Machane HaNistarim

Machane HaNistarim (lit. "Camp of the Hidden Ones") is the name given to a secret fellowship that preceded the Chassidic movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov. Its members — known as nistarim ("hidden ones") — occupied themselves privately with Torah study and divine service, with particular emphasis on the esoteric dimension of Torah, Kabbalah.

The fellowship was founded by Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem. He was succeeded by his disciple Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem, who was in turn succeeded by Rabbi Adam Baal Shem.

Origins

The roots of Machane HaNistarim lie in the lands of Spain and Portugal, where the study of Kabbalah was common among Torah scholars — a practice far less prevalent in Ashkenazic lands at that time.

When the exiles of Spain and Portugal arrived in Ashkenazic Europe following the expulsions of 1492 and 1497, they brought with them the tradition of Kabbalistic study and worked to spread it as widely as circumstances allowed. This met with considerable opposition, particularly among the established Torah scholars of the region.

Founders

Rabbi Yosef Yuzpa, a righteous man among the Spanish exiles, had a son named Rabbi Eliyahu, who became one of the foremost Kabbalists of his generation. In the year 5350 (1590), Rabbi Eliyahu settled in the city of Worms (in present-day Germany). People afflicted with illness, or those without children, would come to him, and he would help them through his heartfelt, focused prayer. He thus became known throughout the region as "the Baal Shem of Worms" — a baal shem (lit. "master of the Name") being a title given to one who employed the Divine Names in prayer and practical Kabbalah for the benefit of others.

Some years after settling there, Rabbi Eliyahu formally established "Machane HaTzaddikim HaNistarim" — the Camp of the Hidden Righteous Ones.

In 5381 (1621), he founded a circle of hidden disciples, who spread his teachings throughout their communities. They disseminated in particular the works of Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai, and that same year Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller — the author of the Tosafos Yom Tov commentary on the Mishnah — joined the fellowship.

In 5384 (1624), the fellowship relocated to Prague. Among its supporters was Rabbi Shmuel, a grandson of the Maharal of Prague. Together with a man named Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh, he helped build a courtyard with living quarters for the fellowship.

Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem was the second in the chain of leadership, carrying on Rabbi Eliyahu's path. He arrived at the fellowship as an unmarried young man, and in 5394 (1634) was formally inducted into the circle. At Rabbi Eliyahu's direction, he returned to Zamość in 5399 (1639), where he was recognized as a baal shem in his own right.

Activities in the Jewish World

Machane HaNistarim was a fellowship of disciples who traveled from place to place without revealing their spiritual standing to the general public. Their work was to spread the study of Kabbalah throughout Jewish communities wherever they went.

They endured persecution from those who opposed their teachings, but over the course of roughly a century, the study of Kabbalah spread considerably across Ashkenazic Jewry.

Reaching the Common People

In the final years of Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem's leadership — and continuing under his disciple and successor Rabbi Adam Baal Shem — a new approach emerged within the fellowship: drawing close the simple, unlearned Jews through Torah stories and Aggadic teaching.

At this time, and until the beginning of the broader Chassidic movement, the divisions of Jewish society were sharply defined. Scholars and Torah giants had no social contact whatsoever with ordinary, unlearned Jews, and would not even pray with them in the same synagogue.

This new practice of Torah scholars actively reaching out to simple Jews was a striking innovation, and it breathed life into the hearts of the downtrodden — those who had no one from whom to hear even a word of Torah.

In 5476 (1716), a young man of about eighteen joined Machane HaNistarim. His name was Yisroel. He later became famous as Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement.

Later Generations

Main article: Chavra Kaddisha

Beginning with the era of the Baal Shem Tov, the structure of leadership shifted somewhat. The Baal Shem Tov opened the wellsprings of Chassidus more broadly to the Jewish people as a whole, while at the same time cultivating a special inner circle of close disciples known as the Chavra Kaddisha (lit. "the Holy Fellowship"), through whom he worked to spread Chassidic teaching.

During the Baal Shem Tov's era, approximately sixty disciples were counted among the Chavra Kaddisha. In the subsequent generation, under the leadership of the Maggid of Mezeritch, the number grew to one hundred and twenty.

Following the passing of the Maggid, the structure changed again. Many of his disciples ascended to the Holy Land, while those who remained divided the leadership among themselves, each taking responsibility for spreading Chassidus throughout their respective regions of Europe.

For Further Reading

• Sefer HaZichronos by the Frierdiker Rebbe (the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn).
• Ba'alei Shem: The Wondrous Story of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms, Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość, and Rabbi Adam Baal Shem of Ropshitz — Leaders of the Fellowship of the Hidden Righteous Ones, through Whom the Study of Kabbalah Was Spread Across Europe, Paving the Way for the Chassidic Movement of the Baal Shem Tov. Hillel Moshe ben David. Jerusalem: Machon Bnei Yissaschar, 5753 (1993).