KNOWLEDGE
I S POWER

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•,*, S"

ti side: The Year 5757 In Review — Locally, Internationally.
Neighborhood Shifts To Improvement Loans.

Nri aft‘, \V„ ,,

Above: A visitor at the Baal Shem Tov's
gravesite in Mezhibuzh, Ukraine.

Left: The only known extant copy of a
letter written by the Baal Shem Toy to
his disciple, Yaakov Josef of Polnoye,
about the importance of serving God
with joy.

doctrines of the esoteric part of Torah
in a form that even the simplest Jew
could understand," said University of
Maryland professor, author and Judaic
scholar Dr. Susan Handleman. Han-
dleman was one of the original baal
teshuvahs — "returnees to the faith"
—
to Lubavitch.
/-
Above all, the 13221 Shem Toy
endeavored to instill joy into divine
service.
During the late 1700s, Chasidic
philosophy decentralized and devel-
oped into schools of thought based on
the needs of the community. These
groups, whose leaders are called rebbes,
sought to improve the spiritual devel-
opment of their followers, called Cha-
sidim.
The difference between a rebbe and
rabbi, Rabbi Shemtov explained, is that
the latter is made, while the former is
born. Rebbes attain their stature hered-
itarily and are considered tzaddikim,
charismatic figures of high spiritual cal-

iber through whom followers can
obtain vicarious spiritual fulfillment.
For every Chasidic group — and
there are an estimated 100 sects
worldwide ranging from Belz to Sat-
mar to Lubavitch to Bobov — the
rebbe is at the core not only of reli-
gious life, but of everyday life. No
important decision — who to marry,
where to live, what career to pursue
— is made without the consultation
and approval of the rebbe.
This central tenet of Chasidic
belief, along with its egalitarian philos-
ophy, raised the ire of the established
Jewish scholars of the day who became
known as misnagdim, which literally
means "opponents."
The book Toldos Yaakov Yosef, print-
ed in 1772 by Yaakov Yosef of Pol-
noye, further fanned the flames of
resentment, portraying non-Chasidic
Judaism as dry and lifeless.
A ban was issued in the city of
Vilna in 1760, shortly after the Baal
Shem Tov's death, forbidding mis-
nagdim to marry Chasidim or for
Chasidim to be buried in a Jewish
cemetery.
At first, the misnagdim banned the
innovation of using stainless steel for
ritual slaughter knives, favoring the
more traditional carbon steel knives.
(At present, all slaughters, Chasidic
and otherwise, use stainless steel
knives exclusively.)

Honey & Apples
For A Sweet
New Year

Rosh Hashanah 57

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