is not allowed in our times, namely, by lifting up sparks of light of those captured by forces of evil exclusively by means of mercy. “But this is truly not so. For just as the quality of mercy is necessary, the quality of cruelty is necessary also. And the Creator has commanded to show mercy to the one who requires mercy, and to show cruelty to the one requiring cruelty”[25]. Explanation of Saul’s mistake is that he ascended to the high degree of the universe where there is no quality of judgment but only the pure mercy. “He rose to the great degree, so the generation was not able to tolerate him, he rose to the degree of mercy, which is a heritage without limits”[26]. According to rabbi Abraham the degree to which Saul rose, was the degree of the King Messiah, and it was intolerable to act the way he acted during times preceding the deliverance[27]. Thus, bracketing rabbi Abraham with the righteous man like King Saul is hardly justifiable. The conclusion is confirmed by all subsequent contents of the work of the son of Great Maggid, devoted mainly to describing the way of serving the Lord by means of all main qualities of the soul. The next chapter of this study will be devoted to examining the above material.
Spiritual practice of rabbi Abraham Malach
Rabbi Abraham Malach taught that the entities emanating from the highest source and constituting a manifested deity (sefirot), are a hierarchy of individual minds. This teaching was maintained by the medieval mystics[28]. It was maintained by a mystic and philosopher rabbi Boruch of Kosov[29], who was close to the Hassidic circles and who by all appearances significantly influenced rabbi Dov Ber of Mezhirech[30]. Rabbi Abraham calls the higher sefirot “reasoning” (maskilim), and the lower 7 sefirot he calls “minds” (skhalim) or “qualities” (the middot). The angelic world is lower than the divine world and is an hierarchy of beings who combine mind with a combination of sayings. They are motionless, since when angels come close, the higher mind absorbs the lower one. The same occurs with spiritual elements of which their bodies are composed[31]. Unlike angels, tzadiks are able to ascend to the higher worlds, since the ascension takes place in their microcosm, that is, in the minds and combinations of sayings of which their souls are composed, while their bodies still remain in the material world. “The more they [tzadiks] perceive His greatness, the more love is kindled in them, and also their fear and shame before Him increase incomparably more than before. Therefore they ascend to a higher degree within themselves: in their minds and in combinations of sayings, but not in their appearance and in their vessels, which are their four material bases from the material and fleshly world, in which they are clothed. Four bases of their material and their body, which is made of the four bases of this world, does not disappear [due to a mystic practice] and they remain in the same four bases and in the same body in which they were before reaching the great realization[32]”. Its worth noting that such localization of the mystical practice in the microcosm (interiorization) was one of characteristic features of the early Hassidic doctrine[33].
According to views of rabbi Abraham, trips of tzadik in the divine world are limited mainly by degrees, on which the 7 lowers sefirot are located. The next sefirah up Binah (understanding) remains unattainable, despite the fact that many outstanding righteous men got close to it and lacked only a little to attain to it completely. Attempts of tzadiks to rise higher may cause their complete break-up with the terrestrial world, which, as noted above, the author viewed as a very undesirable result of spiritual practice. To avoid that, rabbi Abraham exhorts the righteous to concentrate on acts which secure mystical communication with the Creator by means of the lower sefirot: Mercy and Love (Chesed), Justice, Might and the Fear of God (Din) , Majesty and Compassion (Tipheret), Eternity, Praise and Victory (Netzach), Splendor (Hod), Basis (Yasod), Kingdom (Malkhut). He compares the latter with the principal qualities of the soul, which have similar names. According to Abraham Malach, the microcosm is a combination of entities of the divine world, which may be perceived, and substances that correspond to the latter and constitute the human soul[34]. The connection between them allows to carry out the spiritual practice proposed by Maggid’s son. It’s objective is to lift up the qualities of the soul and the divine minds connected with them to the highest source. This is secured either by an ecstatic prayer, or by a believer humbling himself before his Creator, that is acknowledging that he himself is nothing and all his virtues belong to the Creator. Only He is worthy to be praised, for He is completely good. Rabbi Abraham calls attainment of such a condition of consciousness subduing middot(qualities of the soul). Hereinafter we will use the term midafor the sake of convenience, meaning that it implies at the same time both qualities of the human character and 7 lower entities of the manifested deity. Sometimes rabbi Abraham speaks of 7 the middot and sometimes of 6[35], basing on the traditional concept of kabbalists that Malkhut is an epitome of the fear of God, dominion of which over the higher sefirot is a supreme objective of the spiritual practice[36]. Subduing the middot by tzadik was a prerequisite for realization of the mission of mediating between the Creator and the creation, entrusted to tzadik[37]. Separation from the Lord is caused by notion of himself as a source of his own qualities. Complete renunciation of one’s virtues allows the righteous man to increase divine presence in the terrestrial world. At that the 7 the middot that are there at all the levels of the universe are turned into vessels which take in the highest grace. “Tzadik rules over all worlds. For all worlds consist of 7 the middot, but he (the tzadic) in no way owns them (the middot). This is why King David said: “Might, and Glory, and Victory, and Splendor belong to you, oh Lord, and all which fills the heaven and the earth, and the Kingdom is yours, oh Lord” (1 Chronicles 29:11), for all these 7 virtues (the middot) belong to God’s glory only. Being such, he (tzadik) reduces the deity to 7 the middot. And when the deity is revealed in 7 the middot, then “Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about” (Psalm 97:3). Point of the verse is that coverings of darkness which materialize and clothe the deity fall down”[38]. Views of rabbi Abraham in this case are similar to teaching prevalent in works of the founders of Hasidism, according to which a complete renunciation of one’s own identity is necessary to attain to a unity with the Creator and to thereby increase God’s grace in creation. Such condition in Hassidic texts is called ayn(literally none). Having attained to it, the man completely merges with the primary all-embracing divine light and becomes a conductor of this light to the world of individual beings. Like other followers of Besht, rabbi Abraham states that tzadik turns into ayn[39]. He also says that tzadik carries out the mission of a mediator, being turned into heyoliy, that is, the primary point, the pre-matter, devoid of any own characteristics[40]. Subduing the middot secures, from rabbi Abraham’s point of view, ascension of the righteous man to the celestial world and his unity with the Deity. At that, cases of any qualities of the soul going out of control resulting in tzadik’s isolation are also necessary to carry out his mission. Thanks to that particles of the divine light captured by vile passions become released. “Sometimes tzadik leaves his degree in order to lift up sparks of the divine light, as the Scripture says: “The righteous will fall 7 times and will get up again” (Proverbs 24:16). We should take it to mean that in all his 7 qualities (the middot) tzadik will fall and will get up again. All that in order to lift up them”[41].
The whole life of a righteous man is dedicated to subduing the middot. To realize it he has to continually meditate on his own vanity and declare it in his sayings. Self-education of this kind, recommended by the medieval didactic literature, in this case becomes a mystical technique securing increase of God’s mercy in the created world. In the spiritual practice preached by rabbi Abraham most emphasis is placed on acts connected to lifting up speech of a man to the higher source. First of all this takes place during prayer and reading/discussing Torah. “Tzadik is called “everything”, for thanks to him the Lord is revealed to the world of doings, the world of matter. The Scriptures say about this: “His mercy is on all his doings” (Psalm 145:9). He lifts up a speech which is the Kingdom (Malkhut), for he brings understanding of the Lord into all worlds… But how does he lift up his speech? It takes place in the following way. When he declares words of Torah and prayers, related to a quality (mida), with fear and love, then this mida rises to its root”[42].
Ardent declaration of sacred texts with abandon leads to a unity of the world of speech with the world of thought, which is so important in the Hassidic doctrine. “By declaring words of Torah and prayer with fear and love in ardent ecstasy, a disclosure of thought in speech takes place. Therefore they ascend”[43]. Ascension becomes possible thanks to a structural similarity between speech and thought. “The same way as there are combinations of (tserufim) [letters][44]in the material speech, there are combinations in thought. In any of the middot there are combinations. And even though Wisdom and Understanding (Chochmah and Binah) are higher than the middot and these combinations do not apply to them, in any case there are delicate and radiating combinations, which the mind is not allowed to know”[45]. According to beliefs of rabbi Abraham, the world of the middot and all possible combinations connected with them are generated by the seven lower sefirot[46]. Higher entities which constitute the world of the divine mind are in perfect unity which does not allow to exarticulate any constituent combinations. However, these combinations still exist there on a level not accessible for the mind. Existence of mutually related entities on all degrees of the universe allows by lifting up the middot in a prayerful ecstasy to attain ultimately to their inscrutable sources which are found in the divine wisdom. The one constituent principle of the middot, which runs through the whole universe, allows the ascetic to produce out of any conversation the holiness contained in it, even if it is devoted to the most worthless topic. “In vile conversations about sinful actions the 7 holy qualities (the middot) are present which fell into the sphere of evil forces (klipa). Tzadik by humbling all the middot before the Lord lifts up, lifts up to him all those the middot, which are on the lower degrees of the
Besides the creation attaining to God’s grace as a result of actions of the righteous man, lectures of rabbi Abraham, as we mentioned above, also talk about sending heavenly gifts to people who do not deserve them, thanks to the highest compassion. But in this case he also emphasized that tzadik who has humbled his middot is a mediator in transmitting the good things[48].
It is easy to notice that the views of Abraham Malachs cited above correspond to fundamental doctrines of the Hassidic teaching. Let us recall as an example some of fundamental doctrines of teaching of his father, Dov Ber Maggid of Mezhirech. According to the views of Maggid, unity of man with the Creator depends on how much the son of Adam is able to diminish himself. The more he renounces his own virtues and views himself as vanity, the more the Lord diminishes Himself and becomes accessible for the man[49]. The Moses was deemed worthy of such a lofty calling by virtue of his being more modest than all other people[50]. Only the one who in his eyes will be as if he did not exist at all, shall be deemed worthy of deification[51]. Man must remember that all his qualities (middot) are from God. However, unlike his son, rabbi Dov Ber along with preaching a spiritual practice of complete self-denial, deemed it possible to serve as well by releasing the middot. By contemplating the qualities of his own soul and enjoying them to the full, believer gradually becomes more certain that they are but shadows of substances of the divine plerome which correspond to them. By means of such reasoning, man ascends to the celestial world and attains to unity with God[52]. In this case, ascetic at first admires the qualities of his own soul and does not try to renounce them, as rabbi Abraham Malach recommends again and again. Maggid assured his followers that deification may be secured only by attaining to a perfection of any of one’s spiritual qualities (middot). Abraham was successful thanks to his compassion, Isaac – thanks to his justice, etc[53]. In lectures of rabbi Abraham this technique is not given much attention. Its realization requires to refuse from complete self-denial, at least for a while, which conflicted with the views of the son of Maggid of Mezhirech.
Views of rabbi Abraham and rabbi Dov Ber on ecstatic prayer are much alike. Maggid exhorted the believers to put all their effort in the letters of the voiced sacred texts. By this their souls will reach the highest degrees of the celestial world[54]. At that, every said letter is a hall in which justice is rendered on the man. If he shall be deemed unworthy, he shall be hurled down by sending to him thoughts distracting him from the proper concentration[55]. Thus, self-denial similar to the one which according to rabbi Abraham is formulated as subduing the middot is a prerequisite for carrying out meditative prayer. At the same time, unlike his son, rabbi Dov Ber believed it was possible to get over the obstacle by meditating on the source of distracting thoughts. If a man is seduced by the female beauty, he must remember the highest source of beauty, with enjoyment from contemplating it surpassing everything which the terrestrial world may offer. If he is taken by an unworthy fear of the creation, then he must be filled with God’s fear and realize that the only thing to be afraid is to look unworthy in eyes of the Creator. Thanks to acts of the mind of this kind, unworthy thoughts are lifted up to their source and sanctified[56].
Along with prayer, Maggid of Mezhirech recommended intellectual contemplation as a practice securing ascension of the soul into the celestial world. Unceasing concentration of the mind on thoughts about the divine plerome allows the man by getting over one degree after another to ascend to the source of all creation. Rabbi Abraham, as mentioned above, rejected the way of pure intellectual contemplation, being afraid that the lower mind may be completely absorbed by the higher one, which, in turn, shall make return of the ascetic to the terrestrial world impossible.
On the basis of the above we can conclude that differences between Abraham Malach and rabbi Dov Ber and his school were systemic rather than fundamental. The spiritual practice recommended by rabbi Abraham was contained in the teaching of his father as an individual case. Maggid of Mezhirech aspired to proposing to the believers a wide path which offers various alternative actions corresponding to various conditions of the human soul. On one occasion he made a call to the believers for complete self-denial, whilst in another he made a call for certain emancipation of their natural passions. He supplemented calls to concentrate all one’s efforts on ecstatic prayer with exhortation to peaceful intellectual contemplation. Certain methodological and theological conflict between the techniques proposed by Maggid of Mezhirech did not embarrass him in principle. By contrast, Abraham Malach developed a well-organized and consistent teaching. Subduing the middot was its unshakeable basis. The balance between the intellectual and the emotional constituents of service was set once and for all times. Mediation between the Creator and the creation was entrusted to tzadik, a man who has subdued his inclination to God’s will. It would be appropriate to remind in this context that AbrahamMalach taught secrets of Torah to rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyad, a founder of the CHaBaD movement[57]. As we know, the latter was famous for orderliness and consistency of his teaching by contrast with other leaders of the early Hasidism. Even though intellectual contemplation was the basis of teaching of rabbi Shneur Zalman, still in the general methodological sense he was a worthy disciple of his teacher.
We would like to conclude with a few words on the special way of life of Abraham Malach, which was so different to the one of other early Hassidic leaders. The spiritual practice which he chose, according to which complete renunciation of one’s own qualities of the soul, viewing oneself as an absolute zero, was the fundamental principle and the main instrument of mystically influencing the world, required maximum alienation from the worldly vanity. But objectives of such alienation were the classic Hassidic objectives – to bring down the flow of God’s mercies into the world and to lift up souls of the believers to the source thanks to actions of tzadik. At that, Abraham Malach does not give much attention to such traditional objectives of the old school as mortification of the flesh or concentrating all one’s efforts on renewing harmony in the divine pleroma. Rabbi Abraham lived in times when Hasidism was just becoming a mass movement, when as Gershom Sholem puts it, “it brought to life such a big number of original religious characters, that, as far as we can decide, the number even surpassed the harvest of the classical Safed period”[58]. Taking into consideration all that, it will be more correct to recognize Abraham Malach as one of the most original teachers of the early Hasidism, whose ways of service were not much published as an example to follow, rather than someone who rejected views of the followers of Besht and remained true to the ideals of the traditional East-European asceticism.
[1]Horodetsky S. Ha-hasidut ve-ha-hasidim. Berlin, 1922. Volume 2, p. 6. Alfasi I. Entsiklopedia la-hasidut. Ishim. Jerusalem, 1986, p. 32. Assaf D.Derekh ha-malkhut:R. Israel mi Ruzhin. Jerusalem, 2001, p. 51, footnote 6.
[2]DubnovS. Toldot ha-hasidut. Tel Aviv, 1960, p. 214
[3]Horodetsky S. Ha-hasidut ve-ha-hasidim, p. 53.
[4]Shivhey ha-Besht.Magad Abraham Rubinstein. Jerusalem, 1991, p. 139, footnote 1.
[5]Alfasi I. Entsiklopedia la-hasidut, p. 33-34.
[6]Hesed le-Abraham.Jerusalem,1995, pp. 29,40.
[8]Cp. on this subject: Green A. The Zaddiq as Axis Mundi in Later Judaism//Jewish Spirituality.New-York,1987, pp. 127-157. Idel M. Hasidism, Between Ecstasy and Magic. New York, 1995, pp. 189-209. Etkes I. Hasidut breshita. Tel-Aviv, 1991, pp. 74-75.Dresner S.The Zaddik. New York, 1960, pp. 113-141. Rapoport-Albert A. God and the Zaddik as the Two Focal Points of Hasidic Worship, pp. 305-311.Weiss J. Mehqarim ha-hasidut Braslav, pp. 104-106. Etkes I. Ha-Zadik : zikat gomlin beyn dfus hevrati le-meshna reayonit, pp. 293-297. Tishby I., Dan J. Torat ha-hasidut ve-sifruta, pp. 781-782. . Nigal G.Mehkarim be-hasidut.T1, pp. 36-40, and others.
[10]Dov Bermi-Mezhirecz. Maggid dvarav le-Yaaqov [Korets, 1784]/ed. R Schats-Uffenheimer. Jerusalem, 1976, p.192.
[11]Ketershemtov.Bruklin,1987, p.3.
[12]YaakovYosefmi-Polonnoye.ToldotYaakovYosef.Korzetz,1780, p. 88b
[13]Cp. on this subject:Etkes I. Ha-Zadik : Zikat gomlin beyn dfus hevrati le-meshna reayonit//Be-Maagaley hasidim.Jerusalem,2000, pp.290-292.On the subject of Besht preaching his teaching only to a limited circle of the initiated see: HeschelA. The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov: Studies in Hasidism. Chicago, 1985. Etkes I. Hasidut breshita. Tel-Aviv, 1991, pp. 49-57. Etkes I. Baal Shem. Ha-Besht- Magiya, Mistika, Gangaga, pp.178-216. Rapoport-Albert A. Hasidism after 1772: Structural Continuity and Change // Hasidism reappraised. London, Portland, Oregon, 1997, pp. 80-94.
[14]Etkes I. Baal Shem. Ha-Besht- Magiya, Mistika, Gangaga.С.115-117. Etkes I. Hasidut breshita, p. 34.
[16]Sefer Shivhey ga- Besht// Magadurat B. Minz.Tel-Aviv,1961, p.168.
[17]Idel M. Messianic Mystics.New Haven and London,1998, pp. 213-221.
[19]Dresner S.The Zaddik. New York, 1960, pp.113-141. Rapoport-Albert A. God and the Zaddik as the Two Focal Points of Hasidic Worship, pp. 305-311.Weiss J. Mehqarim ha-hasidut Braslav, pp. 104-106. Etkes I. Ha-Zadik : zikat gomlin beyn dfus hevrati le-meshna reayonit, pp. 293-297. Tishby I., Dan J. Torat ha-hasidut ve-sifruta, pp. 781-782. . Nigal G.Mehkarim be-hasidut, volume 1, pp. 36-40.
[20]Dov Bermi-Mezhirech. Or ha-emet.Bney-Brak,1967, p. 165.
[22]DubnovS. Toldot ha-hasidut, p. 213.
[26]Ibid, p.23. It must be said that a similar explanation of Saul’s act is provided in lectures of Maggid of Mezhirech. Cp. Dov Bermi-Mezhirech, p. 74.
[28]Idel M. Kabbalah: hebetim hadashim, pp. 65-67. BlumenthalD. Understanding Jewish Mysticism. New York,1982, volume 2, pp. 25-27.
[29]Liebes E.Ahava ve-ezira be-haguto shelr.Boruh mi-Kosov.Avoda le-shem qabalat tor Ph.D. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997, pp. 63-66.
[30]Ibid.С.19, 48. Liebes E.Ha-Hidush be-hasidut al py r.Boruh mi-Kosov //Daat.2000.№45, pp. 75-91.
[31]Hesed le-Abraham, pp. 19-20.
[33]Idel M. Kabbalah: hebetim hadashim, p. 111. Margolin R. Ha-pnimat hayey ha-dat ve-ha-makhshava be-doroteha ha-rishonim shel ha-hasidut: meqoroteyha u-basiseyha ha-epistemiologiyim.Avoda le-shem qabalat tor Ph.D. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1999, pp. 218-270, 287-346.
[39]Hesed le-Abraham, pp. 61,67.
[42]Ibid, p. 46. Cp also pp. 28,42.
[49]Dov Bermi-Mezhirech, p. 94.
[54]Dov Bermi-Mezhirech. Maggid dvarav le-Yaaqov, p. 86.
[55]Idel M. Hasidism, Between Ecstasy and Magic, pp.162-163.
[56]Jacobs L. Hasidic Prayer, pp.104-120.
[57]Rodkinson M.Toldot amudey habad.Kenigsberg,1876, pp. 17.Heelman.Beyt Raby.Berdichev,1902, pp. 4,10,22,123. Horodetsky S. Ha-hasidut ve-ha-hasidim, pp. 50.Glitsensteyn A.Sefer toldot-R. Duvber ha-rav ha- maggid mi-Mezhirech. Kfar habad,1976, pp. 65.
[58]Sholem H. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism.Jerusalem,1993, volume 2, p.176.