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Sandbox Percussion: Seven Pillars

America’s Liberal Reckoning — Fareed Zakaria and Patrick Deneen: A Munk Debate at 92NY

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Creative Crafts for Families

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The 92nd Street Y, New York is a world-class cultural and community center where people all over the world connect through culture, arts, entertainment and conversation. For over 150 years, we have harnessed the power of arts and ideas to enrich, enlighten and change lives, and the power of community to repair the world.

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Featured Events Today at 92NY

Streaming

November 10 | 7:30 PM

Annie Proulx with Michael Cunningham: Stories

In Person

November 07 | 7:30 PM

Sandbox Percussion: Seven Pillars

In Person

November 12 | 7:00 PM

America’s Liberal Reckoning — Fareed Zakaria and Patrick Deneen: A Munk Debate at 92NY

The Elie Wiesel Living Archive

at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

Home Elie Wiesel Living Archive

Joy in Hasidism

Joy as a Remedy against Solitude, Sadness, and Despair.

Oct 31, 1996

Professor Wiesel asks what makes joy so special that it necessitated a commandment, “and you shall rejoice on your holidays.” Though barely mentioned in the Bible, joy characterizes the Hasidic mentality and its appeal to its followers. In Hasidism, it is the realization that one is not alone that causes joy. It is both physical and spiritual. Professor Wiesel teaches us that Hasidic joy in its purest form is the one borne from the deepest sadness.

Download the transcript

Selected Quotes:

“

Joy is one of those rare but enchanting words that characterize the Hasidic mentality, aspirations, and condition. (00:06:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

Hasidism remains a garden filled with sounds that become songs and prayers that become stories--and the other way around. And the garden is here for everyone to taste of its fruits. (00:10:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

Hasidism was and is a powerful remedy against solitude, sadness, and despair. (00:16:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

Well, there are two kinds of joy as we know: physical and metaphysical. The first is imminent, concrete, tangible. It is present around us, in us. The second strives to be transcendental. The first is close to pleasure, the second to fulfillment. The first is limited to the present, the second is timeless. (00:21:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

[For Hasidim], the body is entitled to its own privileges. It too is to be respected and properly treated. The body is entitled to its own joy, for the Torah was given not only for the soul, it is given for the body as well. (00:27:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

On the arrival of Shabbat, the poorest of the poor feel and look different: sublimated, purified, exalted. (00:28:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

How could they [Hasidic masters], spiritual guides and healers, pillars of the movement, how could they celebrate joy while suffering in their flesh and in their soul the bitterness of exile? (00:35:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

It is up to the Rebbe to accept power without being affected by it, to invite anger or sadness without succumbing to either, to aspire to total identification with the other while remaining true to himself. (00:49:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

To a golden palace or an edifice made of precious stones, God prefers the frail human heart, which aches and sighs, in words or in silence--the human heart which calls for love. (00:53:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

No one is capable of living or suffering in another person’s place. At best, one can suffer with someone else in difficult hours. One can try to help a person be present to his or her agony, but there human empathy ends. (00:58:00)

Elie Wiesel

Subthemes:

1) Definitions of Hasid and Hasidism
2) Isaac Babel and the Rebbe of Chernobyl
3) Joy in the Bible?
4) Physical and Metaphysical Joy
5) Mysticism and Joy
6) Mysticism and Suffering
7) Joy and Melancholy in Hasidic Masters – a Paradox in their Leadership The Role of the Hasidic Rebbe at a Time of External Upheaval and Hatred of Jews
8) God and the Hasidic Rebbe
9) Pastoral Power of the Hasidic Rebbe
10) The Role of Joy in the Hasidic Movement
11) The Besht’s Encounter with Rabbi Chaim ben Attar
12) The Commandment to Rejoice
13) Anger, Melancholy, Isolation, Struggle, Silence, and Rebellion in Different Hasidic Masters
14) The Absence of Joy in the Torah
15) The Optimism of R. Zusya of Hanipol
16) The Survival of Hasidism in our Time

Names:

Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (Besht) Rabbi Chaim ben Attar Rebbe Moishe Leib of Sassov Rebbe Mendel of Kotzk Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav Rabbi Shneur Zalmun of Liadi Maggid of Mezeritch Reb Mendel Kotzker Rebbe of Pshiske Rebbe of Izhbitzer Isaac Babel Stalin Adam and Eve Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Aaron Rebbe Berukha Elijah Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk Seer of Lublin Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk Rebbe Boruch of Medzhybizh King Solomon Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh Hershele Ostropoler Rabbi Zusya of Hanipol

Key Words:

Messiah Redemption Satan Hasidism Cossacks hislahavos (fervor) Akedah Golden Calf Nezirut (Asceticism) sigufim (self-inflicted pain) Shekhina Bratslaver Gerer Satmarer solitude sadness despair melancholy remedy body soul exile physical metaphysical

Categories:

Events Hasidism

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Elie Wiesel