Five Hasidic Dynasties in America and the Search for Leadership

In non-elective structures where the criteria for leadership rely on non-rational qualities, the quest for a leader requests very complex choices. Typical for the European Askenazi Jews, lineage and ancestral merit are important in the choice of Hasidic leaders. What you do when there are conflicting personalities and the criteria of the 'zar hodesh' (literally, 'holy seed') does not stand some minimal chances of spiritual survival? When unhappy brothers rebel against each other for getting the power they assume they equally deserve? 

Who Will Lead Us? by Samiel C. Heilman covers the story of five Hasidic dynasties - some famous as Satmar, Bobov and Chabad, some less like Kopyczynitz - from the perspective of the approach to leadership. Leadership means charisma - according to the classical description of Max Weber - but also the capacity to manage properties, succeed to increase the number of followers, fundraise, even maintain a certain relatioship with the non-Jewish authorities. Following the 'theology of genealogical sanctity' metioned by Heilman: 'One succeeded not only to the position of rebbe but also to family leadership, and often inherited family property and control over precious objects like manuscripts or Judaica freighted with the iconic power of leadership'.

Who Will Lead Us? was built on an impressive amount of information. Inside information, historical information, any kind of information. You are took witness of the highs and lows of one of the most powerful Hasidic courts, with their conflicts, alliances for power and deceits. Some information are unique even for people familiar with some of these dynasties. 

However, I had more than once the feeling of getting mostly sherayim (the morsels of food distributed to Hasidim from the rebbe's tisch/table). Academic research often involves gathering tons of information out of which you use only a small percentage for your main work. The rest you maybe will use on another occasion, maybe not. I had more than once the feeling while reading this book that there is way too much anectodic, that even the selection of the dynasties is not necessarily relevant but all those data was just there and had to be used. 

What I was expecting from such a book was maybe a serious academic analysis of this typical case of leadership, which is the religious leadership, specifically the Haredi one. Overwhelmed by too much information, this is what the book missed to provide.

Gur vs. Gur

Shortly before the end of the High Holidays, a rumour that was in the air for a couple of months already was confirmed: the Gur/Ger hasidic sect, the largest in Israel and probably the only big one that remain united during its 160 years of existence, is splitting.

The Simcha Torah prayers this Monday, in Jerusalem, were held separately by the adepts of the current Gur Rebbe, the Admor Rav Yaakov Aryeh Alter and those of his cousin Rav Shaul Alter. Rav Shaul Alter succeeded to gather on his side around 250 families, that joined him in prayers in a shul in the North of Jerusalem. Gur is considered to count around 11,000 families, with followers outside Israel mostly in the USA (Brooklyn), London and Canada. 

The fifth rebbe, Yisrael Alter died childless, being succeeded by his brother, Rav Pinchas Menachem  Alter. The current Admor, the 8th rebbe, was born in 1939 and is ruling the dynasty since 1996. 

The conflict betwee the two is boiling for a considerable amount of time. Some might say that in fact it started as early as 10 years ago, when the Admor decided to introduce a new way of learning that in the end leaded to the closure of the Sfas Emes yeshiva whose head was Rav Shaul Alter, a position he took over from his father. The partial confirmation of the big split that was supposed to follow took place early this year, after Rav Shaul was not invited to the wedding of the Admor's grandson in Jerusalem. 

The split is official now, and the communication on behalf of the current Gur leadership outlined diplomatically that everything was done in order to avoid the situation, but to no avail. Now, that the holidays are over, those who followed Rav Shaul Alter are expected to be expelled from the main institutions of the sect, and among others, their children from the yeshiva and the other institutional organisations. The first step towards recognition of the new group will be the state approval for the creation of new institutions, such as schools, yeshivot, but most probably this will last. Gur remains a very powerful force among the Hasidic/ultra-orthodox political entities in Israel, particularly Agudas Israel party. 

Rav Shaul Alter is expected to visit soon the USA in order to get more support, both in terms of new followers and financially. There might be many more members of the Gur keen to join the dissenters, but they will rather wait the next steps and the settlement of the institutional and financial resources in order to avoid risking their status and the incumbent benefits. 

The Gur is considered alongside Toldot Aharon, one of the closest Hasidic sects, with its own bizarre rules regulating the relationships between (married) men and women, and a strict control of the rebbe over the hasid's personal life. Inside testimonies are rare, and when it happens they have a deeply dramatic turn, as it was the case of Esty Weinstein, a former Gur who committed suicide in 2016 following the forced separation from her children, leaving behind a memoir about her struggles within the sect. 

The everyday life of a Gur couple is regulated by takanot - Ordinances on Holiness  - which recommend, among others, very limited sexual relationship (preferably only once a month, after leil tevilah - immersion of the woman in the mikve at the end of the period), minimal contact during the intercourse or requirement to the man to remain partially dressed when having intimate relationship with his wife. Such stringencies create a relatively problematic issue for matchmaking representatives of the Gur hasidim outside the sect. I remember how a couple of years ago, a friend of mine was about to marry a Gur, until she found out about the takanot and run as far as possible from the match.

What exactly the new group will bring, including in this very personal and intimate respect, remains to be known. The time and the next moves on both sides will show in the next weeks and months. 

Boychiks in the Hood, an inaccurate Hasidic travelogue

I hesitated for a long time in which category to include Boychiks in the Hood, by Robert Eisenberg, a book I had for a long time on my reading list. 

The book was published in 1996, when Hasidism was rather considered a path of life followed by a rather exotic group of people, and I finished reading it in 2018, when Hasidism is still considered a path of life followed by a rather exotic people, but relatively widely present into the everyday media and literary, also academic approaches. For instance, there are more people who've heard about Satmers and about Jews going to Uman, in Ukraine, on Rosh Hashanah. However, checking facts and adding information to the field of research or to the overall knowledge about a specific topic could be done at any time, as what changed meanwhile since the publication of the book was only the frequency of the information about the topic. People belonging to the Satmer branch of Hasidism will hardly change in their approach to belief in the next 100 years or until Moshiah will come.

Therefore, the book can hardly be considered a research, and there are more than once facts and statements which slightly or roughly contradict the documented realities. For instance: 'A large proportion of the Satmar Hasidim perished during World War II, but not to the same extent as did Polish Jewry. Adolph Eichmann's liquidation machine didn't get around to the destruction of Hungary's Jews until the final months of the war, and then they found little official enthusiasm for the project among their Hungarian allies'. Or the fact that there is a serious connection between Kasztner and the Satmer Rebbe, and although his was a not good, and a Zionist, Kasztner had a contribution to saving Rav Teitelbaum's life. Even at the level of the 1990s, there was for sure enough knowledge, especially among Shoah survivers from Hungary that would help a more refined and serious approach. 

Robert Eisenberg travels from Israel to Monsey, Florida to Antwerp and to Uman to meet Jews of all colours and believes, born religious or religious by choice. They share their experiences mostly by using Yiddish, the 'dead language of Judaism which is so much alive nowadays. There are stories which reveal new and interesting things, or facts that are - again - hardly if ever developed or researched beyond the direct declarations of the dialogue partners. For me, the book is mostly a travelogue, with plenty of comparisons between the people he meet and movie characters, singers and actors, most of them not making any sense for the nowadays non-US reader. 

Although Boychiks in the Hood is an useful reading for anyone interested in Hasidic/post-WWII Jewish histories and stories, it has too many flaws to make it into a top 20 books about Hasidism you should read. 

Rating: 2.5 stars

History and histories

There is a lot of debate in the last weeks and months about 'truth' when it comes to events related to the Jewish life in Europe in between and after WWII. There is still a lot to be told, and the discretion of most old hasidic rabbis in getting public or writing about their experiences. Some, as many in my family, will simply refuse to disclose any details, especially about circumstances, people and locations. It was hard to understand what was going on and what was the right decision to make. Probably it was even harder to give advice to other people about what to do. It was like a night, and everyone was trying to swim against the current in that night.

After everything was gone, the constructed narrative were often based on personal accounts and not in a few situations, the escapes were miraculous. How politics, individual religious interpretations or various other reasons influenced the decisions for or against moving to Israel, there is a separate story. The Satmar, for instance, kept being against the state of Israel as usual, and their opposition didn't change. The decisive religious explanations given as an irrefutable fact about the reasons why 6 million people were killed is widely exaggerated and denies a basic right of the Jews: to never stop asking questions.

As for the decision of making aliyah, I assume it is individual and should be done when one is completely convinced it must be done. At the end of the screening process, one makes this fundamental step when fully aware of the reasons to be done: not because wants an outstanding career, or to find a mate, or to get rich, but because it is obvious that the Jews should live in their country and build their country against all odds. There is no other country for the Jews. The stories I am hearing recently of people moving back from Israel after 2-3 or even one year of aliya because disappointed of the economic situation or disillusioned about the different reality of their 'Zionist dreams' are sad. Maybe before making aliyah, people should really get in touch with the reality and their own reasons of moving in Israel.

The post-Holocaust generations, religious or not, grew up with the burden of the Shoah. Stories about what our grandfathers and parents went through were transmitted from generation to generation, not only in the shuls, but during the secular weekend afternoon. The acknowledging of the reality was equally shared to religious and non-religious children and the fear that this could any time happen again, was hunting us all. But it was this fear that made many of us powerful: strong enough to assume a religious identity that our parents couldn't have because their own parents were turned into ashes too early to learn them Shma; strong enough to assume in the front of the goyim that we are Jews; strong enough to face anti-Semites of all colours.

Despite all the small or big histories, real or not, about salvations and punishment, it is a clear historical reality: they wanted to kill us. That's obvious from all the official documents and policies of the interwar period. The Germans were helped by other smaller Amaleks, hysterically drunk with the idea of finally making real their old killers dreams, nurtured by their religions. This was the reality of Europe before and during the war: overwhelming hate against the Jews. Of course it was no clear reason to stay, but at the time, it was no state to defend us. Now we do, and it is our Army and they our our Jews, sons and grandsons of those who were killed.  

The instrumentalisation of our huge misunderstanding of the reasons why the tragedies happened for fighting one against the others is sad. Obliterating very often who our real enemies and where the serious dangers are. 

19 Kislev

Chabad celebrates today the liberation from the Tzarist prison of the founder of their Hasidic group, Rav Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812). He was arrested following accusation of teaching dangerous concepts for the stability of the Russian Empire. This day it is also called the 'Rosh Hashanah of Hasidism' and it marks the beginning of the cycle of study of Tanya, Chabad's major work.