Habad Approaches to Contemplative Prayer, 1790-1920

A historical analysis of Habad Hasidism reveals that the contemplative ideal of intense prayer was not uniformly practiced across generations. Rabbi Dov Ber, an early leader, initially advocated deep contemplation but later restrained followers who misinterpreted his guidance, deeming it too advanced for a wider audience. Subsequent leaders, especially Rabbi Shalom Dovber (the Rashab) in the early twentieth century, successfully taught intense contemplation to young students at the Tomekhei Temimim yeshivah. The contemplative ideal appears to have been realized more fully around 1914 than a century earlier, challenging the common assumption of a decline across generations (yeridat hadorot).

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter explores the dialectic implicit in popularizing a contemplative approach to prayer. A system of contemplation suitable for an élite 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, 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 by hasidim themselves.