The Tsaddik as Performer: Hasidic Oral Teachings in Context

• In Event: The Oral and Written Word in the Early Spread of Hasidism

Abstract

This paper suggests a new approach to the study of Hasidic oral teachings. Oral teachings or sermons delivered by Hasidic leaders, the tsadikim, to their followers, the Hasidim, have always been central events in Hasidic life. The textual transcriptions of these teachings are considered the major reservoir of Hasidic ideas; as such, they constituted the primary research focus of these teachings. Concurrently, scholars noted the importance of the live-event nature of the delivery of the sermons, acknowledging that textual outcomes cannot capture a crucial dimension of the Hasidic experience. Interpreted as mystical moments for the tsadikim, Hasidim often described these sorts of events as peak experiences during their encounters with their leaders, in which the performance of the text included various visual and audial effects. Moreover, oral teaching was usually but one part of the multi-sensory experience of meeting with the tsadik that often took place during the complex ceremony of the Hasidic communal meal (the tisch). In my paper I propose to bring together the transcriptions of the teachings and the contexts of their delivery. I will base my exploration on two types of teachings: First, on rare occasions when we do have the sermon text as well as personal notes of its performance as documented by observers. Second, on reflective teachings of the tsadikim, which explicitly discuss the practice of the sermon, thereby actively trying to shape the experience of the Hasid in real time. Because we do not have videos of events of oral teaching from 18th- and 19th-century Hasidism, and because transcriptions of Hasidic teachings cannot convey the Hasidic experience of early Hasidism, the integrative approach that I propose is expected to contribute to a richer understanding of the Hasidic experience.

author

• Gadi Sagiv, The Open University of Israel