ANIMISM IN EARLY HASIDISM

I’m going to approach the presence of Animism in Hasidism by looking at the Baal Shem Tov, his great grandson Nachman of Bratslav and then some sources about an array of other Hasidic masters. This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive examination.

One dominant theme in Hasidism is that the divine could be found as easily or even more so in the more than human world rather than through the erudite scholarship of a small Rabbinic class who had ruled the Jewish ideological landscape. Thus there is an orientation towards the more than human world that had largely been missing in post exilic Judaism up to then.

The Baal Shem Tov or Besht (1698 or 1700 to 1760), the master of the good name, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer is the founder of Hasidism. He’s the founder of Hasidism in the sense that all Hasidic movements look towards him as the founder; the actual organizational founder was one of his disciples, the Maggid of Mezeritch. There’s a ton of (virtual) ink spilled about what he actually thought and taught compared to what was put into his mouth by later Hasidic sources, but we’re going to ignore this discussion.

He was also both a mystic in the technical sense of having a practice oriented towards merger with the divine and a shaman, in a technical sense, a man who had a practice of ecstatic (out of body) journeying to heal individuals and/or the people of Israel as a whole. Here’s some texts that were recorded in his name (it is incredibly difficult to know to what extent he actually said these things). The Besht never wrote or published anything

The Besht taught that the divine presence dwells in the life of all four beings, the still beings (stones, planets) the sprouting beings (grasses, trees), the Wild beings (animals, fish, insects, birds) and the Talking beings (humans) (citation is from R. Reuven Margaliot Winkler p.163)

“At other times his awareness was so heightened that the world around him became alive. He walked in the woods and listened to the birds in the trees singing to God and sang along with them. He walked beside the rivers and ponds and heard the frogs croaking, and he lifted his voice to join their chorus of praise to God. It was then that he learned the languages of the animals and the birds.” Buxbaum (p.44)

The Besht was walking along a mountaintop and was observed by some robbers. “They said, “He will surely fall off the cliff and break every bone in his body.” But when the Besht reached the cliff’s edge and extended his foot, the adjacent mountain suddenly moved right up to the first one and the ground became level under his step. As he continued walking the two mountains parted as before (Buxbaum p.46)

“When a person’s ways please God, the whole creation will be pleased with him. When he fulfills the purpose for which he was created, even his enemies will make peace with him.” (Buxbaum p.99)

The Baal Shem comforted him [the husband of the woman] “your Yenta has seeing eyes and hearing ears. She hears the angels singing and understands the language of the birds and animals.” (Buxbaum p.328)

The language of the animals, birds and even the plants and rocks is always known by at least one person in every generation. At that time, this knowledge was known by Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the holy Baal Shem Tov. (Unknown Source)

“This is not a new path to God at all…When I am out in the wide fields, I realize how poor language is to express even the least bit of the holy feelings that pass through my heart then. Only singing can convey a little of the ecstasy and joy I experience.” Buxbaum p.102

“In the spoken 18 benedictions, I also continued to move until I came to one palace. I had but one more gate to pass through to appear before God, blessed be He. In that palace I found all the prayers of the past fifty years had not ascended and now, because on this Yom Kippur we prayed with kavvanah (intention) all the prayers ascended. Each prayer shone as the bright dawn. I said to those prayers, Why did you not ascend before. They said, sir, we were waiting for you.” (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov story 41)

I included this snippet from the famous story of the Besht’s Shamanic journey to the heavens because it seems to start off as a mystical journey (to appear before God, a typical mystical goal) only he instead focuses on freeing up the prayers of the Jewish people to avoid an evil decree that he had detected in the part of the story before the snippet. Shamans navigate through a living universe with a great myriad of beings whom we might not consider as animate. That’s usually spirits as later in the story when he consults his teacher Ahijah the Shilonite, a prophet who lived in the time of King Solomon or the Messiah, who also figures in the story. Note that in this story the Besht talks to prayers who respond to him.

Here are some questions. Buxbaum writes “When a person’s ways please God, the whole creation will be pleased with him. When he fulfills the purpose for which he was created, even his enemies will make peace with him.” (Buxbaum p.99). Jared writes “When a person’s ways please creation, her/his life will be good. When s/he fulfills the purpose for which s/he was created, even his/her enemies will make peace with him.” What’s the difference and which one calls you more? How would it change your prayer practice if you believed that your prayers were living beings, akin to the birds?

Nahman of Bratslav (1772-1810) was the great grandson of the Besht. A difficult and complex personality, he had no formal successor, much as the last Rebbe of Chabad has no successor. Yet Breslov Hasidism continues to this day, and his followers continue to publish his writings and talks. Nahman pioneered the foundational practice of hitbodedut, spending time alone in the more than human world praying in one’s own native language, pouring out one’s heart to the divine.

TEXTS

Rebbe Nachman of Bratzlav was once staying in an inn and cried out loudly enough in his sleep that he woke up the whole place. He asked the innkeeper if the walls were made from trees that had been cut down as saplings before they were mature, and the innkeeper said yes. Then Rabbi Nachman said: “All night I dreamed I was surrounded by the bodies of those who had been murdered. I was very frightened. Now I know that it was the souls of the trees that cried out to me.” (Howard Schwartz Tree of Souls p. 165)

When a person prays in the fields, all the plants enter into the prayer, helping him strengthen his prayer. This is the reason prayer is called השיח (SiChah), conversation, the concept of “שיח (SiaCh), shrub of the field” (Genesis 2:5). All the shrubs of the field empower and assist his prayer. This is the concept of “and Yitzchak went out לשוח (laSuaCh) to converse in the field” (Genesis 24:63)—his prayer was with the help and power of the field. All the flora of the field empowered and assisted his prayer, on account of which prayer is called שיח (SiChah) (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Likutei Moharan II, #11)

Rebbe Nachman's Prayer ~ Likutei Tefilah 2:11

Grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day

among the trees and grass - among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer,

to talk with the One to whom I belong. May I express there everything in my heart,

and may all the foliage of the field - all grasses, trees, and plants -

awake at my coming, to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer

so that my prayer and speech are made whole through the life and spirit of all growing things,

which are made as one by their transcendent Source. May I then pour out the words of my heart

before your Presence like water, O L-rd, and lift up my hands to You in worship, on my behalf, and that of my children!

“It is especially precious to go out into the fields at the beginning of spring, when nature awakens from her sleep and to pour out a prayer there, for every fresh blade of grass, every new flower, join themselves with the prayer, for they too year and long for God.” (Nachman of Bratslav Maggid Sichot p.8)

“According to Rabbi Nachman, the most sacred chants come from the grasses.” (Winkler, p.67, reference Tanina 63.)

Let’s do a guided visualization. Start with some deep breaths, ground yourself, feel your feet on the floor, your butt in the chair. Keep breathing, in and out, in and out. Now think of something you most want in your life. Might be a child, an emotionally and spiritually intimate partner, a beloved community, to be connected deeply to the more than human world, the full recovery to health of a beloved one. Breathe in and out and pray for this with all your heart. Keep breathing. Now imagine that you are making the same prayer, but this time you are sitting in a beautiful place in nature—maybe a meadow or a mountain top or at a waterfall. Sink into being in that place. Now pray for the same thing again asking for assistance from the grasses, the mountain, the waterfall.

I’m going to share a few more texts about some different Hasidic Rebbes. The obvious theme running through them is the desire to learn the language of other beings. These stories could be multiplied.

Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Polnoye, the Maggid (Preacher), desperately wanted to learn the language of birds and animals. He thought this knowledge would be useful in soothing the souls of his followers to whom he preached. (Unknown Source)

“Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz credited birds with the key to sacred chanting.” (Winkler, p.69)

“Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch spent a great chunk of his time meditating around ponds in order to learn the songs of frogs; Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin taught that to fully serve God one had to also serve God in the language of all his creations, the grasses, the animals, the trees etc, Rabbi Schneur Zalman mastered the language of animals, Rabbi Zev Wolf of Zbarascz was a horse whisperer.” (Winkler p.85)

If you were to learn a language of a being, which would it be and why? How do you think that speaking a language of another being would impact your relationship with your fellow humans?

Forest of Baal Shem Tov