Charismatic Leadership and Appeal in Early Hasidism

Hammer, Barry J.

Graduate Theological Union, 1992

Copyright 1993 by Hammer, Barry J. All rights reserved

UMI

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DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

Charismatic Leadership and Appeal in Early Hasidism

Barry J. Hammer

This dissertation explicates the roles and charismatic appeal of

the early Hasidic master, as well as illuminating elements of the

Hasidic master-disciple relationship that have been overlooked until

now. Subtle aspects of the zaddik’s (variant transliteration: zaddiq’s)

roles and charismatic appeal are examined, including a process of

direct, nonverbal transmission of radiant spiritual energy between

the Hasidic master and his disciple. This radiance and the

establishment of a concomitant state of communion between the zaddik and

his followers are found to be the underlying source of each of the

zaddik’s basic roles and of his corresponding forms of charismatic

appeal. A process of maturational development of consciousness is

posited as an explanation for the appearance of this radiance.

This dissertation develops a continuum of charismatic leaders

from most psychologically constructive to most non-constructive, which

is tied to the degree to which the influence of radiance or of ego-

related factors are dominant in a particular leader’s charismatic

appeal. Additional support for this continuum is provided from

literature on the phenomenon of charismatic leadership outside of

Hasidism. That discussion demonstrates that radiance is a fundamental

element in the appeal of charismatic leaders in all major world

religions, and it provides a deeper understanding of the dynamic of

“delusion-collusion” existing between narcissistic or ego-oriented

leaders and followers. Potential psychological and social dangers of

fusion of radiant energy with the prideful ego are discussed. The

theoretical model of charisma that is presented in this dissertation

also integrates the existing theories of charisma of Weber and Freud,

and attempts to devise a more comprehensive theory of charisma that

would be applicable to Hasidic zaddikim [plural] and various other

types of charismatic leaders.

CONTENTS

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………….i

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter 1: Literature Review: Charismatic

Leadership in early

Hasidism………………………………………………………..10

Chapter 2: Literature Review: Theories of Charisma……………………………………….66

Chapter 3: A Hasidic Model of the Zaddik’s Charismatic

Appeal…………………….130

Part 1: Introductory remarks…………………………………………………………………….130

Part 2: Types of Zaddiqim………………………………………………………………………….133

Part 3: The Zaddiq’s Mission……………………………………………………………………..147

Part 4: Thaumaturgical Role………………………………………………………………………154

A: Protection From

Persecution…………………………………………………….154

B: Intercessor with God…………………………………………………………………

158

C: Material

Sustenance………………………………………………………………..160

D: Healing and Perfection

Realization…………………………………………..169

E: The Purpose of Material

Blessings…………………………………………….182

Part 5: Teaching Role………………………………………………………………………………..187

Part 6: Counseling…………………………………………………………………………………….203

Part 7: Fostering Communitas………………………………………………………………….211

A: The Master/Disciple

Relationship……………………………………………….211

B: The Hasidic

Community……………………………………………………………….216

Part 8: Model of Holiness………………………………………………………………………….221

Part 9: Direct Transmission of Spiritual

Energy………………………………………….244

Part 10: The Zaddik’s Radiance…………………………………………………………………..259

Part 11: A Continuum of Different Kinds of Charismatic

Appeal…………………275

Part 12: Redemption of Sinners………………………………………………………………….282

Part 13: Zaddikim Who Fell Short of the Hasidic

Ideal………………………………..302

Part 14: Final Remarks…………………………………………………………………………………336

Chapter 4: The Continuum of Charismatic Leaderships

Outside of Hasidism……………………………………………………………………………

352

Part 1: Ego Charisma Outside of

Hasidism…………………………………………………..355

Part 2: Radiance Charisma Outside of

Hasidism…………………………………………..433

Part 3: A Maturational Model of Radiance

Charisma………………………………….459

Chapter 5: Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………………….491

Part 1: Summary of the

Findings………………………………………………………………….491

Part 2: The Self-Sacrificial Character of the Ideal

Zaddik……………………………..502

Part 3: Deprivation: A Unifying Theoretical

Model………………………………………506

Part 4: Implications for the Study of

Charisma…………………………………………….516

Part 5: Recommendations for Future

Research…………………………………………..525

Afterword……………………………………………………………………………………………………………528

Notes…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..542

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………..597

INTRODUCTION

In this section, the reader will be introduced to the thesis

statement, and will be shown how the thesis statement came to be

derived. Then, the value of this research and the decision to

undertake it will be discussed. Lastly, the reader will be shown how

the findings that support the thesis have led to the development of

additional sections of this dissertation research.

The basic thesis of this dissertation is as follows:

The charismatic appeal of the early Hasidic master was

essentially related to his roles within the Hasidic community, as well

as how his followers perceived those roles as meeting certain of their

needs. Since zaddikim engaged in a variety of interrelated roles and met

various needs, their charismatic appeal was also multifaceted. Each of

the zaddik’s major roles contributed to his being perceived by followers

as someone who was close to God and who was therefore gifted with the

ability to meet their needs in an optimal manner.

The preliminary examination of early Hasidic teachings dealing

with the zaddik’s leadership revealed that the zaddik’s charismatic

appeal was not homogenous in nature, because various types of zaddikim

and various kinds of followers with differing needs exist. Further

examination of Hasidic texts, Hasidic legends, and available

historiographical information established that the charismatic appeal

of Hasidic zaddikim was typically derived from the perception of

divinely gifted or godly qualities in them, which varied as a function

of the various roles in which zaddikim engaged, the way in which

different types of followers perceived those roles and the zaddik’s

divinely gifted qualities as meeting their differing needs, as well as

the diverse styles of leadership that were practiced by various types

of zaddikim. For example, the zaddik’s role as a teacher of Torah or

spiritual truth enabled him to be perceived as having divinely

inspired wisdom with which to facilitate followers’ spiritual

approach; his role in counseling individual followers was viewed as

manifesting divinely inspired qualities of clairvoyance, empathy, and

compassion, and involved addressing followers’ social, emotional, and

financial needs as well as their spiritual concerns, while God was

also viewed as the source of the zaddik’s thaumaturgical powers, which he

employed in meeting followers’ material needs. Thus it becomes

apparent that each of the zaddik’s roles was perceived as meeting

different kinds of needs in followers and as evidencing different

divinely gifted qualities, and therefore gave rise to a distinctive

type of charismatic appeal.

One of the major reasons for undertaking this research was to

clarify the rapid spread of the early Hasidic movement among large

sectors of the Eastern European Jewish population, and the remarkable

transformation impact that zaddikim had upon many of their followers and

upon Jewish civilization, as those achievements were related to the

zaddik’s charismatic leadership and appeal. Since the zaddik plays a

central role in Hasidic spirituality and social life, this

dissertation research sheds light on other important aspects of the

Hasidic ethos in clarifying the master-disciple relationship in early

Hasidism, especially during the period from approximately 1750-1815.

Related issues that are illuminated through this research include the

basic conception of God, Torah, the metaphysical significance of the

Jewish community, as well as worship as it relates to the fulfillment

of formal religious obligations and to the hallowing of everyday

earthly life.

This research examines a number of fundamental aspects of the

zaddik’s roles as a charismatic leader that have not received adequate

attention until now. For example, this is the first study to examine

the zaddik’s direct, nonverbal transmission of radiance to his

followers, the practice of interpersonal communion as an essential

factor in each of the zaddik’s basic roles and corresponding forms of

charismatic appeal, the importance of the zaddik’s tone of voice and

other subliminal factors in winning the people’s confidence, as well

as the zaddik’s ability to transmit healings and material sustenance to

followers through his realization of their true spiritual nature as

being included within God’s omnipresent perfect being. Furthermore,

previous studies have failed to adequately examine the zaddik’s basic

sense of mission as a Hasidic leader, and have not addressed

differences between various types of zaddikim in the depth and detail

that is discussed in this dissertation. The examination of the

zaddik’s sense of mission in this research is intended to clarify what

he was trying to accomplish with his community of followers through

each of his major roles, which should also lead to a better

understanding of some of the basic social and spiritual objectives of

the early Hasidic movement.

This dissertation research also has important implications for

other fields such as Jewish Studies, the History of Religions, and the

study of charismatic leadership. The examination of the zaddik’s role in

revitalizing Jewish religious tradition and Jewish society has led to

findings that can contribute to a new understanding of issues related

to Jewish intellectual and social history, as well as to the

comparative study of revitalization movements in the History of

Religions. Similarly, the examination of factors involved in the

zaddik’s charismatic leadership and appeal is applicable to the study

of other forms of charismatic religious leadership, as demonstrated in

chapter four, especially as it clarifies the importance of radiance

and of ego-related factors in charismatic appeal. The discussion of

the zaddik’s use of interpersonal communion and of direct transmission

of radiance as a means of facilitating followers’ spiritual growth may

lead to a new understanding of comparable practices employed by non-

Jewish spiritual masters in directing their disciples.

The integration of Freud’s and Weber’s model of charisma along

with a single continuum in this dissertation is likely to provoke

fruitful discussion among social scientists in the field of

charismatic leadership, including those who may disagree with the

theoretical model presented here. A related issue that is clarified in

chapter four of the dissertation is the question as to whether the

perception of charisma is always essentially a matter of projection,

as Freud would have it, or whether some individuals actually have the

extraordinary, “divinely gifted” qualities that are imputed to them,

as Weber’s notion of pure charisma suggests. The extensive evidence

provided in that chapter for the likelihood that radiance and other

radiance-based charismatic qualities actually exist as inherent

potentials of the psyche that can be actualized through a maturational

development of consciousness has important implications for the

scientific study of human potential, as discussed in chapters four and

five.

The possibility of clarifying some of these issues was a

significant factor in the decision to undertake this research on the

topic of the charismatic leadership of the early Hasidic master. Since

few other bodies of literature in the History of Religions or in the

social sciences present such extensive information on the relationship

between recognized spiritual masters and their disciples, or on the

nature of the charismatic appeal of religious leaders, examination of

Hasidic texts that discuss the nature of the ideal zaddik and of

historiographical information on the actual leadership of Hasidic

zaddikim seemed essential to addressing these kinds of questions.

The findings of this research have provided extensive support for

the thesis that the charismatic appeal of Hasidic zaddikim was related

to meeting different needs of their followers through the various

leadership roles in which they engaged. It was shown that each of the

zaddik’s major roles contributed to his being perceived as a divinely

inspired, divinely gifted redeemer of the entire Jewish people and/or

of individual Jews.

A presence of radiant energy within the zaddik was found to be the

essential factor underlying each of the divinely gifted,

charismatically attractive qualities that were perceived in the zaddik,

such as his quasi-prophetic wisdom, his clairvoyant abilities, his

thaumaturgical powers, and his extraordinary level of vitality. Since

Hasidic teachings maintain that God is the source of the zaddik’s

radiance, it became clear that the charismatically attractive quality

of that radiance was primarily derived from its being viewed as

tangible evidence that the zaddik was a holy man of God, a living

reflection of God’s radiance-based qualities on earth. However, this

radiant energy also seemed to have the ability to merge with

influences of the ego identity or lower self, producing various kinds

of negative expressions in some zaddikim, such as forms of megalomania

and other psychopathological tendencies. This finding led to the

formulation of a continuum of charismatic leadership within Hasidism,

which is a theoretical model that provides a way of understanding how

zaddikim apparently differed in the degree to which their motivation and

charismatic appeal were associated with the radiant presence, versus

the degree to which it was influenced by the ego. This continuum

presupposes that the degree of identification with, and influence by,

radiance in charismatic leaders is inversely proportional to the

degree of influence by ego-related factors. Hasidic teachings and

mystics of various other religious traditions typically associate the

manifestation of radiance in spiritual masters with ego-transcendent

states of consciousness, as demonstrated in chapters three and four of

this dissertation. Since charismatic leaders (be they religious or

secular) are often known to bring out the best and/or the worst in

large groups of people, and since charismatic leaders have had an

enormous impact on the world in the twentieth century, it seemed vital

to devise a way of distinguishing between psychologically constructive

and non-constructive forms of charismatic leadership, as has been

attempted through the proposed continuum of radiance and ego-related

factors in charismatic leaders.

The plausibility of the continuum was tested by examining the

charismatic appeal of various kinds of non-Hasidic religious leaders

to see whether their charismatic appeal was also influenced by

radiance and/or by the same ego-related factors that were held to be

operative in the charismatic appeal of Hasidic zaddikim. That

examination determined that radiance is in fact an essential factor in

the charismatic appeal of recognized spiritual masters in all major

religious traditions of the world, and the discussion of non-Hasidic

charismatic leaders also provided an opportunity to present the bottom

end of the continuum, i.e., the most extreme non-constructive,

egocentric type of charismatic leader that is not found in Hasidism

itself, since even zaddikim who had egregious shortcomings were still

basically constructive in their relationship with their followers.

Thus the discussion of non-Hasidic leaders demonstrated that both

extreme ends of the continuum are in fact prevalent among various

kinds of charismatic leaders, which provides additional support for

the plausibility of the continuum as a way of explaining the

charismatic appeal of various kinds of Hasidic zaddikim, as well as

establishing the generalized applicability of the findings related to

the zaddik’s charismatic appeal as a way of understanding the

charismatic appeal of other kinds of leaders.

Since radiance was found to be an essential factor in the

perception of charismatically attractive, godlike qualities in

recognized spiritual masters of the major religious traditions of the

world, and since it was demonstrated that radiance can be aroused in

disciples or directly transmitted to them by such a spiritual master,

it was concluded that radiance is an innate potential of the psyche

that all human beings have the capacity to actualize, although only a

few attain a noticeable level of radiance. A process of maturational

development of consciousness was proposed as a means by which the

potential for radiance-charisma and the extraordinary qualities that

that involves are actualized in human beings, which was found to be

consistent with the teachings of mystics in various religions. One of

the basic objectives of this dissertation research has been to clarify

the nature and source of charisma so that higher human potentials that

are perceived in charismatic leaders might be better understood and

more effectively actualized.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS

1)CONCLUSIONS

My thesis has been that the charismatic appeal of the early Hasidic

master was essentially related to the roles in which he engaged in

order to fulfill the various actual needs of his followers. This has

been validated with evidence drawn from Hasidic homiletical writings

and legends, and available historiographical sources. It has been

shown that the Hasidic model of the ideal zaddik as a provider of

material abundance, emotional upliftment, social renewal, and

spiritual fulfillment coincided with the needs of a large proportion

of Eastern European Jewry to a remarkable extent. The introductory

literature on Hasidism established that Hasidic zaddikim presented

themselves and were perceived by many of their followers as divinely

appointed rescuers of the Jewish people and of individual Jews from

a multifaceted, overwhelming state of crisis that imperiled their

physical survival, social cohesion, emotional morale, and spiritual

strength. Chapter three examined a variety of specific ways in which

Hasidic zaddikim were perceived as successfully meeting the people’s

material, social, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Each of the basic roles of the ideal zaddik contributed in some

way to meeting his followers’ needs and therefore contributed to his

charismatic appeal. Historiographical evidence confirms, as we have

seen, that at least some zaddikim did engage in each of the basic

roles that Hasidic homiletical writings attributed to the ideal

zaddik, although it was also shown that not all zaddikim were

completely successful in fulfilling those functions, and that a

number of zaddikim are known to have fallen short of the Hasidic

ideal by manifesting egregious egocentric tendencies.

The discussion of the Hasidic model of the ideal zaddik also

examined the basic sense of mission that early Hasidic homiletical

writings attributed to the zaddik: his responsibility to serve as a

bridge or connecting link between God and the people through each of

his basic roles, thereby enabling God and the people to find

fulfillment and wholeness of being in and through one another.

Hasidic teachings describe zaddikim as performing some of the same

basic roles in different ways. Whereas some zaddikim relied almost

exclusively on petitionary prayer and thaumaturgical powers as a way

of meeting followers’ material needs, others combined a

thaumaturgical approach with contemplating God’s omnipresent perfect

being as a way of enabling the people to share in His unlimited

abundance of good. Hasidic writings describe zaddikim as employing

various means of bringing followers to a higher spiritual level,

such as teaching Torah or spiritual truth, serving as a model of

Torah or attunement to God’s nature and will in all aspects of one’s

earthly existence, counseling Hasidim on an individual basis, as

well as directly transmitting radiant spiritual energy to receptive

disciples. Each zaddik was believed to fulfill these various roles in

a distinctive manner and to provide his followers with a uniquely

distinctive path to God, in accordance with the specific root-origin

of his soul and that of his followers.

Hasidic teachings intimate that in some cases, direct

transmission of spiritual energy may be accomplished through

nonverbal means, in the same manner that one candle ignites another.

As followers grow in their communion capacity, the zaddik is able to

place greater emphasis upon subtler roles that require a more

substantial degree of perceptiveness on the part of the followers,

but which are likely to produce a more substantial degree of

spiritual growth in them.

Hasidic teachings associate each of the roles involved in the

zaddik’s service of his followers and in his charismatic appeal with

a radiant energy with which he is purportedly filled. Hasidic

writings maintain that this radiance has a divine source, and that

the zaddik transmits a subdued degree of it to his followers, in the

same manner that sunshine conveys some of the sun’s light and warmth

to earth at a reduced level of intensity that it can safely endure.

The radiant energy is identified by Hasidic homiletical writings as

being the source of each of the zaddik’s charismatically attractive

qualities, such as, his extraordinary vitality, his warmth,

spiritual love and joy, awe-inspiring appearance, clairvoyant

powers, wisdom, as well as underlying each of the basic roles

through which the zaddik meets his followers’ needs.

The ideal zaddik’s ability to transmit some of his radiant energy

to followers and to thereby meet their material and spiritual needs

is related to his establishing a state of communion with them and

with God, so that a degree of that radiance might flow from the

Shekhinah, God’s hypostasized presence, through him to the people.

Hasidic writings emphasize the zaddik’s ability to successfully

fulfill each of his basic roles and to meet his followers’

corresponding needs is significantly enhanced when they are able and

willing to enter into such a state of non-dualistic communion with

him, which enables them to link to God.

This Hasidic model coincides with the testimony of a number of

eye-witnesses, most of whom had no prior affiliation with zaddikim or

with the Hasidic movement, but who maintained that they had seen

radiance in a particular zaddik, and in some cases were

charismatically attracted to him because of it. As we have noted,

the credibility of these reports is enhanced by the likelihood that

individuals who were not already followers of the zaddik, and who in

a number of cases are known to have previously been unfavorably

disposed towards him, would have had no reason to report seeing

radiance if it were not actually being manifested by him.

Hasidic zaddikim and charismatic leaders outside of Hasidism

apparently vary along a continuum, in terms of the degree to which

their motivations and charismatic appeal are influenced by this

radiant energy, which Hasidic writings associate with transcendence

of ego or of separate, independent personal identity and will,

versus the extent of influence by ego-related factors, especially

idealized, grandiose qualities of the ego that Freud terms the “ego-

ideal image.” Support for this proposed continuum of degrees of

radiance and ego transcendence to degrees of identification with the

ego-ideal-image and susceptibility to egocentric motivations in

charismatic leaders was found not only in literature related to

Hasidism, but also in psychosocial literature outside of Hasidism.

Both kinds of charismatic appeal were operative in Hasidism: Hasidic

teachings maintain that radiance underlies the basic roles and

charismatic appeal of the ideal zaddik, while the charismatic appeal

of other zaddikim who fell short of the Hasidic ideal by manifesting

egocentric tendencies was found to be associated with their

identification with the idealized kinds of ego qualities that Freud

called the ego-ideal image. Additional support for the plausibility

of the entire continuum as a theoretical model of charismatic appeal

was provided by demonstrating that both ends of the continuum were

in fact operative in the charismatic appeal of a considerable number

of well-known leaders outside of Hasidism. The major religious

traditions of the world associate the manifestation of radiance in

individuals with closeness to God or with awakening to Absolute

Reality, and a considerable number of outstand non-Jewish religious

thinkers identify radiance as a factor in the charismatic appeal of

recognized spiritual teachers. The discussion of the bottom end of

the continuum established that the charismatic appeal of a large

number of leaders of contemporary non-Jewish religious cults was

strongly influenced by their identification with idealized ego

qualities of the ego-ideal-image.

Hasidic zaddikim and other charismatic leaders vary in terms of

the degree to which they were psychologically constructive or non-

constructive in their manner of relating to followers and to their

opponents. Although the overwhelming majority of Hasidic zaddikim

were found to be clearly psychologically constructive in their

orientation, a number of them manifested mildly non-constructive

tendencies, including a degree of megalomania. The most extreme

forms of non-constructive behavior at the bottom end of the

continnum were found to be manifested by some religious cult leaders

and political leaders outside of Hasidism. Those charismatic leaders

outside of Hasidism who fall toward the bottom end of the continuum

were found to be dominated by more extreme degrees of megalomania

and of other egocentric tendencies than that manifested by even the

most non-constructive Hasidic zaddikim.

The extent to which a given leader is psychologically

constructive and primarily dominated by identification with radiance

and with other qualities of the higher psyche, as opposed to being

dominated by non-constructive egocentric tendencies, is highly fluid

and dynamic in character. The same charismatic leader may move

markedly up or down on the continuum in the course of his or her

career. According to the theoretical model proposed by this

research, downward movement on the continuum is likely to occur when

the radiant energy that fills a given charismatic leader, and which

contributes to his charismatic appeal, fuses with latent egocentric

tendencies in his psyche, energizing and intensifying them. This

fusion of radiance and of latent egocentric tendencies may occur

inadvertently, especially when the zaddik permits himself to retain a

vestige of worldliness for the purpose of staying in close contact

with ordinary people and thereby redeeming them spiritually.

However, when that fusion of radiance and latent egocentric

tendencies occurs, the ego is likely to take personal credit for the

extraordinary, “God-like” qualities that are derived from radiance,

thereby inflating the ego, making it prone to grandiose and manic

tendencies. Since the idealized, grandiose ego qualities of quasi-

omnipotence, quasi-omniscience, and an inflated sense of world of

the eii (ego ideal image) are remarkably similar to the qualities

derived from radiance, it was proposed that the eii and its

charismatic appeal is actually a distorted derivative of radiance

and of the “pure,” Weberian charisma that is directly derived from

radiance. Thus, this continuum provides a means by which the

apparently discrepant theories of Weber and Freud may be resolved

within a single more comprehensive theoretical framework, enabling a

basis of comparison between various types of charismatic appeal to

be recognized.

The theoretical model upon which this continuum is based on

presupposes that the degree of identification with, and influence

by, radiance in the charismatic appeal of Hasidic zaddikim and other

leaders is inversely proportional to the degree to which they are

dominated by identification with the ego-ideal-image and are

influenced by egocentric motivations, since Hasidic homiletical 1

writings and the teachings of various non-Jewish forms of mysticism2

concur that receptivity to radiance is dependent upon transcending

the ego by stilling self-generated mind movement of ego-related

thought and desire, which reinforces one’s sense of subject-object

duality and thereby enhances egocentric self-awareness. This

suggests that the ego-ideal-image is itself only a distorted version

of radiance, arising from the ego taking personal credit for what

Weber might call the “divinely gifted,” higher-than-normal levels of

human functioning qualities of radiance. The kind of charismatic

appeal that is derived from association with the ego-ideal-image can

be adequately understood only in relation to the charisma of

radiance from which it is derived.

Followers of relatively non-constructive Hasidic zaddikim and of

more substantially non-constructive religious cult leaders

frequently tend to participate in a sort of “delusion collusion”

with the leader and with one another, as a way of consensually

validating that the leader actually has the idealized, grandiose ego

qualities that he claims and that his followers project onto him.

Such non-constructive charismatic leaders and their followers need

such validation in order to preserve their psychological security.

Consideration has been given to Hasidic teachings and

historiographical information that describe differences between

various kinds of zaddikim. One of the most salient of these

differences is that between zaddikim who offered only spiritual

benefits and therefore for the most part attracted only disciples

who were relatively affluent, well-educated, and spiritually minded,

and those zaddikim who reached out to the common person by offering

thaumaturgical material blessings and psychosocial benefits such as

a sense of emotional security, worth, and identity. However, some

zaddikim who appealed to the common person also provided a

rudimentary form of spiritual guidance that matched the needs of

individuals whose consciousness was still fairly worldly in

orientation. Elimelekh of Lizhensk refers to zaddikim who offered

only advanced forms of spiritual assistance to other individuals as

Israel-type zaddikim, whereas he calls those who tried to meet the

material and spiritual needs as Jacob-type zaddikim. Levi Yitzhak of

Berdichev makes a similar distinction between zaddikim who forget to

pray for the people’s material needs because they are absorbed in

ecstatic communion with God, and zaddikim on a somewhat lower

spiritual level who are able to successfully petition God on behalf

of the people’s worldly needs. Another important made by Levi

Yitzhak is between individuals who are able to commune with God and

converse with other people at the same time, and those who can do

only one of those two things at a time. Interestingly, Levi Yitzhak

indicates that the former type is on the level of Israel, whereas

the latter type is only on the level of Jacob.

These distinctions made by Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev, Elimelekh

of Lizhensk, and Stephen Sharot (a sociologist who points out

differences between miracle-working zaddik and zaddikim who were

exclusively scholarly and spiritual in orientation) seem to suggest

that some zaddikim were primarily “other-worldly” or “God-oriented”

in their approach, whereas other Hasidic leaders were primarily

“this-worldly” and “community-oriented.” A related distinction is

between zaddikim who contemplate God’s omnipresent perfect being as a

way of consciously connecting the people to God and thereby enabling

them to share in his unlimited supply of good, and those who

petitioned God for the people’s material needs from a stance of

subject-object duality and belief in a relative evil to be overcome

and a relative good to be pursued through that petitionary prayer.

2)The Self-Sacrificial Character of the Ideal Zaddik

Hasidic teachings portray the ideal zaddik as voluntarily

sacrificing much of his high spiritual state and much of his own

spiritual security in order to associate with ordinary people and

thereby bring them to God. Jacob Joseph of Polnoy and other early

Hasidic masters emphasize that the zaddik runs the risk of being

completely “swallowed up” by the worldly, “sinful” mentality of the

common folk, which he absorbs into himself and attempts to transmute

into its underlying spiritual “root” in order to redeem the

collective psyche of the Jewish people. Although most Hasidic

teachings maintain that the zaddik is not supposed to deliberately

seek out the people’s evil urges for the sake of transmuting them,

Hasidic homiletical writings do emphasize that the ideal zaddik goes

out of his way to “bind himself” to ordinary people by identifying

with them, feeling responsible for their transgressions, and

voluntarily “descending” from his high spiritual level so that he

might be able to communicate with the people in language that they

can readily comprehend. By doing so, the zaddik inevitably runs the

risk of being affected by the people’s coarse, egocentric mentality,

but his intention is to “raise” ordinary folk up to God by

temporarily descending into close contact with their much lower

level of consciousness, rather than to remain immersed in the “mire

and refuse” of their worldly cravings. Hasidic homiletical writings

also emphasize the zaddik’s willingness to sacrifice much of the

inner peace and joy that accompanies his high spiritual state in

order to “join” himself to ordinary fold and to attend to their

material and spiritual needs. 3

This Hasidic model of the ideal zaddik’s accessibility and

altruism apparently coincided with the way in which a number of

zaddikim were actually perceived by ordinary people, and even by some

militant opponents of the Hasidic movement. For example, Joseph

Perl, a vociferous critic of the later Hasidic movement,

acknowledged that Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev and other zaddikim of his

generation “excelled in their prayer, charity, and ransoming of

prisoners—at that time, they used to do this.”4 According to

Dresner, “Levi Yitzhak [of Berdichev] knew his people as a father

knows his children, as a shepherd knows his flock.”5 The

anthropologists Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog describe the

folk impression of the typical zaddik as a leader with the “common

touch,” i.e., a plain-speaking, compassionate leader to whom

ordinary people can turn for advice and assistance in times of

trouble.

Common to all Tsaddikim…..is the basic obligation to participate in the life of the people, listen to their troubles, help them intheir misery, use their powers to ameliorate the lot of the Jews and to intervene with God on behalf of His children. The Tsaddik must be the melits yoysher, the one who pleads in defense of Jews who are constantly punished by God for violation of the Law. The human side of shtetl life—the worries, illnesses, the sobs of a childless woman who can cry her heart out to the holy man. He will share with his Hassidim the burden of parnosseh, the struggleto support one’s family. His duty is to listen to the complaints,to hear the pleas for help and comfort. With a word of hope, witha wish, with a magic formula, the Tsaddik will console the unfortunate Hasid. During the weekly teachings, in the vernacularand in simple terms and overladen with pilpulistic reasoning (Talmudic casuistry], he preaches hope and joyful love of God.6

It may be recalled that Zalman Schachter-Shalomi describes the

zaddik’s use of empathic identification and non-dualistic communion with

followers in a manner that is strikingly similar to the “involved”

picture of the zaddik portrayed by Zborowski and Herzog:

Investment in the literal translation of the Hasidic term hitlabshut. Figuratively, the term expresses the rebbe’s action in“clothing” himself in the garments of the Hasid’s thought, word, and deed. These he examines from within, thus fulfilling the command in Pirkay Avot [2:4]: “Do not judge a man until you have arrived at his place.” The rebbe takes this command literally. Heassumes the place of the Hasid and enters into his consciousness,while at the same time retaining a hold on his own consciousness.7

The zaddik’s willingness to sacrifice much of his own high

spiritual state in order to immerse himself in his followers’ worldly

cares and to enter into fellowship with them is unsurpassed by

spiritual masters in many other religious traditions, who have often

lived as hermits and accepted only extraordinary individuals as

disciples. Hasidic teachings emphasize the zaddik’s ability to gradually

lift followers rung by rung up the ladder of spiritual growth, from

earth to heaven, which enables him to work with followers who begin

with little or no prior spiritual development. The emphasis placed on

the zaddik’s “human” failings and eccentricities is also somewhat

unusual in “sainthood” traditions of the world, although parallels do

exist in other religious traditions.8

Nevertheless, the characteristics that are ascribed to Hasidic

zaddikim and to spiritual teachers outside of Judaism are remarkably

similar in other respects. For example, Hasidic zaddikim and non-Jewish

spiritual teachers are both frequently perceived as manifesting

spiritual radiance and other related qualities of the Divine or

Absolute Reality. The picture of zaddikim presented in Hasidic teachings

and legends is clearly idealized, yet the very failings of some zaddikim

can be understood as contributing to their outstanding stature as

spiritual masters insofar as it enables ordinary people with

comparable faults to identify with them and to aspire to reach the

heights of mystical experience while continuing to lead an active life

in the world, as the ideal zaddik himself does.

3) Deprivation: A Unifying Theoretical Model

The concept of deprivation as formulated by the social scientist

Charles Glock9 can serve as a useful theoretical model by which to

integrate a number of factors that contributed to the rise of Hasidism

and to the popularity of the phenomenon of “zaddikism” in the late

eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Glock attributes the rise

of sectarian religious movements that challenge established religious

organizations or “churches” to a perceived sense of deprivation, or a

sense of impelling need that is not being met by established religious

institutions.

It will be recalled from the introductory literature review on

“zaddikism” that a large proportion of ordinary Jews in Eastern Europe

turned to zaddikim and to the Hasidic movement to meet pressing

material, emotional, social, and spiritual needs that they felt were

not being adequately addressed by non-Hasidic rabbis and by Jewish

civic authorities. This finding coincides with Glock’s view that

“There are five kinds of deprivation” or unmet need that tend to be

operative in the formation and spread of sectarian or oppositionist

religious movements. Glock terms these five categories of deprivation

“economic, social, organismic, ethical, and psychic.” The economic

category involves unmet financial needs; the social entails a sense of

being excluded from “societal rewards such as prestige, power, status,

and the opportunity for social participation”; organismic deprivation

denotes a perceived lack of “good mental or physical health”; ethical

deprivation signifies lack of a meaningful set of ethical values, or

dissatisfaction with the prevailing values of society,” and psychic

deprivation “is a concern with philosophical meaning, but in this case

philosophy is sought for its own sake rather than as a source of

ethical prescriptions as to how one is to behave in relation to

others.”11

Each of these kinds of perceived deprivation were prevalent among

Eastern European Jews during the formative period of Hasidism. A large

proportion of individuals who affiliated themselves with zaddikim and

with the early movement were afflicted by some or all of the following

difficulties: 1) extreme financial insecurity; 2) exclusion from a

basic sense of human dignity reserve only for the better educated and

wealthier sectors of Jewish society; 3) physical illnesses,

childlessness, or affliction by evil spirits, which may in some cases

have been related to psychological disturbances; 12 4) guilt over the

most minor infractions of traditional Jewish law; 5) a widespread

perception that Jewish tradition as interpreted non-Hasidic rabbi was

lacking in vitality, meaningfulness, and cheerfulness.

The early Hasidic zaddik was perceived by many of his followers as

providing effective relief from these kinds of afflictions through the

various roles in which he engaged, or at least as providing them with

a welcome distraction from their troubles by lifting their spirits.

The discussion in this dissertation of various roles in which Hasidic

zaddikim engaged as being related to meeting the needs of their

followers and to concomitant aspects of their charismatic appeal also

coincides with the findings of Lewis R. Rambo13 and other scholars in

the field of charisma, as explained at the end of the chapter dealing

with the validation of the thesis.

The zaddik’s role in alleviating feelings of deprivation in

individual followers with respect to their material, emotional,

social, and spiritual needs complemented his role in revitalizing

Jewish religious tradition and identification with Jewish peoplehood.

The charismatic leadership of the early Hasidic movement by zaddikim

clearly fits the notion of a “revitalization movement” as used by

Anthony F.C. Wallace and other social scientists. Wallace

characterizes revitalization movements as “deliberate, conscious,

organized efforts by members of a society to create a more satisfying

culture” by restructuring the basic symbol system of their society as

a way of coping with stressful conditions that typically involve

internal demoralization and external threat by an outside society.14

According to Wallace, revitalization movements typically arise when

existing social institutions and established leaders are viewed as

being unable to cope with these unbearably stressful conditions. Under

those circumstances, which seem to threaten the imminent demise of the

entire society, a charismatic leader arises who claims to have

received prophetic revelations from a supernatural source. Wallace

indicates that this claim to supernatural revelation impels other

people to accept the “prophet’s” program for revitalizing their

society and to accept his authority as a charismatic leader. According

to Wallace, such a claim to supernatural revelation holds out the

promise that the supernatural source of that revelation will bless the

people if they rally behind the leader and his program, whereas they

are warned that they will suffer catastrophe if they do not accept his

leadership and the divinely ordained program that he espouses.15

This model of revitalization clearly fits the zaddik’s role in

reinvigorating Jewish religious tradition and the Jewish sense of

peoplehood by presenting himself as a divinely appointed, divinely

inspired redeemer of the entire Jewish community as well as of

individual Jews. Many Jews felt demoralized by unusually stressful

historical conditions during the formative period of Hasidism, and the

leadership of existing rabbinic and Jewish civic authorities was

widely discredited at that time. The Hasidic zaddik stepped into that

breach by presenting himself as the kind of leader who could revivify

a moribund Jewish community or “repair what has previously been broken

down”16 by communicating the spiritual essence of Jewish religious

tradition in a divinely inspired manner, by serving as a model of love

for one’s fellow Jews, and by lifting the people’s spirits through his

joyous, warmly reassuring “fatherly” demeanor.17 Without that

revitalization of Jewish peoplehood and of traditional Jewish religion

by the early Hasidic zaddik. It seems likely that many people would

have left the Jewish community altogether in order to escape the

stressful conditions that prevailed within it, since a considerable

number of Jews are known to have socially segregated themselves from

the larger community during the formative period of Hasidism,18 while

others joined heterodox movements such as the Frankists or the

Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment), and some even went so far as to

apostasize to Christianity as a way of avoiding incessant persecution,

escaping dire poverty, and/or ecpressing resentment against the rest

of the Jewish community.19 Hence the zaddik’s charismatic appeal was

apparently due not only to meeting the self-perceived needs of

individual followers, but also to his being viewed as a divinely

appointed redeemer of the entire Jewish community at a time when the

continued existence of the Jewish community seemed imperiled by

internal demoralization and external threatening forces. This folk

image of the zaddik as rescuing a moribund Jewish community from the

threat of imminent demise in a miraculous manner is apparently

reflected by a story in Shivhei ha-Besht, according to which, the Baal

Shem Tov’s prayers were able to reverse a divine decree that the Torah

would soon be taken away from the Jewish people as a punishment for

its sins.20 This notion of the Torah being taken away from the Jewish

people seems to allude to the fear that the entire Jewish community

might disintegrate and even apostasize unless charismatic leaders such

as the Baal Shem Tov and other Hasidic zaddikim arose to restore the

people’s faith in their religious heritage, reinforce their emotional

identification with the Jewish community, and provide them with a

basic sense of emotional security by demonstrating God’s continued

love for His people through the supply of miraculous divine blessings

and teachings that emphasized “how precious every man was to the heart

of God.”21

As we have seen, a considerable number of early Hasidic zaddikim

were viewed as having the ability to intimidate powerful Christians

who were persecuting the Jewish people, especially by invoking

supernatural powers against them. The ability of the Baal Shem Tov and

other Hasidic zaddikim to humiliate oppressors of the Jewish people is

emphasized in hagiographical literature, which suggests the likelihood

that the assertion of Jewish superiority was viewed with considerable

satisfaction by many of their followers. Since the typical zaddik was

perceived as being close to God, his presence within local communities

apparently welcomed as providing people with the profound sense of

emotional reassurance and security that comes from having God in their

midst. The zaddik’s image as a powerful protector of defenseless Jews

against threatening forces was comparable to that of a big brother who

protects his younger siblings from menacing bullies.

Thus, an essential but unstated element of the zaddik’s

charismatic appeal comes from providing the people with a generalized

sense of emotional reassurance and security that went well beyond

meeting specific material needs and spiritual concerns. This

possibility has been all but overlooked in other studies of the zaddik

and of the early Hasidic movement; it might be a productive avenue for

future research to examine whether most zaddikim were in fact viewed as

intimidating persecutors and thereby protecting Jews from attack

through their mere presence in the community, quite apart from the

belief that they could also provide protection and material sustenance

to the people by explicitly petitioning God on their behalf. Such a

perception may have been an essential yet unstated or implicit element

in the zaddik’s charismatic appeal.

Nevertheless, the popular appeal of Hasidic zaddikim was derived

not only from being as rescuing Jewish from conditions of material and

emotional deprivation individually and collectively, but also from

being viewed as bringing the people into what can only be called a

state of grace or blessedness, a kind of “aura of enchantment.” This

charismatic aura of sacred power and blessedness exuded by many early

Hasidic zaddikim is to some extent comparable to the Melanesian term

mana as used by anthropologists such as R.H. Codrington and R.R.

Marrett in referring to “belief in an impersonal power” that can

become manifested in human beings as well as in spirit beings. 22 The

historian of religion Roger Schmidt points out that analogous

conceptions of a “mysterious and sacred power” occur among various

Native American Indian peoples, as communicated by terms such as the

Sioux wakan, the Iroquois orenda, and possibly manitou for Algonquin-

speaking peoples. Schmidt also indicates that “this extraordinary

power is morally neutral; it can be used benevolently or malevolently,

for either blessing or cursing.”24 Emile Durkheim points out that

individuals with mana or sacred power are often believed to have the

ability to bestow blessings upon their society and are therefore

threated with extreme deference, as if they were god-like beings:

If society happens to take to some man, and if it believes that it has found in him the main aspirations which preoccupy it, together with the means of satisfying them, we may be sure that such a man will be set above his fellows and virtually deified….In Melanesia and Polynesia, for example, an influential man is said to have mana, and this mana is alleged to be responsible for his influence.25

The ability of some zaddikim to give their followers a feeling of

being blessed by an all-pervading atmosphere of holiness or being

surrounded by an aura of enchantment is vividly portrayed in the

short-story, “Between two mountains” by the novelist Isaac Loeb

Peretz:

A great wide sky—without a limit! The sky was so blue! So blue! It was a delight to the eye. Little white clouds, silvery clouds,floated across it, and when you looked at them intently, you saw how they quivered for joy, how they danced for rejoicing in the Law! Away behind the town was encircled by a broad green girdle, a dark green one, only the green lived, as though something alivewere flying through the grass; every now and then it seemed as ifa living being, a sweet smell, a little life, darted up shining in a different place; one could see plainly how the little flamessprang up and danced and embraced each other….

And over the fields with the flames there sauntered parties and parties of Chassidim….and the little flames that rose from the grass attached themselves to the shining holiday and seemed to dance round every Chossid with delight and affection—and every company of Chassidim gazed up with wonderfully thirsty eyes at theRebbe’s [zaddik’s] balcony—and I could see how that thirsty gaze oftheirs sucked light from the balcony, from the Rebbe’s face, and

the more light they sucked in, the louder they sang—louder and louder—more cheerfully, more devoutly….” Lord of the world! I thought I should dissolve away for sheer delight…..”26

This passage coincides with numerous Hasidic homiletical

teachings and folk legends that describe the zaddik in lyrical terms

as bringing people a generalized sense of wellbeing and fulfillment

that went far beyond meeting their specific individual needs:

providing them with a certain intangible sense of being “brought to

the source of living waters, the Life of Life, blessed be He.”27 The

charismatic appeal of many Hasidic zaddikim was derived in part from

their being perceived as providing followers with a deeply refreshing

taste of the divine essence of life, thereby slaking their

“ontological thirst….for being.”28 Thus, the zaddik’s charismatic appeal

was derived from his being perceived as rescuing followers from a

deep-seated sense of deprivation arising not only from the lack of

specific material, social, economic, and spiritual benefits, but also

from their inability to independently provide themselves with the

generalized, rather intangible state of “shlemut”29 or inner wholeness

and fulfillment of being that the zaddik offered.

3)Implications for the Study of Charisma

The continuum of radiance to ego-ideal-image (eii) in charismatic

leaders that has been proposed and substantiated provides a useful

theoretical model by which to integrate and go beyond the apparently

disparate perspectives of Weber and Freud concerning the nature of

charismatic appeal. The usefulness of this theoretical model is

derived not only from its comprehensive character, which is in fact

applicable to all kinds of charismatic leaders, but also by its

ability to clarify important aspects of charismatic appeal that have

not yet received adequate attention in psychosocial literature.

Radiance is described as the most significant source of charismatic

appeal, and as evidence of closeness to God or of awakening to

Absolute Reality, not only by Hasidic teachings, but also by a number

of prominent thinkers in other religious traditions. The examination

of Hasidic teachings that indicate that radiance can be directly

transmitted from a zaddik to other individuals makes it likely that

radiance is charismatically appealing to those who perceive it in

someone who because that radiance is aroused in them when they are in

the presence of that individual, enabling them to share in the

ecstatic feelings that Hasidic writings and some non-Jewish teachings

describe as being derived from radiance. At the opposite end of the

continuum, the discussion of the phenomenon of “delusion-collusion”

provides an understanding of psychological needs that attract eii

dominated charismatic leaders and their followers to one another.

Although other possible implications of these findings will not be

discussed at present in the interests of brevity, it is anticipated

that the findings of this research and the theoretical model upon

which they are based will yield significant insights and questions for

future research when examined by other scholars in the social sciences

and in the History of Religions.

The desirability of going beyond as well as integrating the

perspectives of Weber and of Freud is derived in part from the

inability of either of those two models to adequately explain the

relationship between radiance and charismatic appeal. Weber’s view

that pure charisma is a gift of divine grace fails to explain how a

pneumatic, charismatically attractive quality such as radiance could

be directly imparted by someone who is already a zaddik to another

individual who thereby becomes a socially recognized zaddik without

necessarily having been blessed or graced directly by God. Freud’s

view that charisma is invariably a matter of projection that has no

basis in objective reality fails to adequately explain why radiance is

associated with holiness and with charismatically attractive pneumatic

qualities in almost every major religious tradition of the world. If

radiance were not actually being manifested by some charismatic

individuals, but were only being projected onto them, then that

phenomenon should be found only in some religions and cultures, but

not others. If radiance were simply projected onto individuals as a

function of psychological wish fulfillment, then there would be no way

to account for why a number of individuals who initially had an

intense aversion to specific Hasidic masters were suddenly transformed

into their disciples on perceiving their radiance, as is known to have

occurred in the Maggid of Mezritch’s initial encounter with the Baal

Shem Tov30, and in other instances.31

The model of charisma that was proposed in the discussion of

charismatic leaders outside of Hasidism goes beyond the perspectives

of Weber and Freud by postulating that radiance need not necessarily

be viewed either as a gift of divine grace nor as a psychological wish

fulfillment, but instead can be understood as a product of a

maturational development of consciousness that manifests what is

already present as latent potential in the deeper dimensions of the

psyche. It was suggested that this maturational development of

consciousness can occur through a direct transmission of radiance from

one individual to another, and/or through the teaching of practices

that facilitate transcendence of the ego or lower psyche so that the

higher, unconditioned dimension of the psyche might thereby become

manifest to consciousness. This understanding of radiance and of

associated pneumatic qualities related to charismatic appeal as being

innate potentials of the psyche that until now have become manifested

to a substantial degree only in rare individuals, but which are

present in the psyche of everyone, if only in a latent state, raises

the possibility that scholarly research in fields such as the History

of Religions, psychology, and so on might be able to identify specific

factors that could expedite the actualization of those potentials in

anyone who wishes to develop them, as well as clarifying their nature.

If radiance were not conceived of as a supernatural gift of divine

grace, as in Weber’s model of pure charisma, and if it were not simply

dismissed a priori as psychological projection, as in Freud’s notion

of the eii, then it would be possible to study the relationship

between radiance and charisma in a scientific manner. This would

enable researchers to examine the nature of radiance and factors that

make individuals optimally receptive to it in an objective manner.

A careful examination of the seemingly “magnetic” quality of

radiance might enable some subtle, nonverbal aspects of the

charismatic appeal of various kinds of leaders to be better

appreciated, which might be related to factors such as tone of voice,

eye-contact, as well as the subliminal perception that an individual

exudes vitality and has a riveting “presence.” It is also possible

that such clarification of the attractive nature and source of origin

of radiance may shed light on other kinds of interpersonal attraction.

The ego-related factors that have been identified as being

operative in the charismatic appeal of some Hasidic zaddikim and of a

number of non-Hasidic leaders have led to a new understanding of

influences that contribute to psychologically non-constructive

tendencies in charismatic groups, and which may also be operative in

other kinds of interpersonal relationships. It should be kept in mind

that radiance and ego-related factors may both be found to be

operative in the charismatic appeal or social appeal of the same

individual, since it has been hypothesized that both factors exist on

the same continuum relative to one another, and that ego-related

elements of charismatic appeal may in fact be a distorted derivative

of radiance to some extent. Once non-constructive motivations in some

kinds of charismatic leaders are better understood, then it should be

possible to identify incipient signs of psychopathological tendencies

in charismatic groups before significant harm is done to their members

and/or to the larger society, and it should also be possible to

formulate more humane and growth-enhancing modes of leadership in

various religious and social groups.

Further research is needed to clarify psychopathological effects

that can ensue from fusion of radiance with elements of the ego in

charismatic leaders. Such research might prevent members of

charismatic groups from suffering unnecessary psychological and/or

physical harm caused by radiance energizing and intensifying some of

the ego’s least constructive tendencies. A better understanding of

this phenomenon could enable well-intentioned charismatic leaders to

take steps to prevent themselves from being unintentionally influenced

by the ego’s tendency to insidiously take credit for the extraordinary

qualities of radiance as a way of asserting a grandiose, unrealistic

sense of quasi-omnipotence, quasi omniscience, and an inflated sense

of self-importance. Members of charismatic groups and the general

public also need to be alerted to destructive consequences that can

ensue from the ego misdirecting radiant energy as a way of

irresponsibly “acting out” and justifying psychopathological

inclinations, which may lead to fanaticism, violence, and bizarre

behavior. Unless these dangers arising from inadvertent fusing of

radiance with latent non-constructive inclinations of the ego are

clarified, enabling precautions to be taken to minimize those hazards,

many people are likely to be discouraged from undertaking disciplines

designed to mature their consciousness into the higher dimensions of

the psyche and to actualize the psyche’s highest potentials for fear

of suffering drastic psychological and/or physical harm, or for fear

of being associated with incidents of bizarre behavior manifested by

charismatic groups in which such fusion occurs.

Since, as we have seen, fusion of the ego with radiant energy

often occurs in an insidious manner, without the conscious knowledge

and intention of the affected individual, one should not presume that

just because there are no noticeable traces of the ego in

consciousness, there are no ego-related influences in the subconscious

that may exert a powerful subliminal influence on one’s motivation and

behavior. Just as ego-related elements in the Hasid’s psyche

apparently flow into the zaddik’s subconscious, fuse with the master’s

radiant energy, and are thereby intensified, causing the spiritual

master to suffer from inadvertent episodes of psychopathological

tendencies, so too does it seem likely that the same process of

fusion may also affect the disciple, i.e., the zaddik’s radiance

flowing into the Hasid as a result of the non-dualistic communion

taking place between them may in some cases energize and exaggerate

latent non-constructive elements of the Hasid’s ego. Since the

disciple would be likely to hold him or herself rather than the

spiritual master responsible for such non-constructive inclinations

arising in the disciple’s psyche for no apparent reason, this kind of

occurrence may not be mentioned in Hasidic texts and in the writings

of other mystical traditions even if it is in fact a widespread

phenomenon, which should not preclude further research into dangers

that may beset disciples as well as spiritual masters as a result of

communion between master and disciple producing an inadvertent fusion

of radiance with latent non-constructive elements of the ego.

The widespread occurrence of psychopathological tendencies in

charismatic religious leaders and groups suggests that spiritual

disciplines involving attempts to transcend the ego and to attain

higher states of consciousness probably should not be undertaken

except under the supervision of a trustworthy spiritual teacher, one

who is already well-established in the transpersonal radiance mind,

and whose consciousness has thereby ascended beyond the dimension of

the psyche that is most susceptible to psychopathological influences.

Unfortunately, the harmful and even destructive consequences that can

readily ensue when radiant energy insidiously fuses with and

intensifies latent psychopathological elements of the ego have been

all but overlooked in psychosocial literature dealing with charismatic

cult groups and in literature dealing with spiritual disciplines

designed to produce higher states of consciousness. However, the

occurrence of these episodes of ego-related aberrations should not

overshadow the often well-intentioned, compassionate nature of

individuals who are occasionally affected by such aberrations, but

whose consciousness is usually more radiance-dominated than ego-

dominated.

Continued exploration of the nature of constructive charismatic

appeal may also lead to a better understanding of higher potentials of

the human psyche, especially as they relate to ego-transcendent states

of consciousness and to the urge to achieve a greater sense of

fulfillment through one’s association with the charismatic leader.

Attraction to charismatic leaders of all kinds (including

representatives of the ego-ideal-image as well as leaders who are more

associated with radiance and with a degree of ego-transcendence) may

well be derived from s symbolic attraction to the follower’s own

higher self, as represented by the leader that s/he views as a model

and source of optimal fulfillment. The finding of this dissertation

that charismatic leaders vary along a continuum in terms of their

relative degree of psychological non-constructiveness and the extent

to which they are dominated by the influence of the ego or lower

psyche, versus the extent to which they are dominated by radiance and

other characteristics that typify the higher psyche raises the

possibility that all reasonably intelligent human beings may be able

to rise on that continuum by maturing in their level of consciousness

from absorption in the lower, ego mind to greater awareness of deeper,

more transpersonal dimensions of the mind.

If the hypothesis raised in this dissertation that radiance may

be an inherent potential of life that can be aroused and developed in

all reasonably intelligent human beings were in fact borne out by

subsequent research, then that might have implications for the

constructive transformation of the individual, interpersonal

relationships, and society. Although radiance has until now been

manifested only in exceptional individuals who comprise only a minute

proportion of the general population, such as some of the Hasidic

zaddikim and other charismatic leaders examined in this dissertation,

the possibility exists that manifestations of radiance and other

extraordinary potentials of the higher psyche that have hitherto

seemed “godlike” might in fact become commonplace. Hasidic teachings

that describe spiritual growth as a never-ending process could serve

as a spur to such an examination of certain unlimited potentials of

the human psyche that need not necessarily be viewed as having a

divine source, at least not a divine source outside of our own

individual being.

4)Recommendations for Future Research

The findings of this research have a number of significant

implications for the continued development of scholarship in the

fields of Hasidism and of charismatic leadership. There is a

pressing need for more historiographical research related to the

origins and development of the early Hasidic movement, including

biographical studies of some important Hasidic masters whose lives

and teachings have received insufficient consideration until now.

Likewise, there is a need to further clarify some essential aspects

of the Hasidic master-disciple relationship. Important issues

include: 1) the manner in which individual zaddikim originally

experienced their sense of “calling” to serve as spiritual leaders;

2) training of prospective zaddikim by established zaddikim; 3) the

issue of whether zaddikim are born or bred; 4) criteria that

followers used to select particular zaddikim with whom to affiliate

themselves; 6) the nature of optimal spiritual fulfillment (shlemut)32

and its relationship to the Hasidic understanding of the process of

cosmic redemption (tikkun olam); specific factors involved in

nonverbal transmission of spiritual energy from master to disciple;

8) the nature of other spiritual disciplines that were geared to the

needs and capabilities of advanced disciples; 9) The meaning and

significance of interpersonal communion and with communion with God

in early Hasidic thought.

Analysis of Hasidic hanhagot or rules for daily living composed by

a number of zaddikim for their followers would shed more light on

paths of spiritual development and modes of leadership espoused by

various Hasidic masters. Other avenues of fruitful research might

involve examination of the nature of ecstatic states of

consciousness as described in Hasidic homiletical writings,

especially ways in which the zaddik purportedly becomes receptive to

divine revelation when teaching Torah, as well as the implications

of the zaddik functioning as a ”living Torah” or a perfected

instrument of the Shekhinah. Implications of the zaddik’s role as a

“Good Jew” or model of traditional Jewish values is also worthy of

further study, especially as it relates to his role in infusing

Jewish religious tradition with deeper spiritual significance and

vitality.

Although much has been written about factors that made ordinary

Jews receptive to the Hasidic movement and to the charismatic

leadership of the Hasidic zaddik in the formative period of Hasidism,

and although the historical origins of Hasidism in pre-Hasidic

groups of religious enthusiasts, moralists, and ascetics is already

well-known, no adequate explanation has yet been devised to account

for why a host of remarkably charismatic zaddikim arose at a very

specific moment in Jewish history, a period of approximately one

hundred years from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth

century. It behooves students of Hasidism and of the History of

Religions to account for the remarkably diverse and ebullient styles

of leadership exhibited by the first several generations of Hasidic

zaddikim, which have very few parallels in Jewish history and in the

History of Religions.

Afterword

The conclusions of this dissertation raise a number of

implications for the future development of Jewish theology and

global social thought that I feel are noteworthy. The ideas

presented here in this Afterword are intended to spur creative

reflection on the part of people who are concerned with the

relevance of Hasidic spirituality for our age and future

generations, including those who may disagree with the views

expressed in this Afterword. It is hoped that the reader’s

consideration of the issues raised in this essay and in this

dissertation as a whole will contribute to the ongoing dialogue

between Hasidic spirituality and the contemporary world.

The challenge facing those who want to make Hasidism an

attractive spiritual alternative for thoughtful people in today’s

world is to demonstrate that Hasidic teachings and spiritual

disciplines can provide a way of actualizing the highest potentials

of individual human beings and of the entire society in which they

live, rather than chaining the human spirit in the fetters of rigid,

narrow-minded ways of thinking and living. Unless Hasidic leaders

and other prominent Jewish thinkers answer today’s pervasive hunger

for meaningful spiritual experience and for a renewed sense of

community by communicating the living spirit of Jewish mysticism in

a manner that speaks to those who live in these times, the current

trend of Jews leaving Judaism in unprecedented numbers is likely to

continue, and might even become accelerated, which could soon

jeopardize the continued existence of the Jewish religion, or at

least result in the permanent loss of many of the highly

intelligence and spiritually awakened kind of Jews who are now

turning to other religions and social movements that seem to fill

that hunger. Therefore, the challenge facing leaders of Hasidic

groups and other proponents of Hasidism is to give thoughtful Jews a

reason to remain Jewish by demonstrating that Hasidism can in fact

make Jewish tradition relevant to their spiritual concerns and

social needs. Such a creative revitalization of Hasidic mysticism

might also serve to attract non-Jewish spiritual seekers to Judaism

and/or provide inspiration to those who seek to reinvigorate non-

Jewish religious traditions and forms of mysticism.

Remarkable parallels exist between the pervasive sense of

alienation from existing religious and social institutions that is

prevalent among many contemporary Jews and non-Jews, and the deep-

seated sense of demoralization that afflicted Eastern European

Jewish society during and immediately preceding the advent of

Hasidism. As is clearly the case in many sectors of the contemporary

Jewish community and of the larger American society, Jewish society

at that time was beset by factionalism, intellectual and cultural

stagnation, and lack of vitality; established religious institutions

were widely criticized for failing to adequately meet the people’s

spiritual and emotional needs. Just as many non-Hasidic rabbinic

scholars were criticized for purportedly losing sight of the inner

spiritual significance and of the essential ethical values of Jewish

tradition by interpreting normative tradition in a pedantic, rigid

manner, so too do many thoughtful people today feel that the

contemporary Jewish community and the general American society are

afflicted by a paucity of significant new ideas in the intellectual

and cultural spheres. Then, as now, a growing atmosphere of cynicism

and selfishness has become unmistakably evident in most sectors of

society, as reflected in a growing tendency for individuals and

special interest groups to put their own private concerns ahead of

the wellbeing of the larger community, as well as the lack of

authentic heroes in almost all spheres of endeavor.

Since the early Hasidic movement generated a profound sense of

spiritual renewal among many ordinary Jews, and exerted a

revivifying influence on Jewish arts and letters, it may be said

that Hasidism gave the Jewish religion and the Jewish people a new

lease on life. The personal charisma of many Hasidic leaders

reinforced loyalty to Jewish tradition and to the Jewish people

among many ordinary Jews. Nevertheless, Hasidic leaders have until

now failed to provide the Jewish people with a practicable model of

how to keep Jewish culture and intellectual life in the vanguard of

continued growth by incorporating the finest elements of

contemporary civilization into the sphere of Torah. Nor have they

provided Jews with the kind of creative challenge that could inure

them to the temptation of becoming involved in the least wholesome

aspects of the general American and global culture. Most

contemporary Hasidic leaders seem to lack the kind of pioneering

vision that could make the halakhic obligations of Jewish tradition

meaningful to Jews who want to be in the forefront of new

intellectual discovery and to explore new spiritual horizons within

the supportive atmosphere of a tight-knit community.

Thus, the challenge facing religious thinkers who want to

preserve and further develop Hasidic spirituality is to devise a

more creative, experientially meaningful, growth-oriented

understanding of Torah that could put Hasidism and Judaism in the

vanguard of exploration of the greatest range of human potentials at

the individual, interpersonal, and societal levels. If contemporary

Hasidic leaders were to creatively expound and expand Jewish

tradition as a force for unlimited creative growth, instead of

insisting on a petrified, routinized understanding of the

significance of the commandments and of Jewish mystical teachings,

then that might well lead to an exciting rebirth of Jewish

civilization and to an unlimited expansion of the horizons of the

human spirit. Such a transformational growth-oriented understanding

of the Torah might involve the notion that God’s ability to reveal

ever grander aspects of His nature and ever-deeper implications of

His Will depends on people reaching ever higher levels of spiritual

development, so that they might thereby attain correspondingly

profounder understandings of the intentions of the Divine Author of

Torah, and thereby serve as more effective instruments of His

unfolding Self-Realization. Elimelekh of Lizhensk1 and a number of

other early Hasidic masters emphasized that the zaddik aspires to

achieve endless spiritual growth, and that all members of the Jewish

community have unlimited spiritual potential when they live in non-

dualistic communion with one another and with God. Thus there is an

authentic basis in classical Hasidic thought for this kind of

growth-oriented theology and for the forward-looking kind of

leadership that it demands. This view of the zaddik as a

transformational growth-facilitator who brings out the best in other

people by recognizing their unlimited spiritual potential is also

consistent with Hasidic teachings that describe the zaddik as a

veritable Jacob’s ladder who is able to help individuals at any rung

to attain a higher, more mature level of spiritual awareness.2

For a reformulation and revitalization of Jewish mysticism to be

optimally effective in this day and age, however, Hasidic masters

would have to not only provide profound teachings, but also stir the

hearts of the people with the kind of ecstatic inspiration and

burning devotion to God (hitlahavut, hamimut) that was so attractive

to followers of the first few generations of Hasidic zaddikim; in the

felicitous Hasidic maxim, “Words that come from the heart enter the

heart.” Such a harmonious integration of mind and heart, or a

convergence of meaningful lyrics and soulful melody in the new

Hasidic message, would surely do much to revive the living sprit of

Jewish mysticism, which in turn could draw disaffected Jews back to

Judaism, as occurred in a comparable manner during the formative

period of Hasidism.

To be fully viable, any attempt to revitalize or reformulate

Hasidic spirituality for today’s times would also have to consider

reviving the Hasidic practice of communion or some other mystical

form of communion. The zaddik’s ability to bring followers into

heartfelt communion with himself, God, and one another was

apparently the key to the revitalization of Jewish society during

the formative period of Hasidism. A new and deeper understanding of

the meaning of soul-to-soul communion and of communion between the

soul and God would revitalize the Jewish religion and Jewish

mystical teachings in the present age. This perspective is

compatible with early Hasidic teachings that suggest that passionate

love for God and caring for one’s fellow human beings are meant to

complement one another rather than to be viewed as mutually

exclusive.

It might also prove fruitful to consider the possibility of

incorporating forms of communion that are not necessarily mystical

in nature into Hasidic spirituality, such as Buber’s I-Thou

relationship. Although interpersonal communion and the practice of

“hallowing the everyday” may not directly lead to mystical

experience, they can serve to diminish egocentric self-consciousness

by absorbing awareness in external objects rather than in ego-

related thoughts, desires, and value judgments. The discussion of

maturation of consciousness in Chapter 4 demonstrated that mystics

of various religious traditions maintain that divine radiance

naturally shines into the soul once the mind is emptied of ego-

related thought and desire. Therefore, it might be worthwhile to

explore the possibility that Buber’s I-Thou relationship and other

forms of communion that are not necessarily mystical in nature can

make consciousness receptive to a subliminal or less-than-mystical

level of radiance by diminishing egocentric self-awareness. Such

occasional loss of egocentric self-awareness through engagement in

non-mystical forms of communion might eventually lead to full-

fledged mystical experience by giving individuals an attractive but

less than fully conscious initial taste of radiance that would make

them hunger to experience more substantial degrees of fulfillment by

communing with the divine source of that radiance. It may be

recalled that Simone Weil maintains that any activity that focuses

attention on a single object can eventually enhance the soul’s

ability to commune with God in prayer, even if one initially

concentrates on a non-mystical, worldly task such as solving

mathematical problems.3 Buber himself maintains that the I-Thou

relationship between individuals can lead to communion with the

Eternal Thou of God:

Every particular Thou is a glimpse through to the eternal Thou; by means of every particular Thou the primary word addresses the eternal Thou….When he who abhors the name [God], and believes himself to be godless, gives his whole being to addressing the

Thou of his life, as a Thou that cannot be limited by another, headdresses God.4

Buber’s remarks suggest that contacting the unlimited aspect of

another individual through I-Thou communion can lead to a direct

experience of the infinite being of God. If that possibility were

corroborated through continued exploration of the nature of I-Thou

relationship and/or of other forms of communion, then that might pave

the way for the practice of interpersonal communion as an act of

worship to be incorporated into contemporary Hasidic spirituality,

thereby satisfying both the demand for direct spiritual experience and

for a renewed sense of community at the same time.

Since most people do not have access to genuine zaddikim in this

age, a practicable reformulation of Hasidic mysticism would have to

employ interpersonal communion and/or other alternative approaches as

a means of enabling people to assume direct responsibility for their

own spiritual growth, if that current demand for direct experience of

God is to be met. Such a new, creative understanding of the spiritual

significance of communion and community could also do much to reverse

the divisive effects of egotism that have become prevalent in recent

times. In view of the fact that very few people today are prepared to

undertake the world-negating kind of spiritual practices that are

emphasized by Buber’s critics5 in their interpretation of early Hasidic

teachings, an authentic basis in Hasidic thought must be found for

providing people with means of contacting God’s presence in the

everyday world without thereby being required to divest material

phenomena of their tangible appearance.

To be optimally effective, a reformulation of Hasidic mysticism

for today’s times would also have to devise ways of protecting the

credibility of the zaddik’s role as exemplar of holiness from being

eroded by the episodes of megalomania and other psychopathological

aberrations that were manifested by some zaddikim during the early

period of Hasidism. A related task is to prevent the credibility of

the zaddik’s role as exemplar of holiness from being undermined by the

phenomenon of routinization, the assumption of leadership by

individuals who lack authentic radiance-based charisma, and who

therefore lack the ability to be perceived as divinely gifted by

serious spiritual seekers who do not find idealized ego-related

qualities in the zaddik charismatically appealing.

Since many of the psychopathological aberrations that were

manifested by early Hasidic leaders seem to have been due at least in

part to their absorbing the egocentric, worldly mentality of followers

in an attempt to assist them spiritually, it seems essential to shield

contemporary zaddikim from direct contact with individuals who are

extremely invested in egocentric concerns, so that communion with such

followers might not seriously erode the zaddik’s high level of spiritual

awareness and thereby destroy the credibility of his role as a model

of holiness. Such loss of the zaddik’s credibility as a model of

spiritual fulfillment would also jeopardize the continued viability of

Hasidic mysticism in view of the centrality of the zaddik in Hasidic

spirituality.

One possible way of shielding contemporary zaddikim from being

inundated by the coarse mentality of followers at the lowest levels of

spiritual development while leaving the Hasidic movement open to the

masses might be to encourage novices to engage in I-Thou communion,

gain “finite enlightenment” by contemplating spiritual truth, and/or

undertake other ego-attenuating practices before becoming seriously

involved with a zaddik. Once individuals become somewhat less

identified with the ego and somewhat less invested in the ego’s

coarsest cravings, then the zaddik could engage in non-dualistic

communion with them without having his or her radiance absorb, fuse

with, and energize the most non-constructive elements of the

follower’s ego, drawing the Hasidic master (and possibly also the

novice) into episodes of megalomania or other psychopathological

tendencies. Perhaps some of the zaddik’s most advanced disciples could

provide teaching and counseling to novices, leaving Hasidic

spirituality available to the masses, but freeing zaddikim to keep their

consciousness at a high level and to work primarily or exclusively

with individuals who have reached a high enough level of spiritual

development to significantly benefit from what the Hasidic master has

to offer, especially his or her ability to transmit radiance out of a

state of non-dualistic communion with the follower.

One possible way of avoiding routinization of the role of zaddik

by individuals who lack genuine radiance charisma might be for the

title of zaddik or rebbe to be restricted only to those whose radiance

and sanctity is attested by the leading Hasidic masters of the

generation. Although leadership of Hasidic groups has been

decentralized after the death of the Maggid of Mezritch, and although

the practice of decentralized leadership continues to provide some

important advantages to the Hasidic community, restricting official

recognition of claims to the title of zaddik or rebbe only to those

whose radiance-based charisma and personal integrity are well-attested

could serve to preserve the credibility of the contemporary zaddik’s

role as a model of holiness.

A clearer, unified understanding of the Hasidic conception of God

might also serve to clarify the basic objectives of Hasidic spiritual

practice. Since some early zaddikim are known to have petitioned God to

bestow material blessings upon the people from a stance of subject-

object duality, and a belief in a relative evil to be removed and a

relative good to be sought, whereas other zaddikim emphasized

realization of the soul’s inclusion in God’s omnipresent perfect being

as a way of enabling the people to share in God’s unlimited bounty,

two distinct, possibly incompatible conceptions of God’s nature appear

to have been operative in early Hasidic thought. Unless it is

determined whether God is to be regarded as essentially separate from

the soul and as the author of relative good and evil, or whether He is

to be viewed as an omnipresent, perfect being in whom the soul is

naturally included, the basic objectives of Hasidic spiritual practice

will remain unclear, which will diminish their effectiveness. That is

to say, a dualistic conception of God’s nature vis-à-vis the

appearance of relative good and evil and vis-à-vis the soul seems

compatible with petitionary prayer, thaumaturgical practices, and an

ego-enhancing orientation, whereas a non-dualistic understanding of

God’s nature as omnipresent perfect being (beyond the duality of

relative good and evil) and of His relationship to the soul may not be

compatible with those practices, but instead seems more likely to

foster an ego-attenuating orientation, involving choiceless surrender

of personal will as an acknowledgment that God is the only true will,

directing intelligence, and cause of effects. Any material blessings

or spiritual benefits that might flow through the zaddik to the people

would necessarily be understood to be under God’s control rather than

the zaddik’s by individuals who adopt the latter perspective.

The surrender of personal will and of ego-related value-judgments

that such a non-dualistic conception of God’s nature involves also

seems likely to attenuate the zaddik’s ego and thereby minimize the

danger that he or she may be affected by psychopathological tendencies

arising from inadvertent fusing of latent non-constructive tendencies

of the ego with spiritual radiance. It seems significant that early

zaddikim who petitioned God from a dualistic stance, and who accepted

the appearance of relative good and evil at face value, such as,

Nachman of Bratslav, Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev, Elimelekh of

Lizkhensk, and possibly the Baal Shem Tov, were known to suffer

episodes of severe psychopathological aberration, whereas zaddikim who

took a non-dualistic stance were generally free of such aberrations,

e.g., the Maggid of Mezritch, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and Menachem

Mendel of Chernobyl. Whether or not contemporary Hasidic theologies

decide to adopt such a non-dualistic view of God’s nature as

omnipresent perfect being, a clearer and more consistent conception of

God’s nature would serve to clarify the basic objectives and content

of spiritual practices that are designed to promote the soul’s

maturational development in relation to Him.

Just as the Jewish people stood at a crossroads during the

formative period of Hasidism, being faced with the challenge of

adjusting to the advent of modernity and to the need for a more

forward-looking transformation of Jewish civilization, Jews and non-

Jews today both face the challenge of formulating a unifying sense of

common purpose for the entire society that thoughtful people could

find meaningful in this pluralistic age, one that might involve

setting a more humane, fulfilling goal for the individual and society.

Such a challenge could produce a breakthrough into a higher order of

intellectual and cultural achievement if successfully met by a given

society, but if the challenge is ignored or dealt with in a

superficial manner, then it could just as easily lead to the breakdown

of that society. Unless religious and civic leaders of tomorrow

formulate such a life-affirming, growth-enhancing direction for a

pluralistic society, a real danger exists that non-constructive

charismatic leaders may arise to fill the vacuum of meaning

experienced by many people. There is even a possibility that

misdirection of that pervasive demand for “something to believe in” by

the worst kind of non-constructive charismatic leaders could lead to

outbursts of irrational behavior and violence if well-meaning

religious and civic leaders continue to ignore that need indefinitely.

If, on the other hand, Hasidic and non-Hasidic leaders were to respond

to this demand for meaningful direction by formulating new ideas that

facilitate the continual unfoldment and advancement of the human

spirit, then the next generation could witness levels of individual

and social fulfillment that are unimaginable today.

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