INTRODUCTION

MOST schools of early hasidism paid special attention to prayer.’ A distinctive feature of the Habad branch is the endeavour to popularize a contemplative approach. Tracts on contemplation were compiled by R. Shneur Zalman (1745-1812), the founder of this school, his son R. Dov Ber (1773-1827), known as the Mitteler Rebbe, the latter's rival, R. Aaron of Starosielce (1766-1828), and also later leaders.

This chapter explores the dialectic implicit in popularizing a contemplative approach to prayer. A system of contemplation suitable for an elite group of men of stature may well need modification before it can be applied by a wider echelon of society. In fact, it would seem that R. Dov Ber felt that his initial guidance on the contemplative process was being misinterpreted; people were reaching too high. In consequence, he felt compelled to restrain the majority of his followers from the intense mode of contemplation that he had originally advocated in his works.

Later leaders of Habad continued the attempt to introduce deep and lengthy contemplation to the members of the fraternity. This was achieved with a surprising degree of success by R. Shalom Dovber (1860-1 920), known as the Rashab, of the fifth generation of Habad leaders. At the beginning of the twentieth century he taught the art of intense contemplation to the youthful pupils in his Tomekhei Temimim yeshivah, and one is left with the impression that the Habad contemplative ideal was realized to a greater extent around 1914 than a century earlier.

This phenomenon seems to defy the principle of yeridat hadorot (decline through the generations) that is assumed by scholars and-perhaps to an even greater extentby hasidim themselves. As I shall try to show, however, it is in fact the product of this very concept, together with some other relevant factors. Perhaps surprisingly, we shall find that in some ways the more institutionalized social structure of the twentieth century aided rather than hindered the quest for the spiritual.

R. SHNEUR ZALMAN'S SYSTEM

The basis of the Habad contemplative approach is found in R. Shneur Zalman's tract Gate of Unity and Faith, printed in 1796 as the second section of Tanya. This work elaborates the idea that all existence is nothing but an expression of the Infinite, the Ein Sof, and that therefore the Infinite is the only true reality.