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The Chevraya Kadisha

The Chevraya Kadisha The term originates in the Zohar, where it refers to the circle of Tannaim who studied the innermost secrets of Torah together with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. That circle numbered approximately ten disciples.[1] The Aramaic term means "the holy fellowship." Some also suggest a secondary reason for the name: most members of the circle served in their home communities as members of the local Chevra Kadisha — the burial and funeral society.</ref> were a select group drawn from the closest disciples of the Baal Shem Tov — towering figures, masters of both Torah scholarship and Chassidic life — who carried the teachings of Chassidus into every corner of White Russia and the surrounding lands.[2]

The name also captures something essential about the relationship between the members of the circle and the Baal Shem Tov himself. It was not the relationship of master and disciples as it would become in later generations, but of a fellowship — companions laboring together in the service of G‑d.[3]

The Baal Shem Tov and his successor the Maggid of Mezeritch maintained a relationship of singular closeness with the Chevraya Kadisha. Special meals were held in their honor, Torah teachings were delivered for them alone, and they received missions and responsibilities that set them apart from the broader public who gathered in the Baal Shem Tov's orbit.

From this fellowship, in the third generation of Chassidus and onward, the many branches of the Chassidic movement spread across the world. By that era, the nature of leadership had changed: each Rebbe led his own community of Chassidim independently, and the collective structure of the Chevraya Kadisha gave way to the multiplicity of individual Chassidic courts.

History edit

In the period before the Baal Shem Tov's public emergence, a fellowship of hidden tzaddikim had existed for nearly a century — figures who studied the inner dimension of Torah and served G‑d together, led by a senior colleague-leader, among them Rabbi Adam Baal Shem and Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem.

Chassidic tradition relates[4] that when the soul of the Baal Shem Tov was to descend into this world, it was reluctant to do so — and only after being promised from Heaven that the souls of the Chevraya Kadisha would accompany it, "sixty mighty ones surrounding it," did it consent. And so, in 5458 (1698), a son was born to Rabbi Eliezer (father of the Baal Shem Tov), who was himself a member of the hidden fellowship.

Orphaned of his father at age five, the Baal Shem Tov joined the hidden fellowship himself at age fourteen, in 5472 (1712). Four years later, at only eighteen years of age, he was appointed its leader. From the moment he joined, he began introducing a new emphasis — on love of every Jew and on drawing close those who had been left at the margins.

The Baal Shem Tov led the Chevraya Kadisha for twenty-six years.[5] Through a spiritual gift from above — an is'arusa dil'eila, an arousal from the higher worlds — he granted them the capacity to transmit the light of Torah and Chassidic life to all future generations.[6] He also instilled within them an inner vitality in their study and practice — that all they did should flow from a place of genuine inner feeling, and that they should hold fast to this path with sincerity.[7]

In the early period of the Baal Shem Tov's leadership of the Chevraya Kadisha, some of its members found his leadership difficult to accept — they wished to internalize and strengthen themselves in this path on their own terms.[8]

Their spiritual stature was so immense that, as has been said in our generation, there is no one today who could even comprehend what that level truly was.[9]

Even as the Baal Shem Tov drew close the masses and showed them particular warmth and affection, he carefully preserved the distinct standing of the Chevraya Kadisha, setting aside dedicated times to meet with them alone.

At the Shabbos table, for example, two of the three Shabbos meals were open to all guests — but one was reserved exclusively for the Chevraya Kadisha, and no outsider was permitted to enter, or even to stand at a distance. This private meal was typically the second Shabbos meal.

The members of the Chevraya Kadisha sat at the Baal Shem Tov's table in an established order, each in his own fixed place.[10]

Though the disciples of the Chevraya Kadisha — from whom the broader streams of Chassidus branched out — were figures of tremendous stature, our Rebbeim have testified on numerous occasions that it is specifically the teachings of Chabad, as taught by the Alter Rebbe, that are "the very Torah of the Baal Shem Tov."[11] And as time goes on, the connection and affinity between general Chassidic teaching and Chabad Chassidus becomes ever more apparent — for it is through Chabad specifically that the principal fulfillment of "spreading the wellsprings of the Baal Shem Tov outward" is realized.[12]

List of Disciples edit

The Baal Shem Tov had sixty disciples, though not all of their names are known to us. Among those we know are:[13]

  1. His successor, the Maggid of Mezeritch
  2. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh (son of the Baal Shem Tov)
  3. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonoye
  4. Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov
  5. Rabbi Chaim HaKohen Rappaport
  6. Rabbi Zev Volf Kitzes
  7. Rabbi Chaim of Krasna
  8. Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka
  9. Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Shpola
  10. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk
  11. Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl
  12. Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz
  13. Rabbi Shmuel of Kaminke
  14. Rabbi Avraham Abba of Krivosh
  15. Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk
  16. Rabbi Dovid Leikes
  17. Rabbi Leib Sarah's
  18. Rabbi Yehudah Leib of Pistin
  19. Rabbi Zalman of Luntshitz
  20. Rabbi Avraham of Podolsk
  21. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Premishlan
  22. Rabbi Lieber of Berdichev
  23. Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Koritz
  24. Rabbi Baruch (father of the Alter Rebbe)
  25. Rabbi Dovid Purkis
  26. Rabbi Dovid of Nikolayev
  27. Rabbi Yosef Yoel of Stefan
  28. Rabbi Yechiel of Kovli
  29. Rabbi Tzvi the Scribe
  30. Rabbi Dovid of Steppin
  31. Rabbi Yehudah Leib of Polonoye
  32. Rabbi Yaakov Kopil the Chassid
  33. Rabbi Yitzchak of Drohobitch
  34. Rabbi Yisrael Charif of Stanov
  35. Rabbi Meir (the Great) of Premishlan
  36. Rabbi Nachman of Kosov
  37. Rabbi Nasan Leivthandler
  38. Rabbi Meir Margolios
  39. Rabbi Moshe Shoham
  40. Rabbi Shemarya of Vorchivke

In the Era of the Maggid edit

From 5500 (1740) onward, a number of the Baal Shem Tov's disciples from the Chevraya Kadisha began ascending to the Land of Israel — some with his encouragement and assistance, among them his brother-in-law Rabbi Gershon of Kitov and Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka.

During the era of the Maggid of Mezeritch, the fellowship doubled in size, reaching 120 disciples. The manner of leadership was similar to what had existed under the Baal Shem Tov, though unlike him, the Maggid remained at home consistently and traveled rarely.[14]

Following the Maggid's passing in 5533 (1772), many of his disciples ascended to the Holy Land — foremost among them Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk, who made the journey in 5536 (1776). Those who remained in Europe divided the work of leadership among themselves, each receiving a particular region in which to influence and spread the teachings of Chassidus.

See Also edit

External Links edit

Notes edit

  1. ↑ Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, head of the circle; his son Rabbi Elazar; Rabbi Abba the Scribe; Rabbi Yehudah; Rabbi Yosi; Rabbi Yitzchak; Rabbi Chizkiyah; Rabbi Chiya; Rabbi Yeisa; Rabbi Acha.
  2. ↑ Hayom Yom, 3 Kislev: "One difference between the Baal Shem Tov's manner of leadership and that of the Maggid: the Baal Shem Tov traveled extensively, while the Maggid remained at home. Moreover, in the days of the Maggid's leadership, the Chassidic movement had already become known even in distant places, through the travels of the Chevraya Kadisha."
  3. ↑ See below, in the section "In the Era of the Maggid." See also Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, p. 37, in a letter by Rabbi Meir Margolios — one of the Baal Shem Tov's foremost disciples — who addresses him as a yedid, a cherished friend: "My beloved friend, the rabbi, the Chassid, the wonder of the generation"; "From my youth, from the day I came to know the bond of love with my teacher, my beloved friend, our master Rabbi Yisrael."
  4. ↑ Nesiv Mitzvosecha, Derech HaTorah, Shevil 1, §13. It is similarly told that once, when the Baal Shem Tov extended his prayers at great length, the members of the fellowship decided to step away briefly to eat and then return. When they came back they were astonished to find that the Baal Shem Tov had already finished. When asked, he explained with a parable: a group of men wishing to bring down a bird from a rooftop form a human ladder, each climbing on the shoulders of the next, until the one at the top can reach the bird — but if those at the bottom lose patience and walk away, the one who climbed falls and cannot ascend again. So too with him: without their support, he could not reach the elevated spiritual planes he sought.
  5. ↑ Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos, §272.
  6. ↑ Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos, §316.
  7. ↑ Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos, §379.
  8. ↑ Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos, §253.
  9. ↑ Igros Kodesh, vol. 14, letter 4921.
  10. ↑ Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz; and in Kovetz Michtavim, Tehillim, p. 194.
  11. ↑ Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rashab, vol. 1, p. 259, and references there.
  12. ↑ [Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos, §420].
  13. ↑ No authoritative, comprehensive list has yet been found. The names here have been gathered from various sources, and it is likely that additional names are known.
  14. ↑ Hayom Yom, 3 Kislev.
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