Baer of Meseritz Baer, Seligman
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
When
432
tion
God remains an undivided substance, powers manifested in various things are all one merely the outward appearances differ. The relation of the one substance to the many outward manifestations of the same, Baer explains by the cabalistic theory of D1VDV (zimzum), "concentration," a theory that holds an important place in Hasidism, According to Baer as it did with Moses Cordovero.
to
creation
Hasidism made its appearance in Wilna and adjacent towns, Elijah, usually far removed from earthly things, was forced to take cogOpposition nizance of its existence, and the first of the anathema against Hasidism was issued Rabbis. at Wilna April 11, 1772, when Elijah had become convinced that the innova-
was antagonistic, practically and theoretically, Talmudic rabbinism. Baer's envoys, his pupils Mendel of Witebsk and Zolmau of Ladie, were not received by Elijah, who declined even to meet the dissenters. The ban issued at Wilna drew the eyes of the world toward FTjxsiilisiii, and it needed all the strong will and moral courage of a Baer to take up the gage of battle. His policy for the time
was
to ignore his opponents.
The
proposition of
ban by a counterban he opposed. But the exertions and excitement consequent upon the intense opposition to Hasidism overwhelmed Baer, and he died just as the baLtle against his pupils to reply to the
the Hasidim began in earnest, in 1772. While Baer's practical activity in the Hasidic cause is well known, it is difficult to determine exactly his services in the domain of theoretical Hasidism. He left no writings of his own; the two
"MaggiD DebarO le-Ya'akoB " (the last which title spell " Dob "), known also under the title of "Likkute Amarim" (Collected Sayings), published at Koretz, 1780, and frequently reprinted; and (2) "Likkute Yekarim" (Collected Gems), pubworks
(1)
letters of
lished at
Lemberg
(1790?) are the only authentic ones They consist of excerpts
in existence.
Baer's from his sermons, mechanically writPublished, ten down and collected by his relative, "Utterances. Solomon b. Abraham of Lutzk, who, as he himself confesses, was often ignorant of their meaning. The separation of the kernel from the shell is so difficult a task in Baer's writings, that modern historians are puzzled to discover any system at all in Hasidism. And yet it is of the utmost importance in the study of this sect to become acquainted with its doctrinal side, the underlying and basic principles. The foundation of Baer's system is Besht's assertion of the omnipresence of God. Before the Creation the world existed in pote?itia Dei the act of creation conor Word caussisted in God's Will Fundaing the materialization of the world, mentals of Creation consequently implies not a Hasidism. separation from the Creator, but merely a manifestation of His power and just as the world was already in God before the Creation, so God is in the world now, He being not only the original cause of material things, but constituting also their inward essence wherefore God is termed " the Preserver of all things" (Neb. ix. 6) (Heb. rtTID, " the Animater "). While every existing thing is a manifestation of God, the degrees of such manifestations differ according to the higher or lower organism of things. The essence of things is for Baer the spark of divinity which is revealed in each, both as regards mind and matter. Baer remarks somewhat drastically that even heathen deities have the divine spark (V1VJ) in them for had they not, even an imaginary conception of their being would have been impossible. Independent of the particles of divinity
—
—
in things, for the
—
is
God
in reality a species of divine self-limita-
His endless and innumerable attributes manifests Himself in creation, which is only one aspect of His activity, and which is therefore in reality And just as God in His goodness a self -limitation. limited Himself, and thus descended to the level of the world and man, so it is the duty of the latter to strive The removal of the outer shell to unite with God. of mundane things, or, as the cabalist The Divine terms it, " the ascension of the [divine] in All spark, " being a recognition of the presThings. ence of God in all terrestrial things, it is the duty of man, if he experience pleasure, to receive such emotion in all purity and sanctity as a divine manifestation, for He is the source of all pleasure. As the degrees of divine manifestation differ according to the nature of the various objects, it is the purpose of the world-life to advance toward an ever higher degree, until the perfect union with God is Thus the vegetable kingdom serves as attained. food for the animal kingdom, in order that the lower manifestation of divinity, existing in the former, may be developed into a higher one. Man being the highest manifestation, and the crown of creation, it is his duty to attain the highest pinnacle of development in order to he ultimately united with God. The only means through which man can attain communion with God is prayer, not a mechanical recital, but that condition of ecstasy in which man forgets self and all surroundings, and concention.
The
in
thought and feeling upon Like the Neo-PlaPrayer. tonists, Baer says that when a man becomes so absorbed in the contemplation of an object that his whole power of thought is concentrated upon the one point, then his self becomes blended and unified with that point. So prayer in such a state of real ecstasy, effecting a complete union between God and man, becomes of extraordinary importance. It is even capable of breaking through and overruling the accustomed laws of the universe. While, in the natural order of things, objects slowly ascend through a series of developments from a low plane to a higher one, prayer, by this union with God in the moment of ecstasy, effects a sudden ascension of the object. This of trates all his
Ecstasy of union with God.
course is conditioned by the use made of it by the truly pious man, who alone is capable, in the moment of his ecstasy, of ennobling and edifying both objects and actions. This is the danger point of Hasidism. It is obvious that the ecstatic state is for the select few only. Besht, the founder of Hasidism, maintained that real service to
God must
consist in prayer, rather
than in the study of the Torah, for the very reason that the former is possible for all men, while the latter is not. Besht's first apostle completely over-
