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Makale
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Bülent Şenay, Prof. Dr.
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Hasidism under the influence of Hesychasm and Sufism: Baal Shem Tov – A Jewish Sufi and Hesychast?
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Uludağ Ü. İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi
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Dinler Tarihi
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2021
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c. 30, sy.1
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ss. 57-77
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History of Religions, Hasidism, Sufism, Hesychasm, Baal Shem Tov, Moldova, Bucovina
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This paper is an attempt to bring to light the manner in which Hasidism emerged inside the Jewish tradition not just as a climax of previous mystical developments, but also under the direct influence of Hesychasm and Sufism. All of these types of mysticism seem to have met in 18th century Moldova (the Bogdan province of the Ottoman Empire), in the new and revolutionary outlook of an unusual man called Israel ben Eliezer, also known as Baal Shem Tov (“the master of the good name”), who appears to have been born there, although he started preaching only after moving to Poland. Regardless of how much of his story as we know it today is true or legendary, his imprint on the evolution of the oldest monotheistic religion is undeniable and still awaits further scrutiny, despite the number of works written about him so far. Considering that the movement he set in motion, which started as an offshoot of mainstream Judaism meant to solve a religious crisis by straying partially away from the established religious practices, proposing to worship God not just through prayer but also through storytelling, music and dance, and to replace the rabbi with the tzaddik (righteous/wise man), has nowadays ended up by being the most ultra-Orthodox form of Jewishness, it is interesting to fathom the extent to which it was infused by Islamic ideas. The article therefore also takes into account the Islamic influence on the evolution of Jewish mysticism, from the emergence of Islam until today’s Jewish liturgical and meditative practice.
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