2/26/10
Heschel and Hasidic Judaism
Glenn Dynner
Abraham Joshua Heschel glorifies Eastern European rabbinic culture as an advanced, pious sect of Judaism, offering equality to men and women, an easily comprehensible and fair hierarchy of religious power, purity of mind and spirit, and a straightforward and simple path to heaven. Heschel; American rabbi, and leading Jewish theologian and philosopher, describes Hasidic Judaism as a near perfect religious society. Heschel references many Jewish ideologies that assist in proving the superiority of Hasidic Judaism to various other religions; including dissimilar sects of Judaism. Though Heschel's argument is strong and he makes many valid points supporting the superiority of the Hasidim, such …show more content…
Eighteenth century Poland served as the venue for this particular religious revitalization. The Hasid recognized strict, relatively inflexible practices that focused even the most mundane, routine chore around the worship of the Jewish God. Hasidism; the plural of Hasid derives from the verb "Hasid" meaning pious or devote. Unlike previous sect of Judaism who's followers worshipped God only in the vicinity of a temple on Friday nights, the Hasid show devotion to God through everyday actions and practices. In his essay; East European Jews In Two Worlds: Studies From the Yivo Annual, Heschel depicts how the Hasid revitalize Judaism through the democratization of Jewish study and worship, a renewed sense of proximity to deity, the introduction of God into everyday activity, a consciousness of the significance of personal actions, and a new sense of self importance and personal responsibility to