KABALLA, MESSIANISM AND THE VILNA GAON
Summary: Lurianic kabbala developed in the 1500’s as an answer to the frailty of Jewish life and provided a means of hastening redemption by completing cosmic perfection. Despite the warning of the Talmud, kabbalists have not been averse to predicting the date of the onset of messianic times. Hasidism was a revivalist messianic movement that popularized the use of Lurianic kabbala and swept across Eastern Europe. The Vilna Gaon was a scholar and recluse who became embroiled as a leader in the dispute between the rabbis of Poland and the Hasidic movement. This dispute hinged on their popularization of kabbala and use of prayer as a means of mystical union with God at the expense of Torah study. The Vilna Gaon brought new ideas to messianism with the notion of settling the Land of Israel and becoming engaged in its agriculture, and 500 of his followers immigrated to Palestine at the beginning of the 1800’s. Through his students, the Vilna Gaon was successful in establishing Torah study as a prime focus of religious life.
Introduction
The development of Lurianic kabbala in the 1500’s offered a means of hastening the messianic process by completing cosmic perfection. However, its use was suppressed in the mid-1600’s in the wake of the Shabtai Zvi debacle, and by the 1700’s it was practiced by only by a few elite. However, this would change with the arising of Hasidism, a revivalist messianic movement that swept through Eastern Europe in the 1700’sand which popularized this form of kabbala. The Vilna Gaon is a pivotal figure in understanding the controversies that would ensue as a result of this new movement and his critique of its popularization of kabbala.
One cannot but note the ironies about the life of the Vilna Gaon and the direction in which he was pushing the Jewish world. He was a scholar who appreciated nothing more than to be secluding in his study with his Torah texts, but he found himself enmeshed as a leading communal figure in the dispute between Hasidism and its opponents. He was the foremost expert in the Jewish world on Lurianic kabbala and yet he berated the Hasidim on promoting and popularizing it. He criticized the Hasidim on their demotion of Torah study in favor of ecstatic prayer and yet one of the reasons for the popularization of Hasidism was the lack of spirituality felt by the masses because of the exclusivity of the rabbinic leadership with respect to Torah learning. And irony of ironies, the Vilna Gaon and his disciples were so successful at promoting Torah study at the expense of all else, that many people in Israel regard the full-time Torah study of the Haredim as more of a threat to the wellbeing of the state than their enemy Iran.
The development and influence of kabbala
The widespread turn towards kabbala in the 1500’s has to be viewed from the perspective of the longing for redemption that had been building up because of the frailty of Jewish life. Two tragedies in particular contributed to this.
The first was the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The reconquest of Muslim Spain by the Christians was completed by 1248 and in its wake the Church was able to extend its influence over much of the country. This and fundamental Islam brought an end to the Jewish “Golden Age” in Spain. Violence against Jews led to the death of thousands and many others were persecuted. Some looked to immigration while a significant number of Jews converted to Christianity. However, for many Conversos their conversion was a pathway to hell, as those Jews suspected of retaining their Judaism were tortured by the Inquisition. Under intense pressure from the Church, the order for the expulsion of all Jews from the country was signed by the monarchy in 1492, and some 200,000 were forced to emigrate. Most left destitute without buyers for their properties and many thousands died on journeys attempting to reach new destinations.
A second trauma was the massacres of Jews by the Cossack leader Bogdan Chmielnicki between 1648 to 1656 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Almost 100,000 Jews were murdered and 300 communities destroyed by Cossack cruelty, famine and disease. Almost no Jews took up their offer of conversion to Christianity and instead chose death. Ironically, kabbalistic calculations had indicated 1648 as being a time of messianic expectations and many were anticipating disturbances in the world order. But nothing like this:
“Some [Jews] were skinned alive and their flesh was thrown to the dogs; some had their limbs and hands chopped off and their bodies thrown on the road to be crushed by wagons and horses; some had wounds cut deep into them and were then thrown on the street to die a slow death…”1
No other recourse was available, these tragedies forced Jews to look inwards, and this internalization encouraged the popularization of messianic Lurianic kabbala.
Kabbala first developed in Southern France in the 12th century and spread from there to Spain. Nachmanides studied in Southern France and incorporated many kabbalistic ideas into his popular Torah commentary.
Kabbala is a means of describing the attributes and actions of God. It was felt that the attributes of God should not be described since any description would limit Him. The most one could do was to describe what He was not, (although one could describe His actions).2 However, many people felt the need for something less abstract, and this need was met by the foundational book of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, which was discovered by Moses de Leon in the 13th century. It was allegedly written by thesage R’ Shimon bar Yochai, a 2nd-century Tannaitic sage. Tradition has it that R’ Shimon bar Yochai spent 13 years in a cave hiding from the Romans and was inspired by Elijah the Prophet to write this book. Nevertheless, there was always suspicion that Moses de Leon wrote it himself, although this suspicion was never great enough to influence its widespread acceptance.3
The Zohar was the first book to describe the Divine attributes of the ten sephirot, whereby the Divine comes out of concealment and emanates His existence within the cosmos at the time of creation by successive contractions of Divine abundance called tzimtzumim.
Kabbala received a major boost in the mid-1500’s from a power-house of kabbalists living in Safed in Israel. One of these kabbalists was Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570) who systemized the kabbala of the Zohar in an encyclopedic book called Pardes Rimonim. An even more influential kabbalistic thinker was R’ Yitzchak Luria (1534- 1572), who produced a new system of kabbala as a development of the Zohar system called Lurianic Kabbala. R’ Yitzchak Luria is usually known as HaAri, Ha’Ari HaKadosh, or Arizal. Ari is Hebrew for a lion and hakadosh means the Holy one, indicating the esteem with which this special individual was held.
Lurianic kabbalah deals in particular with two theological issues. First, how was it possible for God to leave room for the creation of a universe when His presence is everywhere, and second, and related to this, how can God create a world out of nothing when there is no nothing?4 The answers of the Ari to these questions are too complicated to be addressed in this essay, but an extremely abbreviated and incomplete answer is that the Ari describes a process of tzimtzum (withdrawal) whereby God who is called the Ein Sof or That Which is Without Limit withdraws from Himself into Himself resulting in an empty primordial space. A dynamic process involving an intermediate and the light of the Ein Sof then results in the formation of ten sefirot (vessels) containing God’s creative activity.5 However, the Divine light is unable to be contained in the vessels of the lower sefirot and this results in a cosmic catastrophe known as shevirat hakelim (the breaking of the vessels). This allows for the demonic side of existence necessary for man to be able to choose or reject good and evil. Because of the breaking of vessels, the light of the Ein Sof necessary to sustain the sefirotic realm becomes fragmented. The task allotted to the Jewish people is for a tikkun (putting right) and restoration of the holy sparks to their Source. Once the tikkun is complete redemption will occur, not only of the Jewish people but of mankind in general, and with this the repair of the entire cosmic process.
R’ Isaac Luria did not write down his system but taught it to disciples and it was written up by his foremost disciple R’ Hayyim Vital (1542-1620) in his book Etz Hayyim. Commenting on the restrictions on the study of kabbala that had been made in previous generations and the situation in his own time, he makes the following assertion: “ … that every penalty revealed by this wisdom that he wrote pertains to those generations [only, when the general study of Kabbalah was not encouraged]. In our generations, however, it is a religious imperative and a great delight to God to reveal this wisdom and by virtue of its [revelation], the Messiah will come.”6
Lurianic kabbala would become the most accepted form of mysticism in the Jewish world. One reason for its popularity was its notion that each individual could influence the messianic process by reconstituting the sefirot and their vessels with the sparks of holiness and thereby could complete cosmic perfection. This could be done by keeping the commands of the Torah not perfunctorily but by directing one’s intent towards a command, by doing good deeds, and by studying kabbala. In addition, kabbalists would direct their prayers towards the Ein Sof using hints that were contained within the prayers. Some felt that their presence in Israel could also speed the coming of the Messiah.
An influential book in this century was that of the kabbalist R’ Immanuel Hai Ricchi (1688-1743). He emigrated from Italy to Safed in 1718 to increase his knowledgeable of kabbala and spent two years in this city. On his return to Italy, he wrote a summary of Lurianic kabbala which he called Mishnat Hasidism.7 He also calculated a date for the coming of the Messiah.
The Talmud adjures against this type of calculation, since failure of the Messiah to arrive on the predicted date can destroy belief in his coming: 8 Despite this warning, many kabbalists were not averse to proposing a date for the beginning of the messianic era. These calculations were based on a Talmudic statement in which an analogy is drawn between the six millennia on the Jewish calendar and the six days of creation:
“The Academy of Eliyahu taught the following Baraisa: the world [is destined to exist for] six thousand years. [The first] two thousand [years were of] nothingness, [the second] two thousand [years were of] Torah, [the third] two thousand [years should have been] the days of the Messiah.”9
The kabbalist Nachmanides proposed the date of 1340 CE for messianic redemption.10 He also rationalized that since the End of Days is approaching, the admonition against calculating this date is no longer applicable. Even a rationalist such as Maimonides could not resist presenting a date for messianic times.11 The Zohar predicts the 600th year of the 6th millennium.12 R’ Ricchi therefore calculated the time of the messianic era as being at the earliest 1740 and in a gradual process up to 1781.13
The calculations of R’ Richi were widely accepted and thousands of people began moving to the Old City of Jerusalem, at that time the only residential area in Jerusalem. The compound of the Four Sephardi Synagogues in the Old City needed to be expanded to meet the demand. Leading kabbalists made their way to Israel, including the well-known kabbalist R’ Hayyim ben Attar (1669-1743), who came from Morocco via Italy in 1742 and started the Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael in Jerusalem in the building now known as the Or HaHayyim Synagogue. This synagogue is named after Ohr HaChaim, R’ Hayyim ben Attar’s well-known kabbalistic commentary to the Torah, as is the street on which his yeshiva was located. (The courtyard of this synagogue is also where R’ Yitzchak Luria was born in 1534). So convinced was R’ Attar that this was the run-up for messianic times that he called for mass aliya. R’ Attar passed away a year later from an epidemic. Beit El Yeshiva and Synagogue were also started in the Old City in the mid-1700’s and was one of two famous yeshivot studying kabbala in the Old City (which it still does to this day). The Vilna Gaon held by the dates of R’ Ricchi, although his views on how messianic times would come about parted ways with the kabbalists who proceeded him.
The yearning of the populace for the Messiah and the influence of kabbalah on popular thinking would coalesce into the Shabtai Zvi debacle, when a major part of the Jewish world threw normal checks and balances into the wind and embraced a very dubious, and as it turned out false Messiah.
The Shabtai Zvi debacle
Shabtai Tzvi (1626-1676) was born in the Ottoman city of Smyrna where he received a traditional Jewish education, including proficiency in Talmud. At age 20, he was ordained as a chacham, the Sephardi equivalent of rabbinic ordination. He was much attracted to kabbala, and particularly its practical aspects including asceticism, multiple immersions, prolonged periods of isolation and self-flagellation. This behavior gained him the reputation of being a holy man. He also at this time, began displaying symptoms of manic-depressive psychosis and this would accompany him throughout his life, although it was overlooked by his followers as evidence of prophecy.14 At age 22, he began having delusions that he was the messianic redeemer. He began pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, which was a forbidden act, and announced having visions of God. These claims and his strange behavior eventually led to his banishment by the rabbinic authorities in Smyrna. For the next seven years he was found in various Jewish communities in Greece, Albania and Turkey. People were attracted by his charismatic personality, although many communities drove him away. Eventually, he made his way to Jerusalem and gained many adherents as a result of his ascetic behavior and public acts.
On a visit to Gaza he met young Nathan of Gaza and this self-claimed “prophet” would help him launch his messianic career. Nathan declared himself the arisen Elijah and proclaimed the arrival of the Messiah. Threatened with excommunication, Shabtai Tzvi left Jerusalem and returned to his home town of Smyrna in 1665 where he declared himself to be the Messiah with blowing of the shofar and cries of “Long live our King, our Messiah” in a synagogue.15
His fame began to spread throughout the Jewish diaspora. All caution was swept away. People sold their possessions in preparation for moving to Israel. Prayers for him were said in synagogues.14 Prominent rabbis supported his claims, and doubts and resistance were brushed aside, even though he abolished Jewish laws such as the fast days of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av, ate non-kosher food, and pronounced a new blessing permitting that which had previously been forbidden.14
The Sultan of Turkey initially let things ride because of the money coming into coffers of the Ottoman Empire as a result of Shabtai Tzvi’s fame, but when Shabtai Tzvi announced that he would soon liberate Jerusalem from the Sultan’s rule, the Sultan put an end to it all. Shabtai Tzvi was given the choice of converting to Islam or death – and he chose the first option plus a state pension. Three hundred of his supporters also converted to Islam.
The reverberations from Shabtai Tzvi’s conversion and his dashing of world Jewry’s messianic hopes would continue for many years. The Shabtai Tzvi debacle dampened people’s enthusiasm for anything related to kabbala and messianism. Non-conformism in Jewish communities was attacked and the study of kabbala went underground. Nevertheless, the Jewish people’s yearnings for redemption were not diminished, and over the long-term enthusiasm for the study of kabbala would actually increase since its study and practice were though to be the only way possible for achieving messianic goals.
The Vilna Gaon
A pivotal figure in the religious issues of the 1700’s was the Vilna Gaon. He was a recluse who wanted to do nothing more than to study and do academic work, but the trends in the Jewish religious world would catch up with him.
He was born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to a family of religious scholars.
From a young age It was apparent that he was a genius with a prodigal memory. By age 6½, he had a given a scholarly discourse in the main Vilna synagogue in the presence of community scholars. He studied with a teacher until age 7, but from then on taught himself. The topics he studied included astronomy, music theory, trigonometry and anatomy, all of which he thought essential for understanding Torah-related texts. He began studying kabbala at a young age. By age 20, rabbis were already submitting their difficult halachic problems to him.
His life was entirely focused on Torah and he was supported financially by the community. He adopted an ascetic lifestyle. According to his children, he rarely slept more than two hours during a 24-hour period. To stop himself from falling asleep during the night he would immerse his feet in cold water and study in a standing position. During the day he would study with the shutters closed to avoid distraction.
The entire breadth of Jewish texts was open in his mind. His scholarly work was voluminous. He wrote glosses to the most commonly studied texts, such as the Babylonian Talmud, midrashim, the Shulchan Aruch (Bi’urei haGra), commentary on the Mishna (Shenoth Eliyahu), the Torah (Adereth Eliyahu), and commentaries to the kabbalistic works the Zohar and Sefer Yetzirah. He was regarded as the foremost exponent of kabbala of his time.
He did not publish in his lifetime, although some of his work was published in his name, presumably with his permission. His main works were written by his disciples to whom he dictated. Of extreme value to those involved in Jewish learning have been his emendations of copyist errors that have crept into the Talmud, Mishna and other texts. Only someone of his stature and piety could have made corrections that would be accepted by everyone.
His erudition came at a cost in that he did not relate to anyone except on the basis of learning or teaching Torah. He married at age 18 years but gave over the care of his family entirely to his wife. He did not take much interest in what was going on with his children. His thoughts were a closed book. Morgenstern quotes the words of his foremost student R’ Hayyim of Volozhin: “He was too introspective and taciturn to disclose [anything]. The little that he revealed in conversation pertained to some amazing matter and was extracted at infrequent opportunities by [my] leading the conversation.”16
The Vilna Gaon impacted in a major way on a number of issues of the time that were related either directly or indirectly to messianism:
The dispute between the Hasidim and Misnagedim
The Vilna Gaon was a leader in the dispute between Hasidism and the opponents of Hasidism, or Misnagdim as they were called, and the rabbis of Poland, where Hasidism was most active, banned Hasidism with the intent of destroying it.
Hasidism was a revivalist, kabbalistic, messianic movement begun by the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), which spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. The Baal Shem Tov succeeded in attracting talented and charismatic disciples, particularly Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch, and he in turn raised more disciples who spread its message.17 An important aspect of Hasidism was its popularization of Lurianic kabbala, which from the time of the Shabtai Tzvi fiasco had been suppressed, and which provided a means of speeding up messianic redemption through the cosmic effects of individual behavior. The Hasidim placed mystical prayer at the center of spiritual achievement. It was said of the Bal Shem Tov that “the upper world was revealed to him, not because he had studied much Talmud and commentaries, but because of the prayers he had always uttered with the greatest intensity” and this approach to prayer was continued by his disciples.18 Whereas prayer had traditionally been petitionary, it now became a means of mystical union with the Divine. This also meant that Torah learning became somewhat demoted from its primary position in religious life. Hasidism approached religion with the aspect of joy and encouraged its adherents to perform the commandments with enthusiasm and awareness of God’s presence. It also held that evil always contained good within it.19 This package was extremely attractive to non-scholarly Jews who lived in hamlets, had limited Talmudic skills, and felt a paucity of spirituality in their lives.
Hasidism also held to panentheism, which is the concept that God is extremely immanent and everywhere. In the kabbalistic ideas of Shneur Zalman of Lyady, the author of the Tanya, the tzimtzum or contraction of the Divine essence was not as complete as in classic Lurianic thought but remained fully present and only concealed by the creative process.
Of particular concern to its opponents the Misnagdim was the emphasis Hasidim placed on prayer as a means of spiritual elevation and attachment (devekus) to God and the extra time spent in prayer at the expense of Torah study. As one opponent stated:
“They prolong their prayers until the sun is already in the middle of the heavens [i.e. until noon], and they thus destroy the [very] time balance of Torah study and prayer that has been established by our holy ancestors, for they try to reach the heavens.”20
The Misnagdim recognized how the importance of the Torah scholar was being diminished, even though some of the leaders of Hasidism were Torah scholars in their own right. The Misnagdim did not object to the use of kabbala per se, since among them were kabbalists. Kabbalists such as the Vilna Gaon, for example, believed thatthe text of prayer had cosmic significance and that the power of its words and formulas could contribute to the goal of universal tikkun.21 However, they felt strongly that the popularization of kabbala among the masses was inappropriate.
The author Morgenstern suggests that there was also a messianic component to this dispute. Basing themselves on the writings of Hayyim Vital, the student of the Ari, the Hasidim believed that prayer would hasten the redemption and that all of Isaac Luria’s teachings had been communicated to him by Elijah the Prophet. The Vilna Gaon disputed that all of Isaac Luria’s teachings had been transmitted correctly by Hayyim Vital and held that only a part of Isaac Luria’s teachings had been communicated to him by Elijah the Prophet. He also held that it was not prayer that would hasten redemption, but Torah study, discovery of the secrets of Torah, and observance of the halacha.22
Despite the opposition of the Misnagdim, Hasidism continued to spread and eventually dominated Eastern Europe, other than in Lithuania and WhiteRussia. Nevertheless, R’ Berel Wein suggests that the opposition from the Misnagdim succeeded in saving the movement from itself by discrediting its extremists and emphasizing the primacy of intellectual Torah study and halacha in Jewish life.23
The Vilna Gaon’s new ideas on messianic redemption
The Gaon’s thoughts on the messianic period were based on the Lurianic system of tikkun, but he also introduced new ideas into messianic thinking. Specifically, he believed that although redemption would be messianic, it would come about by natural means and over a period of time rather than by a sudden and miraculous happening. He also held that Jews needed to be involved in the redemptive process by settling in the Land of Israel and working on the land. He agreed with the date for the beginning of redemption calculated by R’ Hai Ricchi, namely 5541 years and eight months after Creation, which would be 1781 CE.24
The question as to whether redemption will occur at a fixed time or requires repentance has been discussed at least as far back as Talmudic times. Given that the Vilna Gaon accepted R’ Hai Ricchi’s predicted dates, he clearly believed that there was a fixed time for the messianic era. Nevertheless, this does seem to contradict the Torah, since Moses in Deuteronomy describes redemption from exile being dependent on national repentance. In Leviticus, too, repentance is described as a prerequisite for redemption, although equal emphasis is also given to God remembering His covenant (Leviticus 26:40-44).25
However, shortly before his death, Moses recites a poem about the faithlessness of the Jewish people, foretells their punishment, but mentions nothing about repentance (Deuteronomy 32:1-43). As Nachmanides (who also believed in a fixed time for redemption) points out in his Commentary to the Torah:
“Now, there is no stipulation in this song to indicate that the deliverance is dependent upon Israel’s repentance or dedication to the service of God. Rather, it is a pure testimonial document stating that we will “commit evil deeds to the upmost” and that He, may He be blessed will deal with us with wrathful punishments, but He will not cause our memory to cease from mankind. And He will ultimately turn back from chastising us and relent and exact retribution from the enemies “with His harsh, great and mighty sword” and He will grant atonement for our sins for His Name’s sake. This being so [that the song foretells all of the above without predicating it on Israel’s repentance], this song serves as an explicit assurance of the future redemption [of the Jewish people] despite the wishes of the heretics [to the contrary].26
The issue of whether repentance is needed for Redemption is discussed in a few places in the Talmud although with no firm conclusion. One Talmudic passage leans towards a requisite for repentance:
“Rav said: All the Ends [set times] have passed and the matter [of the Messiah’s arrival] depends only on repentance and good deeds. But Shmuel says: It is enough for the mourner to endure his [period of] mourning. [The Gemara now notes that this issue has been debated previously by Tannaim]. R’ Eliezer says: if the Jewish people will repent, they will be redeemed, and if not they will not be redeemed. R’ Yehoshua said to [R’ Eliezer]. If they do not repent, they will not be redeemed? Rather the Holy One, Blessed is He, will appoint a king over them whose decrees will be as harsh [as those of] Haman and the Jewish people will repent and [in this way God] will bring them back to the right [path].”27
However, another passage in the Talmud sides heavily towards a fixed time for the messianic period:
[The Talmud discusses a verse that refers to the redemption “I, YHVH, will hasten it in its time” (Isaiah 60:22)]. “R ‘ Alexandri said: R’ Yehoshua ben Levi noted a contradiction [in this verse. On the one hand] it is written ‘in its time, [which implies that the redemption will occur in its preordained time]. But [on the other hand] it is written. I will hasten it, [which implies that God will bring the redemption before its preordained time! R’ Yehoshua ben Levi resolved this contradiction as follows]: if [the Jews] are deserving, I will hasten it. [If] [they are not deserving, [the redemption will come] in its time.”28
The issue is left in the Talmud without clear resolution. Maimonides wrote in his Mishna Torah that repentance is a prerequisite for redemption:29 The Vilna Gaon, however, felt there was limit to which the Jewish people were capable of further repentance and that redemption would depend on God’s mercy. He wrote:
“But the final end depends not on repentance but on kindness, as it is written (Isaiah 48:11) ‘For My sake, for My sake, will I act’ and also on the merit of the patriarchs. And that is the meaning of “He recalls the pious acts of the patriarchs and brings redemption to their children’s children for the sake of His Name.”30
According to the Vilna Gaon’s son, a major project of his father was to write in Israel a definitive halachic work that would resolve all halachic disputes that had accumulated over the centuries. In 1778, he left his hometown to make his way to Palestine, but aborted the attempt before leaving from Europe. Why he did this is unclear. All he would say is “I did not receive permission from heaven.” There has been much speculation as to why he changed his mind. Morgenstern assumes that he was unable to locate mystic texts in Amsterdam that would have enabled him to finish his halachic work.31
Nevertheless, his aborted trip marked a turning point in his life. From this time on he began teaching, and for the next 18 years he would ensure that all the knowledge he had accumulated over the years would be handed over to a select cadre of disciples who were able to keep up with his demanding teaching. This teaching focused on texts that would be needed for messianic times, such as the agricultural laws and service in the Temple. The order of Zera’im dealing with these agricultural laws is discussed in only one tractate in the Babylonian Talmud but is covered in 11 tractates in the Jerusalem Talmud. However, because of corruptions in the text, these tractates are difficult to understand and are rarely studied. The Gaon would now teach this material one on one to his students.
As mentioned, the Vilna Gaon proposed an idea not previously discussed in kabbalistic works that settling in the Land of Israel and fulfilling the Torah commands dependent on the land could further redemption.
After the death of the Vilna Gaon, more than 500 of his followers, or perushim as they are called, took the arduous 15-month journey to Ottoman Palestine in 1808 to 1809. Their organization was called Chazon Tzion (Vision of Zion) and had three main objectives - to rebuild Jerusalem as the Torah center of the world, to aid the ingathering of the Jewish exile, and to expand currently settled areas in Palestine.
Discussing their aliya, Morgenstern writes:
“Their messianic perception contrasts with that of Lurianic Kabbala. Therefore, their aliya in the early 19th century marks a dramatic change in approach from the failed attempts to hasten the redemption in mystical spiritual ways. This new-old outlook on the path to redemption called for the integration of messianic activism and the historical process, or in other words, redemption by natural means. Based mainly on the Jerusalem Talmud, which views redemption as an incremental demarche, this perspective seeks to accelerate the redemption through the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the reclamation of the land of Israel from its desolation, rather than by means of an external, supernatural, one-off event” 32
The first major hurdle the immigrants had to confront was that they were refused permission by the Ottoman authorities to settle in Jerusalem and they had to move to Safed and other cities where they formed the basis of new Ashkenazi communities. Eventually, however, they received permission to settle in Jerusalem and dedicated their first synagogue in the Old City, Menachem Zion, in 1837.
The perushim and their progeny had some influence on the Jews in Palestine in promoting the ideas of the Vilna Gaon and his customs of prayer, reestablishing an Ashkenazi presence in the Old City of Jerusalem, developing centers of Torah study, and developing new neighborhoods in Jerusalem, such as Mea She’arim. One of their descendants, Yehoshua Yellen and his brother-in-law, established the first agricultural settlement in Palestine in Motza just outside Jerusalem in the 1860’s. In the late 1800’s, another descendent Joseph Rivlin was an initiator and contractor for new neighborhoods built in Jerusalem outside the Old City. These projects all conformed to the pathway laid out by the Vilna Gaon. Nevertheless, the perushim never formed a movement with mass appeal. A substantial number of their descendants would leave the country during the 1930’s because of Arab riots.
Conclusions
The Jewish world would eventually lose interest in kabbalistic messianism. Calculated dates for the arrival of the Messiah based on kabbalistic ideas had come and gone with a no-show, and religious leaders were unwilling to promote further immediate expectations of the messianic era despite the end of the sixth millennium drawing to a close. Meanwhile, other than the Hasidic movements of Lubavitch and Breslow which retained their messianic kabbalistic foci, Hasidism became more interested in personal rather than national redemption. Competition in the form of the Haskala or Jewish Enlightenment movementalsoprovided a new outlet for Jews of Central and Eastern Europe interested in cultural renewal, liberalism, rationalism and integration into the societies around them. As a result of these changes sweeping Europe, orthodoxy became more interested in saving itself and its followers rather than engaging in religious disputes and saving the Jewish people via changing cosmic reality.
The VilnaGaon’s new ideas on the integration of messianism and Zionism had some influence when some 500 of his followers (the perushim) immigrated to Palestine in the very early 1800’s, but they were never able to form a mass movement and their impact was limited.
There can be no doubt that the Vilna Gaon and his followers were successful in restoring the primacy of Torah study and the Torah scholar to the Jewish world.33 The Gaon’s foremost disciple R’ Hayyim of Volozhin established the famous Volozhin Yeshiva in Volozhin, and this became the prototype of all later yeshivot. These succeeded in putting Torah study on firm footing as a prime focus of religious life.34
Nevertheless, the Vilna Gaon and his disciples were successful in a way he probably never intended, as those engaged in full-time Torah study has continued to grow in our era and their way of life has become a major issue of contention in the State of Israel. This is not so much of an issue outside of Israel, but a sizable proportion of ultra-orthodox males in Israel engage in full-time Torah study while supported by the state, this support obtained as a result of the power of their political parties.35 However, the Covid epidemic forced into the open the fact that these communities have become autonomous from the state and are interested only in preserving their own way of life at the expense of disregarding the laws of the state, and even endangering their own and other’s lives. Their way of life also has economic implications, in that these individuals do not contribute to the economy of the country. These Haredim or ultra-orthodox Jews could justify their non-patriotic actions by their view that the state is a non-Torah, non-messianic and even illegitimate enterprise. It seems unlikely, however, that the Vilna Gaon with his love of the Jewish people and his view that Torah study facilitates the redemption of the Jewish people and not just personal growth would have supported such a divisive approach.
References
1. This translated quotation is from The Rise of Chmielnicki in Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990 by Berel Wein, p9, Shaar Press, NY. 1990.
2 King David was effusive in his praise of God, but Jewish tradition holds that he wrote his Psalms under Divine inspiration. This is why so much of Jewish prayer consists of these psalms containing praises of God. See With the songs of your servant David in The Koren Mesorat Harav Siddur, with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph b. Soloveitchik, p71, OU Press, Koren Publishers Jerusalem.
3. In his book The Zohar I. The Book and its Author in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p156, Schocken Books, New York, 1961, Gershom Scholem makes the argument based on linguistic analysis, that the author of the Zohar could not have been R’ Shimon bar Yochai and must have been Moses de Leon. In a detailed analysis he reviews that the Aramaic in which the Zohar was written although taken from the Babylonian Talmud and Aramaic translation of the Torah would not have been the Aramaic used in the time of this Second Temple Tannaitic sage, but is rather an Aramaic translation of Arabic.
4. Isaac Luria and His School in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism by Gershom Scholem, pp260-261, Schocken Books, New York, 1961.
5. This is a simplified summary of R’ Louis Jacob’s summary in The Unity of God in a Jewish Theology by Louis Jacobs, p21, Behrman House Inc, NJ, USA.
6. Mishnat Hasidim, First Introduction. Quoted in The Messianic Window of Opportunity: 1740-1781 in the Gaon of Vilnaand his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, p16, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem.
7. The Messianic Window of Opportunity 1740-1781 in ibid p11.
8. TB Sanhedrin 97b states: “What [is the meaning of the verse]: “It shall speak of the End and it shall not lie. [If it tarries wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habbakuk 2:3). R’ Samuel Bar Nachmani said in the name of R’ Yonasan: May the very essence of those who calculate “End” suffer agony! For they say: Since the [date of the] End [that we calculated] has arrived and the Messiah did not come, he will never come! Rather [one should] wait for him as it says: “if he tarries, wait for him (Habakuk 2:3).” TB Rosh Hashona 31a and Kesubos 105b have the no less comforting version “May their soul suffer agony.” See also Meseches Derech Eretz Rabah chapter 11 that “one who calculates the end of days has no portion in the World to Come.”
9. TB Sanhedrin 97a.
10. Nachmanides, Commentary to the Torah on Genesis 2:2. Based on a Talmudic statement in TB Sanhedrin 97a and Bereishis Rabba 19:8, Nachmanides in his Commentary to the Torah on Genesis 2:2 states that the millennium of the world (based on the Jewish calendar) accord to the numbers of days of Creation, and he estimates that the Messiah will come at the period of the “sunrise” of the “sixth” day, which parallels the creation of man on the sixth day. His prediction, therefore, for the Messianic age was 1358 CE (he died in 1270 CE). For his rationalization on revealing messianic times see his Sefer Hageula, shaar 4.It is interesting to speculate how much his knowledge of this predicted date influenced his decision to immigrate to Palestine just under 70 years before his prediction.
11. Maimonides in his Iggeret Teiman cites the injunction against revealing a date for messianic times, but then a few pages later does just that by presenting a date passed on to him by his ancestors (Iggeret Taiman chapter 3). In his defense, it could be said that he was not predicting a date, but just passing on a tradition he had received.
12. The Zohar states: “In the 600th year of the 6th millennium, the gates of wisdom on high and the wellsprings of lower wisdom will be opened. This will prepare the world to enter the seventh millennium, just as a person prepares himself toward sunset on Friday for the Sabbath. It is the same here. And the mnemonic for this is (Genesis 7:11), 'In the 600th year… all the foundations of the great deep were split'."
13. The Messianic Window of Opportunity: 1740-1781 in the Gaon of Vilnaand his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, p25-26 and 95-96, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem
14. Shabtai Tzvi: Formative Years in Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990 by Berel Wein, p21, Shaar Press, NY. 1990.
15. Sabbatai Zevi in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatai_Zevi.
16. Quoted in Omission and Evasion in the Shaping of the Gaon of Vilna’s Persona in The Gaon of Vilna and his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, pp293-294, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, Jerusalem 2015.
17. Maggid of Mezeritch in Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990 by Rabbi Berel Wein, p90. A Shaar Press publication, Monsey, New York. 1990.
18. Mithnagdic Prayer in The Faith of the Mithnagdim. Rabbinic Reponses to Hasidic Rapture by Allan Nadler, p53, The John Hopkins University Press, 1997, quoting R. Israel ben Eliezer Baal Shem Tov, Kether Shem Tov (Brooklyn, 1987, 22b.
19. Baal Shem Tov in Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990 by Rabbi Berel Wein, p88. A Shaar Press publication, Monsey, New York. 1990.
20. Mithnagdic Prayer in The Faith of the Mithnagdim. Rabbinic Reponses to Hasidic Rapture by Allan Nadler, p55, The John Hopkins University Press, 1997, quoting Wilensky, Hasidim u-Mithnagdim, 2:90:cf 1:138.
21. Ibid, p52.
22. The Dispute between the Gaon of Vilna and the Hasidim over How to Hasten the Redemption in The Gaon of Vilna and his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, pp354-361, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, Jerusalem 2015.
23. Studying Kabbala in Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990 by Berel Wein, p109, Shaar Press, NY. 1990.
24. The Gaon of Vilna Attempts to Discover the “Secrets of the Torah” in The Gaon of Vilna and his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, p353, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, Jerusalem 2015.
25. The passage in Leviticus 26:40-44 reads: “Then [in exile] they will confess their sin and the sin of their forefathers, for the treachery with which they betrayed Me, and also for having behaved towards Me with casualness I too will behave toward them with casualness and I will bring them into the land of their enemies – perhaps then their unfeeling heart will be humbled and then they will gain appeasement for their sin. I will remember My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember and I will remember the land. The land will be bereft of them, and it will be appeased for its sabbaticals having become desolate of them; and they must gain appeasement for their iniquity; because they were revolted by My ordinances and because their spirit rejected My decrees. But despite all this, while they will be in the land of their enemies, I will not have been revolted by them nor will I have rejected them to obliterate them, to annul My covenant with them – for I am the Lord (YHVH), their God. I will remember for them the covenant of the ancients, those whom I have taken out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be God unto them – I am God (YHVH).”
26. Nachmanides, Commentary to the Torah on Deuteronomy 32:41. Translation by the Artscroll Series. The Torah with Ramban’s Commentary. Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Devarim/Deuteronomy. Mesorah Publications Ltd, New York, 2008. This explanation is based on a Talmudic statement in TB Sanhedrin 97a and Bereishis Rabba 19:8.
27. TB Sanhedrin 97b. Translation of The Schottenstein Edition, Talmud Bavli, The Artscroll Seires, Mesorah Publications Ltd, 1995. An explanation for the words of Shmuel is that the Jewish people are the mourners who have had to suffer the exile, and just as a period of mourning comes to an end, so will the exile (Rashi). Although the Talmud suggests a parallel between the opinions of Rav and R Eliezer and those of Shmuel and R’ Yehoshua they do seem to be saying different things. The Maharal resolves this by pointing out that even Shmuel would agree that some measure of repentance is required, but God will force repentance that is not self-motivated through external circumstances, whereas Rav and R’ Eliezer agree that repentance has to be self-motivated.
28. TB Sanhedrin 98a. The Talmud is discussing the issue that the verse from Isaiah seems contradictory, since if the time of the Messiah is set, how then can it be hastened?
29. Maimonides, Mishna Torah, Laws of Repentance 7:5.
30. Sifra de-zeni’uta 54 b on Sanhedrin 98a. Quoted and translation of Arie Morgenstern From “Redemptive Mystical Action” to “Redemption by Natural Means” in The Gaon of Vilna and his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, p396, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, Jerusalem 2015. (Also Biur ha-Gra le-tiqunei haZohar 74). The Schottenstein Edition of the Artscroll Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, 98a4, Mesorah Heritage Foundation, 1995 also discusses other ideas also as to how a generation that is entirely guilty can be redeemed. Redemption will occur even if the people are guilty (Abarbanel). The redemptive process will elevate the people to the necessary spiritual level (Radak). God will compel the Jewish people to repent by placing over them a harsh king (ibid, Baraisa 97b) (Maharsha). God will be forced to bring about redemption otherwise our tradition would be lost (Chafetz Chaim in Tzipisa LiYeshuah). My own suggestion is that the steadfastness of the Jewish people in keeping to the covenant during their thousands of years of exile provides the reason for redemption, but this redemption could only take place when the historical circumstances were propitious for God’s plans for the Jewish people and the world.
31. From “Redemptive Mystical Action” to “Redemption by Natural Means” in The Gaon of Vilna and his Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, p385, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, Jerusalem 2015.
32. Quotation from Epilogue in ibid pp405-406, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, Jerusalem 2015.
33. The Gaon of Vilna in Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990 by Berel Wein, p100-102, Shaar Press, NY. 1990.
34. For example, the Talmudic passage: “So said Rava, when they bring a man to judgment, they say to him: did you negotiate in good faith, designate times for Torah study, have children, await the redemption, and reason wisely, inferring one thing from another?” (Shabbat 31a). See also the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, Laws of Talmud Torah, Chap. 1, law 8: “Every Jew is required to learn Torah whether he is poor or rich, whether healthy or suffering pain, whether a young man or one who has grown weak; even if he is a poor man who makes his living collecting charity by going from door to door, even if he is a husband and has young children, he must set for himself times for learning Torah during the day and night as it says: "And you shall think about it day and night" (Joshua 1:8).
35. On balance, the Jewish tradition is not in favor of full-time Torah study at the expense of leaving one’s family in poverty and living off charity. A Mishna in Pirkei Avot says: “Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Yehuda the Prince said: Good is Torah study together with a worldly occupation, for the exertion in both makes one forget sin. All Torah study without work will result in waste and will cause sinfulness…” (Avot 2:2). The Talmud states: “One should flay carcasses in the market and earn a living. He should not say I am priest, I am a great man and such work is beneath me” (TB Pesachim 113a). Maimonides writes: “Whoever thinks he will study Torah and not work and will be supported by charity, profanes God’s name, shames the Torah, darkens the light of knowledge, causes harm to himself and takes his life from this world. For it is forbidden to derive benefit from the Torah in this world” (Maimonides, Mishna Torah, Talmud Torah 3:10). However, the issue becomes more nuanced in the view of later halachic authorities if the individual is able to support his own learning or receives a stipend. The Rema in Yoreh Deah 246:21 commenting on the ruling of Maimonides writes: “However, one who can support himself well from his own work and still occupy himself with Torah, this is a pious trait and a gift from God. But this is not the way for every man, for it is impossible for most people to occupy themselves with Torah and grow in its wisdom and still support themselves.” For the source of these quotations and additional references, see Mishna Berura. Shiur #91. Simanim 155-156 by Rav Asher Meir. Yeshivat Har Etzion. Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash (VBM). https://www.etzion.org.il/en/simanim-155-156-appropriate-relationship-between-torah-learning-and-work.
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