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| Rare references to Sefer HaTzoref which reached Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Margolioth |
The eighteenth-century Jewish mystical movement
− the Chassidic movement −
was founded by R. Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (c.1700-1760). It has evolved today
into one of the largest and most identifiable of all the Jewish movements. Yet
the causes that led to its appearance are still debated by scholars. While I
take the view that its major influencing factor was its immediate predecessor, the
mystical Sabbatian movement which arose in the aftermath of the false Messiah
Shabbatai Tzvi (1626-1676), most scholarship tends to seek out other reasons
for Chassidism’s appearance on the scene of history. In keeping with this
majority trend, this brief study explores (and questions) one such view: that
the persecutions following the Khmelnytsky massacres which began in 1648,
coupled with the theological reaction to that violence, were most likely to
have been the overwhelming influence leading to the rise of the Chassidic
movement. Previous scholarship argues that the vehemence of the unrest and
particularly the theological responses to it, led not just to the formation of
the Chassidic movement, but to the birth of the earlier Sabbatian movement in
the first instance, and even to the later conservatism of the Mitnagdic
opposition movement which arose to counter Chassidism. In other words, the physical
persecutions and their spiritual responses spawned not one, but three important
Jewish movements; Sabbatianism, Chassidism and Mitnagdism. Although I do not
necessarily subscribe to the approach that Chassidism emerged primarily as a
reaction to persecution, I do bring support for aspects of it here from a
little-known and under-studied Sabbatian personality who may have been a
critical link between Sabbatianism and Chassidism, R. Heshil Tzoref (1632-1699).
I do this because he introduces a new and unsuspected dynamic. This dynamic is
vengeance coupled with its concomitant theological justification and validation.
The problem is that if one takes the persecutions as a primary cause for the
birth particularly of Chassidism, it becomes very difficult to reconcile a
theology of cathartic vengeance with a spiritual and mystical movement.[1]
The simultaneous emergence of Sabbatianism
and Chassidism
As the seventeenth century fused with the
eighteenth century, the two “major mystical-messianic-charismatic movements,”
as Rachel Elior (2012:85) tellingly describes them, Sabbatianism and Chassidism,
emerged relatively simultaneously. The Khmelnytsky persecutions were still
fresh in the minds of the people who had first-hand experience of its horrors. Both
movements were informal as they did not seek permission from the recognised rabbinic
authorities.
Israel Halpern (1969:55-60) points out that
around this time, less than one per cent of the Jewish population was eligible
to vote for its communal and rabbinic leadership. This was because only the
wealthy, who paid taxes, were permitted to vote. One can understand how, in a
non-representative societal environment like this, charismatic and ground-up
movements could find fertile soil. They offered social elevation and spiritual
status to the average individual. It seems,
therefore, quite feasible to assume that both movements arose in response to the
similar concerns of persecution under Khmelnytsky from without, and societal neglect
from within.
The Khmelnytsky massacres
Although chronologically, Sabbatianism preceded
Chassidism, Elior maintains that both were “spiritual responses to
the tragic circumstances” of the Khmelnytsky massacres, also known as the
Cossack–Polish War. While these massacres are often associated with the
date 1648 when they began, it must be remembered that they continued for about
twenty years up to 1668. This was already two years after Shabbatai Tzvi (the
founder of the Sabbatian movement) had officially been discredited and
branded as a false Messiah when he converted to Islam. It was also just thirty
(or thirty-two, or perhaps only twenty-two)[2] years
before the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of the Chassidic movement) was
born.
Yet even after 1668, attacks against Jews continued.
More than one hundred thousand Jews were killed by the Cossacks between 1646
and 1768 in Ukraine, and Jews were subjected to pogroms in areas where the
Polish army had withdrawn.[3] The
Greek-Orthodox Ukrainian serfs rebelled against the Polish Catholics and the
Jews were caught up in the attacks as they often served as administrators for
the Polish nobility. The Cossacks also attacked the Roman Catholic clergy and
the civilian population, resulting in revenge attacks and “savage reprisals”
by Prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki (Davies 2005:351).
Documentary evidence spanning a century and a
half between 1650 and the end of the eighteenth century shows how Jews were
emotionally devastated and similarly intent on revenge. Included in this body
of literature is also a strong expression of messianic hope (Elior 2012:86).
The effects and dramatic consequences of the Khmelnytsky massacres are not lost
to Joseph Citron (n.d.:32-33), Jacob Barnai (1995:175) or Moshe Rosman (1982:6) either. Davies (2005:352)
speaks of “[t]he strains of incessant war” which “caused internal
inflammations.” Some of these “inflammations” are also evident in
the Kabbalistic literature produced during that time.
R. Heshil Tzoref and a theology of
vengeance
An extreme but little-known example of the need
for revenge may be found in the writings of the Sabbatian rabbi, R.
Heshil Tzoref. Based on the Hebrew alphanumeric system where each Hebrew letter
carries a numerical value,[4] the
following ‘calculations’ will help us understand how numerology was used to
great effect in Sabbatian Kabbalah (mysticism). Sabbatians
were adept at linking the numerical values of certain Hebrew words and dates to
biblical verses and Kabbalistic concepts, and then relating them directly to
historical events playing out in ‘real-time.’
Yehuda Liebes[5] (2007:7-8) shows how R. Heshil Tzoref had three distinct periods of spiritual awakening and increased mystical activity. These occurred during the years 1648 (= ת״ח = 408, corresponding to the Hebrew date of [5]408[6], the beginning of the Khmelnytsky pogroms); 1666 (= תכ״ו = 426, the year Shabbatai Tzvi apostatised to Islam) and; 1688 (= תמ״ח = 448, a seemingly random date other than being exactly forty years after 1648). These three dates and phases are mystically described and interpreted as follows:
1) R. Heshil Tzoref found a ‘hint’ to the Khmelnytsky pogroms in the Hebrew year ת״ח (408=1648) which he linked to the biblical phrase דֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר (4+200+4+200=408) which is found at the end of the verse מִלְחָמָ֥ה לַיהֹוָ֖ה בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑ק מִדֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר, “God will be at war with Amalek in every generation” (Exodus 17:16). Thus, in 1648 (408) Amalek (represented by Khmelnytzky) is identified as the evil entity of the generation, and those who fight him wage God’s war.
2) In 1666 (426)[7] the previous but incomplete biblical representation of דֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר is conceptualised as becoming the fuller דור ודור with the addition of three extra vavim (letter vavs, each of which has a numerical value of 6) which now makes 426 (408 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 426).[8] The spiritual battle that was started in 1648 (408) is, now intensified (with the three extra vavs) during the year 1666 (426). This means that despite the apostasy of the Messiah in 1666, Shabbatai Tzvi’s followers now have to dig deeply to ‘understand’ the spiritual necessity for the ‘messianic betrayal,’ because the heat of the battle against evil has just intensified. This explains the conversion of a Jewish Messiah to Islam as part of the intensely extenuating but necessary circumstances.
3) In 1688 − forty years after 1648 (perhaps corresponding to the biblical delay between the exodus and the promised entry to the land) − God’s final retribution and victory were to have taken place. God was going to mete out revenge on Edom which came to represent Christianity (as Ishmael came to represent Islam). The year 1688 (448) was selected for the following reason: The biblical Esau (representing Edom=Christendom) was born while Jacob (representing the Jewish people) was clutching at his heel. The biblical expression וְיָד֤וֹ אֹחֶ֙זֶת֙ בַּעֲקֵ֣ב עֵשָׂ֔ו in the verse, “And his [Jacob’s] hand was clutching (the heel of Esau)” (Genesis 25:26), has a numerical value of 448.[9]
In this threefold mystical and numerological conceptualisation by R. Heshil
Tzoref, the evil Amalek/Khmelnytzky is identified in 1648 (408) and the
scheme to dethrone that evil is begun. The battle intensifies in
1666 (426) with the paradox of the Jewish Messiah’s apostasy
to Islam (a necessary Sabbatian Kabbalistic requirement known as
“yeridah tzorech aliya,” to enter forbidden regions so as to elevate
them). The process is completed by the “clutching the heel” of, or vengeance
against, Esau/Christianity in 1688 (448).
R. Heshil Tzoref’s elaborate system of mysticism
includes Esau’s grandson, Tsefo (צפו=176), corresponds
in numerology to Polin (Poland) (פולין =176). Samael is the guardian of both Esau
and Tsefo, which means Samael is also the guardian of Poland, hence Poland represents
the Christian the Kingdom of Edom. This construct is strengthened by similarity
between Tsefo (צפו)
and North (צפון). North (צפון =226) is then connected to Polin-Lita (Poland and Lithuania) (פולין ליטא=226). Then R. Heshil
Tzoref relates all this to a verse from Jeremiah (1:14): “out of the north
shall evil break forth,” and R. Heshil Tzoref explains that “when the
messianic redemption arrives, it will first manifest in the north, which is,
Poland-Lithuania.”[10]
It could be said that, over a period of forty
years, R. Heshil Tzoref believed he could reframe, if not cosmically realign,
the three forces of Amalek (1648), Islam (1666) and Christianity (1688), thus
preparing for final messianic era. And in his mystical mind, all these stages are
presented as being supported by biblical verses.
The Tzoref ‘incident’
In a shocking and brutal Sabbatian
mystical interpretation, the vengeance of
1688 is described in sexual terms − but violently so, as assaulting a virgin −
because the year 1688 (448), the last of the three stages, has the same
numerical value as הבתולה (=448=the virgin). Reading between
the lines and considering the appetite for revenge for the blood libels and
massacres against Jews, this may be referring to a reprisal attack to right the
horrors of 1648 and it may have targeted a Christian virgin, perhaps a veiled
reference to Mary. It is difficult to sift the
facts from the innuendos, but Liebes writes:
“It seems to me that
this matter was not written about before the event, but was [instead] described
as prophecy after the fact (vaticinium ex eventu) [and it was] an event that
had already occurred on history’s stage, and in the lifetime of R. Heshil. It
is possible that the redemption [to be brought about] by R. Heshil was bound up
with engaging with a virgin of flesh and blood, similar to what we find with
many other messianic characters throughout history. It seems that this sexual
encounter remained within the memory of the Chassidim[11] of R. Heshil for the next generations, and the
words of R. Menachem Mendel of Shklov [a follower
of the Vilna Gaon, representing the opposition or Mitnagdic camp opposing Chassidism] hint at this [encounter as well][12]” (Liebes 2007: 8)[13]
Interpreting the Tzoref ‘incident’
It is very difficult to know how exactly to
interpret this apparent event and identify the perpetrator and the victim. But
it is clear that the logic of restorative consequence and cathartic
vengeance, in one form or another, features in the Sabbatian
mysticism of R. Heshil Tzoref. This must have been fuelled all the more by a
society overcome by the fear of pogroms, persecuted by a proliferation of blood
libels and seeking revenge against those Christians – or
more accurately, the “Bishops of the Catholic Church in the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth” (Elior 2012:102) − who
considered Jew to be “God-killers.” With the irony that Catholic clergy
and civilians themselves subject to attacks by the Cossacks, and their
corresponding reprisals against the Cossacks, it is no wonder that this
ecclesiastical chaos in Poland has been described as “God’s playground”
(Davies 2005). To add to the ironies and chaos of the time, 'Khmyel'nitskiy'
was later remembered (in Soviet Russia) as “a Moses who led his people's
exodus from Polish bondage towards the great Russian homeland” (Davies
2005:353).
“The indignation at
the ‘nation of God-killers’ was inflamed by the belief that the Jews remained
blind to the splendor of the true faith instead of doing penance for their
crime. They had committed the sin of ingratitude and, for this; God, for whom
‘nothing is uglier than ingratitude’, had turned away from them and transferred
His grace to, among other people, the Poles” (Tazbir 1998:235).
Contextualisation is vital in helping to
understand the sentiments of all parties involved in any form of
socio-religious disorder but should never justify outrageous behaviour. Still,
it contributes to the explanation of why ideologies adopt a sense of radical immediacy
and antinomian urgency:
“Sabbatian teachings
entailed messianic hopes of meta-historical vengeance against those who had
murdered thousands of helpless Jews, as well as messianic hopes for redemption
of those who survived” (Elior 2012:87).
R. Heshil Tzoref is regarded by Liebes as one
of the forerunners of the Chassidic movement and is somewhere between Sabbatianism
and Chassidism. This emphasises the effects and influences of the
Khmelnytzky massacres – with their pogroms, ensuing blood libels and
the need for cosmic vengeance and restorative messianism − on Sabbatian
and Chassidic ideology.
Conclusion
Perhaps now it is easier to understand why
Elior (although she does not mention R. Heshil Tzoref at all) is convinced of
the extended effects of the massacres and sees them ultimately manifesting as
not just one or two, but three, distinct responses: 1)
the birth of the Sabbatian movement; 2) the rise of Chassidic movement;
and 3) the emergence of the Mitnagdic movement of the conservative
Orthodox who saw themselves as the centrist and “established traditional
rabbinical leadership” that opposed both the new movements of Sabbatians
and Chassidim (Elior 2012:89).
Traumatic national events are never to be
minimised in terms of the affected populations. In Jewish history, all roads of
persecution lead to messianism. We see this with the rise of messianism in the
aftermath of the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1497
respectively (Biale 1984:314). So too, the Khmelnytsky massacres cannot be
ignored as a major influencing factor in the formulations of Sabbatianism,
Chassidism and Mitnagdism. The problem with this model, of
course, is how to reconcile these movements with their roots in an ignoble
albeit cathartic theology of vengeance.
R. Heshil Tzoref, it seems, faced the same
conundrum. He resolved it by using his mystical interpretations of Exodus 17:16
(מִלְחָמָ֥ה
לַיהֹוָ֖ה בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑ק מִדֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר), Genesis 25:26 (וְיָד֤וֹ אֹחֶ֙זֶת֙ בַּעֲקֵ֣ב
עֵשָׂ֔ו) and Jeremiah 1:14 (מִצָּפוֹן֙ תִּפָּתַ֣ח הָרָעָ֔ה) as
authoritative proof texts for a treacherous antinomian canonising and theologising
of vengeance.
From a theological perspective, besides the
obvious moral outrage, I prefer the less-popular model where more weight is
placed on the influence the mystico-messianic Sabbatian movement exerted
on the mystico-messianic[14] Chassidic
movement. Although the persecutions were undoubtedly a major and significant
factor, I argue that evidence of a more direct correspondence and intersection
between later Sabbatian rabbinic personalities with their
mystical literature, and the earlier Chassidic personalities
with their mystical literature, is far more compelling (like R. Heshil
Tzoref, whose Sefer haTzoref was in the possession of, and praised by,
the Baal Shem Tov).[15]
Bibliography
Barnai, J., 1995, 'The Outbreak of Sabbateanism-Eastern European Factor', The Journal
of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Brill.
Biale, D., 1984,
‘Jewish Mysticism in the Sixteenth Century’, I n An Introduction to the
Medieval Mystics of Europe, Edited by Paul E. Szarmach, SUNY Press, Albany,
313-329.
Citron, J., n.d.,
‘Can Shabbatai Tzvi's Popularity between 1665-66 be explained by his
faithfulness to Jewish Messianic tradition?’, Thesis, University of Manchester.
Davies, N.,
2005, God's playground: a history of Poland, Columbia University
Press, New York.
Elior, R.,
2012, ‘The Origins of Hasidism’, Scripta Judaica Cracoviensis, vol. 10,
85-109.
Halpern, I., 1969, Jews and Judaism in Eastern Europe (Hebrew), Jerusalem.
Heschel, A. J., 1974, A Passion for the Truth, Secker & Warburg, London.
Liebes, Y., 2007, ‘The Sabbatian Prophecy of
R. Heshil Tzoref of Vilna in the writings of R. Menachem Mendel of Shklov, the
student of the Gaon of Vilna and the founder of the Ashkenazi settlement in
Jerusalem’ (Hebrew), Kabbalah 17, Idra Press, Tel Aviv, 107-168 (1-91).
Rabinovitz, Z., 1941, ‘Al 'Sefer HaZoref' by
Rabbi Yehushua Heschel Zoref’, Zion, VI, 80-84.
Rosman, M.,
1982, Editor, The Stories of the Pogroms in Poland (Hebrew), Jerusalem.
Schatz
Uffenheimer, R., 1968, haChasidut keMistika (Hebrew), Magnes Press,
Jerusalem.
Scholem, G., 1941, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism,
Schocken Books, New York.
Tazbir, J., 1998,
‘Anti-Jewish Trials in Old Poland’, Scripta Hierosolymitana 38: Studies
in the History of the Jews in Old Poland in Honor of Jacob Goldberg, Edited by
A. Teller, Jerusalem, 233–245.
[1] This paper is adapted from a larger PhD study which I
am currently undertaking, entitled ‘Sabbatian influences on the Chassidic
and Mitnagdic movements: an excursion into messianic Kabbalah and its
disseminators in the aftermath of Shabbatai Tzvi.’
[2] The year of the Baal Shem Tov’s birth is alternately
given as 1698, 1700 and Heschel (1974:3) gives it as early as around 1690.
[3] According to Davies (2005:353) “The total number
of Jewish casualties in the period 1648-56 has been put at 56,000; the over-all
decrease in the Jewish community through death, flight, and destitution
approached 100,000.”
[4] Thus Alef = 1, Bet = 2, Gimel =
three, and so forth.
[5]
Yehuda Liebes is one of the few scholars who
postulates a direct link between Sabbatianism and Chassidism
(Etkes 1996:459), a view which I subscribe to as well and deal with in my PhD
dissertation.
[6] The year 1648 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds
to the Hebrew year ת״ח which is 408. The Hebrew year is
technically הת"ח, 5408, but the millennium letter, in this case ה, or numeral 5, is often
omitted from date calculations.
[7] I notice that the Hebrew year 426 (1666) is eighteen
years after 408 (1648). The number eighteen, or חי, which means “life,” is a very well-known,
obvious and recognisable Jewish symbol of restoration. Perhaps this, amongst
other reasons, was why Shabbatai Tzvi declared 1666 to be the apocalyptic year,
the year of restoration and rebirth after the horrors beginning in 1648.
Ironically, his apostasy took place in that very year.
[8] This
calculation is made despite the fact that the fuller version (דר can also be spelt as דור)
is not found in the biblical text.
[9] This calculation assumes a ‘full’ spelling with an
extra vav in the word אוחזת, although the Torah text has it
written without the vav, as אחזת. Both
the numerical extrapolations from דר דר to דור ודור,
and אחזת to אוחזת involve the
inclusion of extra vavs.
[10] See Kav haYashar, Frankfort, 1705, Chapter
102, where its author R. Tzvi Hirsh Koidanover records this teaching which he
maintains he personally heard from R. Heshil Tzoref (who
in turn heard it from a “certain Mekubal (mystic).” The identity
of this “certain Mekubal” is not revealed but considering the general
attention to literary sources in the work, and the overwhelmingly influential Sabbatian
milieu and context in which R. Heshil Tzoref operated, it may quite feasibly
even allude to Shabbatai Tzvi or his ‘prophet’ R. Natan of Gaza.
[11] Here, the term Chassidim is used in its
broader context referring to ‘followers’ in general as R. Heshil Tzoref
(1633-1699) pre-dates the Chassidim of the Baal Shem Tov
(1698/1700-1760). Some Sabbatians referred to themselves as Chassidim.
[12] Without
going into the details of R. Menachem
Mendel of Shklov here, suffice it to say that there is a further allusion to
this ‘event’ in at least one other independent source as well.
[13] Translation is mine.
[14] Some scholars like Gershom Scholem (1941:329) and his
student Rivka Schatz Uffenheimer (1968:168), however, promote the idea of the Chassidic
movement more as “neutralising” extreme messianism.
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