The Hasidic Tale

Story-tellinghas been an integral part of the hasidic movement from its very beginnings inthe eighteenth century to the present day. Stories about the holy hasidicleaders-the tsadikim, or rebbes-and their mystical powers have been a keyfactor in attracting followers and maintaining their devotion. Such tales weretold by the tsadikim and their followers alike. The tsadikim saw them as a wayto promote the movement and justify their leadership; their followers saw themas a way to exalt their masters, cleanse them of any shred of imperfection, anddefend them from every trace of criticism. No other social or religiousmovement in the entire course of Jewish history has engaged so intensively inthe telling of stories, and nor have stories occupied such a central andimportant place in any other intellectual movement within Judaism. Originallypublished in Hebrew and expanded for this English edition by a newintroduction, this book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in thehistory of hasidism or of Hebrew literature and the literary aspects of Jewishpopular culture. It acts both as a compendium of stories by theme and as a referencework for the identification of the subject-matter, authors, editors, andeditions of books that have been a popular Jewish literary genre since thesecond half of the eighteenth century. Hasidic tales have been reprinted manytimes, anthologized, and even quoted by contemporary scholars, without theidentity of their authors or editors being known, and without any awareness oftheir background and origin. In this important work, based on analysis of allthe published anthologies as well as tales scattered in a variety of obscuresources, the author traces the sources and development of the differentstories. Anintroductory historical survey is followed by full discussions of the storiesthemselves, grouped by subject. Among the themes covered are matchmaking andmarriages, childbirth and progeny, sickness, death and the world to come,dybbuks and the powers of evil, apostasy, and many more.