555) Resisting the friendship impulse: Relationships in the teachings of Ishbitz

Introduction

This article—based extensively on the research by Professor Israel Koren—explores a most unusual approach to sociability, friendship and family, in the teachings R. Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica (Ishbitz) (1800-1854). He dramatically broke away from the warm, traditional Chassidic conception of interpersonal relationships, which had previously been regarded positively as both reflective of, and parallel to, union with the Divine. Instead, he promoted a decidedly anti-social stance where sociability was scorned. Today, the Ishbitzer’s work, Mei haShiloach, is very popular. However, R. Mordechai’s striking ambivalence toward human friendship and companionship goes mostly unnoticed. Koren’s study of the Isbitzer’s distinct asociality contributes to a fuller understanding of the writings of Ishbitz. 

480) What did the Kotzker Rebbe say?

 

Introduction

This article – based extensively on the research by Professor Yaakov Levinger[1] − examines the authenticity of many of the sayings popularly attributed to the Chassidic Rebbe, Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1869). 

Many sefarim (books) have been published, claiming to present anthologies of the teachings of the Kotzker Rebbe. I have collected these books over the years and always found them to be of immense interest. These include publications like Emet miKotzk Titzmach (The Truth Sprouts from Kotzk) and Emet veEmunah (Truth and Faith). With time, more and more books purporting to contain the teachings of the Kotzker Rebbe began to emerge and soon they appeared in the English language as well, most notably in the iconic works of R. Avraham Yehoshua Heschel who, growing up in Warsaw, actually knew older people who had travelled to the court of the Rebbe in the Polish town of Kotzk. 

416) What really happened on the last Friday night in Kotzk?

 

A letter written by the Kotzker Rebbe's son, R. David in 1855. It was penned during the period of his father's seclusion and R. David requests from one of the followers: “that he help...to collect the debts from our people, for the house of [our master, my father..] may he live long, good days…and Hashem should give him success.”

Introduction

This article, based extensively on the research by Dr Morris Faierstein examines the various accounts of the last night the Kotzker Rebbe spent with his followers in Kotzk.[1] 

The popular version

The popular version of the story goes like this: One Friday night in 1839, R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1789-1859) sat with his followers and in front of them he either smoked a pipe or extinguished the Shabbat candles, proclaiming “Leit din veleit Dayan,” (there is no Law and there is no Judge). Thereafter he excused himself from the gathering and secluded himself (or was forced into seclusion by his family) for the next twenty years until his passing in 1859. 

Faierstein, however, presents a series of the written accounts that led to this popular version and deconstructs them in an attempt to better understand the evolutionary process behind this story. We will look at six different written sources to see how they depicted the alleged events of that ‘last night in Kotzk.’

147) THE (UNCUT) STORY OF KOTZK - A REVOLUTION WITHIN THE CHASSIDIC MOVEMENT:

The pipe of the Yid haKadosh for sale for about $1000000

INTRODUCTION:

The story that follows is one of the saddest, harshest and enigmatic of all the stories of Chassidic Rebbes. R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1789-1859) was born twenty-nine years after the passing of the Baal Shem Tov in the village of Guray - not far from Lublin, Poland - to an impoverished glazier by the name of Leibush.

Already from an early age, he showed signs of being somewhat unmanageable, a loner and certainly did not suffer fools. He earned the nickname ‘Black Mendel’.

He studied in the yeshivah of R. Yosef Hohgelerenter and developed a reputation for being a very deep thinker. Essentially, he reduced the spiritual quest to its most irreducible essence - the demand for absolute honesty with oneself and with God. By simply stripping away pretense from religious life, he created a Chassidic school that was as radical as it was austere. He called religion, as we know it, 'game playing.' He saw religion as a problem, because it was inherently more difficult for Abraham to take his son off the altar, than to place him on it. For him, religion was the courage to renounce the grandeur of sacrifice. It should not be a theater of gestures, but a crucible of truth, where the hardest act is the quietest one.

He had three Chassidic teachers; The Chozeh of Lublin[1] (1745-1815), the Yid haKadosh[2] (1766-1814) and R. Simcha Bumin of Peshischa (1767-1827):

LINEAGE:

The lineage of the Chassidic school of Peshischa traces back to the Baal Shem Tov (d.1760). It passes through the Magid of Mezeritch (d. 1772), Elimelech of Lyzhansk (d. 1787), Yakov Yitzchak the Chozeh of Lublin (d.1815), Yakov Yitzchak the Yehudi (Yid haKadosh) (d.1814), Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (d.1827) and then Menachem Mendel of Kotzk-Peshischa (d. 1859). Under the Magid the movement was given organisational structure, but it was only under the Chozeh that Chassidism became a mass movement.

The lineage, however, is not as fluid as it is diagrammatically depicted because R. Elimelech had broken away from his teacher the Magid. Similarly the Yid haKadosh had broken away from the Chozeh, as he did not like the trappings of the newly formed mass movement. And the Kotzker broke from Simcha Bunim of Peshischa.

THE SCHOOL OF PESHISCHA:

The school of Peshischa was deemed so radical that around 1822, and under the directorship of the Apter Rebbe, Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, all the Chassidic Rebbes of Galicia and the majority of Rebbes from Poland attempted to excommunicate the movement. Ironically, his grandson, Avraham Yehoshua Heschel was to later write a book on the Kotzker Rebbe and - as did Martin Buber - greatly romanticise the Kotzker-Peshischa school.  

One of the complaints was that the Apter Rebbe had given his snow white gartel (Chassidic belt) to a Chassid as a segulah (talisman), and Chassid of Peshischa - who had no time for what he deemed superstitious or mystical magical objects - poured black paint over it. This sparked a fury of other similar complaints. Besides for the Yom Kippur fast, the Peshischa Chassidim did not believe in fasting (even Tisha beAv was a questionable fast) and on the Fast of Gedalia their custom became to sit on the steps of all the other synagogues and Chassidic courts and to joke and eat bagels while everyone else was reciting Selichot (Keter Kehuna 129). In Peshischa they weren't fond of fasting. They taught: “All the fasts have lost their importance except for Yom Kippur. Tisha beAv is debatable.”[14] In Kotzk, the day before Yom Kippur, the Chassidim would be most provocative to show that fasting was mere mechanism and not the essence of the day. Simcha Bumin of Peshischa despised of Chassidic Rebbes. He told his followers that that they should not think that Esau was a crude farmer. Instead, he continued, he was  dressed in white (like a Chassidic Rebbe) and gave over Torah at the third meal on Shabbat afternoon (Siach Sarfei Kodesh 3:6, 10). What is fascinating is that in most of these writings, there is hardly any criticisms of Mitnagedim. 

Simcha Bunim completely despised of what he called "frumkeit" or religious posturing because it is a religious illusion and a fooling of the self. He quoted the rabbinic dictum that the gates of tears are never closed, but asked why there was a need to have a gate it is never closed? He answered "only of the idiot comes (feigning) tears - then the gates are locked" (Maamarei Simcha 79).

Already from the time of the Yid haKadosh, the official times for the prayers were ignored because it was felt that prayer should not be prescribed nor time bound. The Yehudi was not averse to criticise what Chassidism had become in his time. He metaphorically described that if the Messiah were to come and meet the Chassidic establishment, he would be most disturbed by them because their leaders were shams and the followers were not independent and smart enough to discern true leadership (Tiferet haYehudi 145).

The actions and sayings of theses radical Chassidic rebels was often too much for their own families and children to bear, and many of then drifted off to more mainstream Chassidic sects. The son of the Yid haKodesh, for example, became a follower of Ruzhin which was diametrically opposed to the circles his father was moving in.

THE CHOZEH OF LUBLIN:

At the tender age of sixteen, the young (future) Kotzker joined the court of the Chozeh of Lublin, who was a student of the Maggid of Mezrich. The Chozeh had thousands of followers and became known as a wondrous miracle worker with the uncanny ability to allegedly see ‘up to 400 miles’. 

According to some accounts, he clothed and fed his followers so that they could dedicate themselves exclusively to holiness and spirituality. He became the epitome of the archetypical ‘Tzadik’ who was able to affect ‘tikkunim’ (spiritual soul rectifications) for his followers who simply had to submit themselves to him and were taken care of. It was believed that by attachment to the Tzadik, the followers were attached to G-d Himself. 

There was no room for individual personality or autonomous thinking. But the followers were rewarded with much good food, singing and drinking.

The Chozeh taught that wealth was a sign of blessing and this led to somewhat of a bias towards the rich at the expense of the poor. This was to become a contentious issue.

The Chozeh died from injuries sustained by falling out of a double storey window one Simchat Torah evening[3]. 

It is said that on his deathbed, he predicted that in a hundred years from that day, the Russians would no longer control Poland. And one hundred years later, the secular Polish newspapers recorded his prediction, when the Austrians conquered Lublin.

THE YID haKADOSH:

The Chozeh of Lublin was so busy performing his extraordinary ministry to his many followers that he appointed the scholarly Yid haKadosh (of Peshischa) as the main teacher for the group.

But all this miraculous activity was too much, though, for the Yid haKadosh[4]. He became unimpressed with the emphasis on the supernatural and wanted a more intellectual form of Chassidism. 

So he broke away from the Chozeh and from what has been called 'Tzadikism' - taking with him R. Simcha Bunim (also of Peshischa) and the young Menachem Mendel (of Kotzk)[5]. According to Dr Fox: “They were repelled by the masses’ belief in the miracle-working tzaddik and his claims to supernatural powers.”[6]

Thus began an internal revolt within the Chassidic movement, towards a more rational approach.[7] The elaborate ritual within the Chassidic court was also too overbearing[8]. This breakaway was characterised by “Opposition to the superficiality of chasidik folkways and the substitution of tzadik-worship for Torah study.”[9] 

It was during this time that the importance of independence of thought and of empirical truth (which was soon to become the hallmark of Peshischa-Kotzk) was spawned.

According to Michael Rosen: ”Przysucha (Peshishcha) had declared an internal war upon the Hasidic leadership...”[10]

This breakaway was not without cost. It brought with it charges of heresy from the popular Chassidic courts who wanted to excommunicate the Yid haKadosh. (This is notable because it was very unusual to find Chassidim attempting to excommunicate other Chassidim. Normally the excommunication orders came from the Mitnagdim or non-Chassidim). 

One of the alleged reasons for this was the notion that in Peshischa, prayer and particularly prayer times could be left up to the individual and not be governed strictly by set times.

But the school of Peshischa remained steadfast to deepen rather than widen the now very popular Chassidic movement which was intent on overtaking the Jewish world. To deepen the movement meant to focus on smaller numbers instead of mass outreach, or to put it more crudely - to focus on quality rather than quantity.

R. SIMCHA BUNIM OF PESHISCHA:

First edition of Kol Simcha published in 1859

When the Yid haKadosh died in 1814, the school of Peshischa was headed by the Yid’s main student, R. Simcha Bunim also of Peshischa.

R. Simcha Bunim was very different from any other Chassidic Rebbe, ever. He had studied secular studies and could speak many languages. He attended the theatre. He was a dealer in exotic woods. He acted as a business agent for the well known Bergson family. 

He played cards and was licensed pharmacist with the Polish nobility as his main patrons. His ways were to very different from all the other rebbes and he refused to wear traditional Chassidic garb, opting for an ordinary suit instead of a long caftan.

He once said; “Nowadays the (Jewish) world runs after rebbes, and that is a punishment.”[11]

The Peshischa Rebbe placed particular emphasis on personal hygiene and clean clothes. It is even said that their gait was different from the other Chassidim in that they adopted an upright posture and walked tall. 

R. Simcha Bunim disregarded his teacher’s position that the body was the enemy of the soul. It was generally fun to be around his followers who were at times even mischievous. They were also encouraged to spend much time in nature.

He further differed somewhat from his teacher, the Yid haKadosh, in that he seemed even less interested in mysticism and more interested in philosophy and intellectual and moral perfection. 

He encouraged his followers, much to the chagrin of his Chassidic peers, to study the teachings of the Medieval Spanish philosophers, including Rav Saadia Gaon, Yedaiah Hapnimi and particularly the philosophical works of Rambam. He even started a programme to reprint some of Rambam’s books.

And, very controversially, he also encouraged the study of Ibn Ezra who questioned the authorship of some sections of the Torah!

Additionally, he was very much a believer in allowing nature and logic to take its normal course and he deprecated those who always sought to find the miraculous in the mundane.[12]

According to Michael Rosen: “R. Bunim felt that ’miracles’ would not work for anybody intelligent.”[13]

On Rosh HaShana, the Peshischa Chassidim prayed early and by the time everyone else was getting ready to go to synagogue, they were already studying their philosophical texts.

It is said that R. Simcha Bunim succeeded in attracting the brightest and the best students from all over Poland and that his following was quite considerable.

Most interesting for a rebbe is that he banned his students from studying mysticism lest they revert back to the type of theology and practices he had witnessed in Lublin.

Fascinatingly, taking this one step further, R. Simcha Bunim’s student, the Kotzker Rebbe, distanced himself not just from Kabbalah but even from the study of Chassidut.[15] See The Rebbe who Didn’t Like Mysticism. According to Heschel; “No Kabbalists emerged from among the Hasidim of Psishcha and Kotzk.”[16]

Michael Rosen puts it slightly differently; “There was little or no study of kabbalah in Przysucha, and the emphasis was not on trying to understand G-d, but on trying to understand the human being.”[17]

R. Simcha Bunim attracted a fair amount of opposition from mainstream Chasidic leaders, with rebbes like the Apta ridiculing him by asking “Did he reach his level of spirituality at the fair in Danzig, in German theatres, or among his jar of chemicals?”

This was the atmosphere in which R. Menachem Mendel Morgenstern, the soon to be Kotzker Rebbe, was nurtured and influenced.

MENACHEM MENDEL MORGENSTERN[18] OF KOTZK:

When R. Simcha Bunim died in 1827, his student Menachem Mendel became the next leader of Peshischa. It was at this time that the path of Peshischa, which may be defined as rationalist Chassidism, reached its peak, and became known as Kotzker Chassidut. He challenged two of the most sacrosanct institutions of the Chassidic movement, dress-code and the need for experientialism - both of which he maintained were learned through chikui or mimicry with no independent engagement with the self.

At first, Menachem Mendel settled in Tomashov where he remained for two years. Then, after a dispute with the local rabbi, he decided to move his school. 

One account has it that while they were travelling from city to city, they arrived in Kotzk and were greeted with rocks being thrown at them because they did not want Peshischa on the doorstep. They decided to stay there because, as their teacher said: “At least the people here have passion.” 

Thus was birthed Kotzker-Peshischa theology. At one time there were seven thousand visitors who had flocked to Kotzk to be with their Rebbe. But he said that he did not want ‘sheep’, only a few Chassidim. Ironically, the Kotzker became the most popular Rebbe in Poland. 

Truth became the most prized commodity in Kotzk. The Kotzker became, arguably, one of the most fervent truth seekers in history. Truth was truth no matter the personal cost. Truth became the essence of spirituality. Liars and mediocre people could not be tolerated no matter the inevitable and resultant controversies.

Some Chassidim were opposed to work and believed a Jew had to spend his time only with Torah and prayer. The Kotzker believed that: “Men who are busy making a living should not be condemned, because that is the way the world has been structured.”[19] But he insisted that even the busiest people set aside an hour a day for Torah study. He was known to have taught Talmud lessons for up to ten hours at a time.

Because of some of the radical teachings of Kotzk, there were some who tried to excommunicate him as well, but he was spared this fate only because of the intervention of R. Akiva Eiger.[20]

It can be said that the Kotzker ideals (Kotzk was too intense to ever become a mass movement) flourished in Kotzk only for about ten years. After ten ‘golden years’ an enigmatic event took place that surprised and shocked the religious populace:

Apparently, the Kotzker Rebbe began to suffer from very severe headaches. The only one who could help him was a doctor in Lvov, so he travelled there for a consultation. In Lvov, he took up residence in a hotel and what happened next is shrouded in mystery and even denial.

One Friday evening after the Sabbath had set in, the Kotzker Rebbe was seen flagrantly desecrating Shabbat. There are at least four versions of what transpired:

Some say he threw the Kiddush cup to the ground (as if not being prepared to recite the sanctification of the Shabbat).

Others say he blew out the Shabbat candles.

Even others say he rose and cried out ‘there is no justice and there is no Judge’!

Most controversial of all is probably the most accurate tradition, held by the Belzer community, which tells that the Kotzker was seen through the window taking off his yarmulke and lighting up a pipe which he proceeded to smoke![21]

After this event, he returned home to Kotzk and was never again seen in public for the next nineteen years until his death in 1859. 

Some believe that this seclusion was more of a forced confinement by his family and close disciples for fear of what he might say in public. Particularly it was feared that he might express some of his views on some the minutiae of religious ritual which he felt should not be overemphasised. 

He remained secluded and only came out of his room once a year to perform the search for the Chametz just before Passover.

During these nineteen years, he wrote copiously but none of those manuscripts survived because he burned them just prior to his death.

I heard an account that he may have mysteriously slipped from his widow and died – an event which became known as hanefila hagedolah keyadua, or the Great Fall as is well known. (Often the expression ‘as is well known’ means exactly the opposite – alluding to that which is shrouded in uncertainty.)

I do not know whether this is accurate or perhaps a blurring with the story of the death of the Chozeh who also fell out of a window. There are, however, accounts that he used to occasionally break windows and rebuke those outside.

The Kotzker is succinctly described by Dr Fox as having “...challenged many of the accepted manners of belief and behaviour hallowed by the very same people who admired him.”[22]

THE BREAKAWAYS:

The intensity in Kotzk was too severe. The Kotzker’s main student, R. Mordechai Yosef Leiner broke away from him and started his own movement known as Izbiztcha (or Radziner)[23] Chassidut. He was so disturbed by what had occurred on what became known as ‘that Friday Night’ that he had to leave Kotzk. 

Apparently, the Kotzker took this breakaway very seriously and suspected almost everyone of being unfaithful and treasonous. 

Other groups also broke away, such as Vorki, Alexander and Gur (Ger) but although they claim theological ancestry in Kotzk it can be said that they clearly morphed into very different approaches.

ANALYSIS:

What strikes one immediately about Peshischa-Kotzk is that unlike most other Chassidic stories, there is a total lack of allegation of miracles and wonders. Neither heaven or earth moved to save the heroes in this Chassidic story. On the contrary, this story is real. 

Maybe even too real.

The Kotzk ideology basically died after only ten intense years. The Kotzker never wanted a mass movement of sheep-like followers and it is even debatable whether he was Rebbe in the traditional sense or whether his followers could even be called Chassidim. 

He spoke disparagingly against the other rebbes and their institutionalised followers, even mocking the way they all dressed uniformly[24]. If they really were Chassidim they certainly broke all the moulds.

For me, this story begs for further exploration of aspects of Judaism and Chassidism that may resonate with many contemporary Jews. It could become a source of inspiration - and even confirmation - for those grappling with the struggle of tradition versus modernity, of heart versus mind.

By this I refer to the essence of some of the core values which the Peshischa-Kotzk schools were espousing; particularly those of R. Simcha Bunim of Peshischa, who had a surprisingly practical, centrist, balanced and rationalist philosophy. It could be said that he founded the School of Rationalist Chassidism.[25]

In many ways, it is actually the Kotzker's teacher, Reb Simcha Bunim - placed centrally both in terms of leadership hierarchy and thought – who turns out to be the hero of this story for me personally.

(This Peshischa-Kotzk 'thought revival’ is actually the motivation for many of the articles in KOTZK BLOG.)

If you’ll permit another very personal note - I have spent some decades in Chabad and met many wonderful people. I spent a decade in (mainstream) Breslov and met some amazing people (including R. Chaim Kramer who in many ways became a mentor to me).

But I have always been a closet Peshischa-Kotzker yet I never met anyone from Kotzk because the movement (if one can use that word) died. There was no miraculous intervention to save it against all odds. Instead, I met the individual the Kotzker wanted us all to meet and be faithful to - the person you really are.

As for Kotzk, the fact remains that if one is going to go on the hardest journey of all – the journey of truth and self-discovery - one has to be prepared to accept the findings and live with the person one discovers at the end of that journey, no matter the consequences.

...Otherwise, it is best to just accept the advice of the Yid haKadosh, that this path is not for everyone and to remain in 'Lublin' where everything is taken care of for you...

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Chasidic Masters, by R. Aryeh Kaplan.

Passion for Truth, by Abraham Joshua Heschel.

...and nothing but the Truth, by R. Ephraim Oratz.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, by Dr Joseph Fox.

Crash Course in Jewish History, by R. Berel Wein.

Emet veEmunah (Hebrew).

Amud haEmet (Hebrew).

Kochav haShachar (Hebrew).

Sneh Bo’er beKotzk (Hebrew), by Meir Orion.

The Quest for Authenticity. The Thought of Reb Simcha Bunim, by Michael Rosen.

---

[1] R. Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz.

[2] R. Yaakov Yitzchak of Psishcha.

[3] He physically died sometime later on Tisha beAv.

[4] There are four theories as to why he was called the Yid haKadosh: 1) To differentiate between him and his teacher the Chozeh who both had the same name, Yaakov Yitzchak. 2) Some say he was a reincarnation of Mordechai haYehudi. 3) He was so humble that he never wanted to say anything in his own name, choosing instead to say that ’I heard it from a Yid.’ 4) He was so dedicated to living like a Jew who observes all the commandments that he just wanted to be a ‘Jew’.

[5] Just before the young Menachem Mendel left the Chozeh, they had words and the young man said that he did not come to the Chozeh to see the Divine or the miraculous. The Chozeh responded: “Did you then just come here to buy a pocket knife?”

[6]Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, by Dr Joseph Fox, p. 45

[7] The Yid haKadosh, however, still maintained his yearly pilgrimage to his old teacher the Chozeh, although he had broken away from him. He still felt that the path of the Chozeh was beneficial for the masses but he wanted something for the intellectual few.  (This is very reminiscent of the thinking of Rambam who also believed in these two ‘stratas’ within Judaism, the ‘yechidei segulah’ or intellectual few, and the ‘hamon am’ ordinary masses.)

[8] The Yid haKadosh also disagreed with the messianic emphasis which was prevalent at the court of the Chozeh. He one disrupted a gathering where a ‘messianic unification’ was about to take place. This did not go down well in Lublin.

[9]Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, by Dr Joseph Fox, p. 51

[10] The Quest for Authenticity, by Michael Rosen, blurb.

[11] Siach Sarfei Kodesh 5:22 #9

[12] See KOTZK BLOG 146 for a possible Maimonidean source for this notion.  

[13] The Quest for Authenticity, p 95.

[14] Or Simcha 36.

[15] According to R. Aryeh Kaplan there were only two exceptions – the teachings of the Chozeh and the teachings of R. Nachman of Breslov.

[16] Passion for Truth, by Abrahan Joshua Heschel. P. 78

[17] The Quest for Authenticity, by Michael Rosen, blurb.

[18] Originally his surname was Halperin but he had to change his identity after overtly supporting the failed Polish rebellion of 1831.

[19] Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, by Dr Joseph Fox, p. 105

[20] Amazingly the ‘Peshischa-Kotzker threesome’, comprising the Yid haKadosh, R. Simcha Bunim and Menachem Mendel, were all threatened with excommunication.

[21] It is interesting to note that R. Aryeh Kaplan was quite comfortable recording all these four theories in his book Chasidic Masters, but Dr Fox writes; ‘While some among the “enlightened” claim that Rabbi Menachem Mendel approached blasphemy, all the Chasidic writers assure us that nothing extraordinary took place, and that all the rumours were a reprehensible vilification of the saintly rabbi’s memory.’  (What about the Belzer tradition about the pipe which we mentioned?) Dr Fox, however, does continue by admitting that “...the fact that so many defected from the cause of Kotzk...should be enough to convince us that something profoundly shocking must have occurred.” ( Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, by Dr Joseph Fox, p. X)

[22] See Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, A Biographical Study of the Chassidic Master, by Dr Joseph Fox, p.IX

[23] After the town Izbiztcha-Radzin.                   

[24] The Kotzker spoke about the famous Biblical story of the Spies returning with a false report about the land. The Torah recorded that the rest of the people ‘tore their clothes’. This is generally interpreted as being a sign of mourning. But the Kotzker Rebbe said that it instead referred to the people tearing the clothes of the spies! Then he colourfully added that they tore the (what today would have corresponded to the) ‘Shtreimals, long coats and white socks’ which the leaders wore.  Because if one is going to stick out visually one had better be careful behave exceptionally and exemplarily.

[25] Besides the counterintuitive notion of Rationalist Chassidim, there also exists the well documented Rationalist Yemenites.