THE TRADITION of there being thirty-six righteous individuals in the world whose righteousness is hidden is firmly rooted in rabbinic teachings, and stories of people whose deeds and righteousness are wondrous but unknown as such to their contemporaries have been told since early times. However, while the constituent elements of the mythological figure of the hidden righteous individual preceded hasidism, the term tsadik nistar or ‘hidden righteous/tsadik’ (not necessarily referring to a hasidic rabbi), with the emphasis on this person's anonymity, emerged along with the hasidic story. The first group of hasidic tales in Aaron of Apta's Keter shem tov speaks of a hasid and a tsadik, one who brings about rainfall by his righteousness, and the other who saves an entire city, with no mention of the adjective ‘hidden’ or the appellation ‘hidden tsadik’. Nor is here any mention of ‘hidden’ ones in the Hebrew version of Shivḥei habesht; however, the Yiddish version of the book relates that the Maggid of Mezirech revealed to R. Yehiel Mikhel of Zlotchev that his carriage-driver was a hidden tsadik, who had already merited a vision of the prophet Elijah.

The majority of hidden tsadik stories are relatively late. The lack of examples from the time of the Ba'al Shem Tov was presumably corrected upon the publication of the Kherson genizah. The letters in the genizah lead us to conclude that Adam Ba'al Shem Tov of Ropshits believed the Ba'al Shem Tov to be a concealed tsadik, and urged him to reveal himself; according to these letters, the Ba'al Shem Tov was in contact with various hidden tsadikim, and took steps to ensure their livelihood. These imaginary revelations were followed during the succeeding years by a plethora of stories, many of them related by R. Joseph Jacob Schneersohn, the Lubavitch Rebbe. Although no doubt should be cast on the authentic Habad stories that focus on the Ba'al Shem Tov, some of which were related by the Old Rebbe, it would seem that the more fanciful Habad stories about the Ba'al Shem Tov and the hidden tsadikim in his time were based in no small measure on the Kherson genizah.

IN THE HASIDIC STORY, the tsadik is gifted with superhuman qualities that raise him to the level of prophet. The tsadik's abilities to hear from great distances, to see from afar, and to know the future all ensue from divine inspiration. The tellers of the hasidic story assert confidently that ‘tsadikim see with divine inspiration’, or, in the well-known formulation of the Ba'al Shem Tov, ‘everything is with divine inspiration’. The Ba'al Shem Tov once said, ‘When I go to the ritual bath, I close my eyes once, and I see all the worlds’; and on another occasion, having prophesied to a certain individual what would happen to him when he got home, he asked that person to send a messenger back to tell him what had taken place, adding, ‘even though, praise be to God, I have eyes to see from afar’.

THE TSADIK AND HIS SPECIAL POWERS

The superhuman vision of the Ba'al Shem Tov is graphically illustrated in many stories. He saw a Jew who was forced to spend the sabbath in a field, and a thief who had been exiled and who was about to murder him, and took action to rescue the Jew. He saw from afar someone who was suffering; he witnessed a transgression committed by his brother-in-law, R. Gershon; he knew about the death of R. Eliezer of Amsterdam; and he gazed all the way to Koznitz, to the home of the elderly bookbinder R. Shabetai. The Ba'al Shem Tov saw and understood the thoughts of R. Nahman of Kosov; he knew where Torah scholars erred in their prayers, and where mitnagedim were not praying in the proper spirit. His vision extended beyond the borders of his country: on one occasion, during the sabbath eve prayers, he sought R. Gershon and ‘did not find him in the Land of Israel’. He was even capable of seeing the future. Using this ability, he could write a letter to the leaders of the Brod community—who would be elected twenty years later! Obviously, he also knew that the letter, which he gave to an ill-fated Jew, would be forgotten, found twenty years later, and given to the communal leaders on the day that a son would be born to the wife of one official, and a daughter to the wife of another.

THE BENEFIT to be derived from the powers of the tsadik is not limited to this world, since the tsadik has influence upon the heavenly court as well. Thus, for example, it is related that R. David of Lvov told the heavenly court how to conduct itself. The rabbi of Apta told a dead person who appeared to him in the middle of the third sabbath meal not to worry or fear, since his [the tsadik's] opinion was decisive in the ‘Chamber of Merit’ (the venue of the heavenly court): as he ruled, so it would be. On the other hand, it was said of the Ba'al Shem Tov that an attempt by him to intervene in the heavenly proceedings almost cost him his own place in the world to come. Once he decreed that a childless couple would be blessed with offspring. A heavenly voice proclaimed that he had lost his portion in the hereafter. The Ba'al Shem Tov accepted his fate with love, and a heavenly voice was heard a second time, declaring that, in reward for his acceptance of the divine verdict, his place in the world to come had been restored.

It was within the tsadik's power to promise an individual a place in the world to come, and he was also entitled to impose conditions. On one occasion the Seer of Lublin urgently required a large sum of money. A rich villager was willing to give him this amount, on condition that he be assured of a place in the world to come, one that was close to the tsadik. Some time later, the Seer had second thoughts about their agreement, but the villager was unwilling to forgo his warranted reward. The Seer told him: ‘That which I promised you was on condition that you would be with me every Rosh Hashanah.’ Some time later, the villager became impoverished and was forced to wander far and wide, but he made sure to spend every Rosh Hashanah at the Seer's court. One year, as Rosh Hashanah approached, he was still far from Lublin. When he saw the carriage of R. Shalom of Belz, who was on his way to Lublin, he asked the tsadik to take him with him, and in return, he promised him his place in the world to come.

NO SOCIAL or religious movement in the entire course of Jewish history has engaged so intensively in storytelling as hasidism; nor have stories occupied such a central and important place in any other intellectual movement within Judaism. New examples of the genre continue to be told and published to the present day. The central role afforded the tale in hasidism in general, and especially in certain strands within the movement, such as Bratslav hasidism, has been the subject of scholarly enquiry for some time, but the underlying causes of the phenomenon have not been examined. This introduction begins by outlining the defining characteristics of the hasidic tale and explaining its importance, in particular to the early hasidic movement and its revered leaders.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HASIDIC TALE

The hasidic tale marked an innovation in Jewish literature because it was the first Jewish literary genre to focus on exemplary individuals and their followers. It may be defined as a story related by hasidim about their revered leaders, known as ‘tsadikim’ (or about pre-hasidic characters whom hasidim deemed to fit this category), or by the tsadikim themselves in order to communicate a religious message. A principal element is always the ability of the tsadik to channel the divine energy that emanates from God and to mediate heavenly decrees so as to help his followers, the simple folk who followed the path of hasidism.

An additional characteristic of the hasidic tale is its sanctified status: the esteem in which the tale was held by its teller and its audience alike. Both believed in the sanctity of the story, just as they believed in the sanctity of the tsadikim; they accepted the content of the story as true and understood the lesson it imparted. This explains why the genre has survived for so long— over two centuries, longer than any other Jewish literary genre—and why the changes it has undergone, both in content and in form, have been so minor.

The tales themselves have certain typical features: