History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 2 [of 3]: From the Death of Alexander I until the Death of Alexander III (1825-1894)Dubnow, Simon
Religion
History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 2 [of 3]: From the Death of Alexander I until the Death of Alexander III (1825-1894)
Dubnow, Simon
Jews -- Poland -- History; Jews -- Russia -- History; Poland -- History; Russia -- History
[Footnote 1: On Rabbi Baer see Vol. I, p. 229 et seq.]
When, in 1838, the Kahal of Ushitza, in the government of Podolia, was
implicated in the murder of an informer, [1] Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin was
arrested on the charge of abetting the murder. The hasidic "Tzar"
languished in prison for twenty-two months. He was finally set free and
placed under police surveillance. But he soon escaped to Austria, and
settled in 1841 in the Bukovina, in the townlet of Sadagora, near
Chernovitz, where he established his new "court." Many Hasidim in Russia
now made their pilgrimage abroad to their beloved Tzaddik; in addition,
new partisans were won among the hasidic masses of Galicia and the
Bukovina. Rabbi Israel died in 1850, but the "Sadagora dynasty" branched
out rapidly, and proved a serious handicap to modern progress during the
stormy epoch of emancipation which followed in Austria soon afterwards.
[Footnote 1: See above, p. 84 et seq.]
Another hot-bed of the Tzaddik cult was Podolia, the cradle of Hasidism.
In the old residence of Besht, [1] in Medzhibozh, the sceptre was held
by Rabbi Joshua Heshel Apter, who succeeded Besht's grandson, Rabbi
Borukh of Tulchyn. [2] For a number of years, between 1810 and 1830, the
aged Joshua Heshel was revered as the nestor of Tzaddikism, the haughty
Israel of Ruzhin being the only one who refused to acknowledge his
supremacy. Heshel's successor was Rabbi Moyshe Savranski, who
established a regular hasidic "court," after the pattern of Chernobyl
and Ruzhin.
[Footnote 1: See Vol. I, p. 222 et seq.]
[Footnote 2: See Vol. I, p. 384.]
The only Tzaddik to whom it was not given to be the founder of a dynasty
was the somewhat eccentric Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav, [1] a great-grandson
of Besht. After his death, the Bratzlav Hasidim, who followed the lead
of his disciple Rabbi Nathan, suffered cruel persecutions at the hands
of the other hasidic factions. The "Bratzlavers" adopted the custom of
visiting once a year, during the High Holidays, the grave of their
founder in the city of Uman, in the government of Kiev, and subsequently
erected a house of prayer near his tomb. During these pilgrimages they
were often the target of the local Hasidim who reviled and often
maltreated them. The "Bratzlavers" were the Cinderella among the
Hasidim, lacking the powerful patronage of a living Tzaddik. Their
heavenly patron, Rabbi Nahman, could not hold his own against his living
rivals, the earthly Tzaddiks--all too earthly perhaps, in spite of their
saintliness.
[Footnote 1: A town in Podolia. See Vol. I, p. 382 et seq.]
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