Hayyim Malak, taught its devotees to hasten the advent of the Messiah by
doing penance for the sins of Israel. They were so firmly convinced of
the efficacy of fasts and prayers that they went to Jerusalem by
hundreds to witness the impending redemption (ab. 1706). But the ascetic
Hasidim and the epicurean Frankists were alike doomed to disappear or to
be swallowed up by a new Hasidism, combining the teachings and
aspirations of both, the sect founded by Israel Baal Shem, or Besht (ab.
1698-1759), and fully developed by Bar of Meseritz and Jacob Joseph of
Polonnoy.

[Illustration: ISAAC BÄR LEVINSOHN, 1788-1860]

Time was when all writers on the subject, usually Maskilim, thought it
their duty to cast a stone at Hasidism. They described it as a Chinese
wall shutting the Jews in and shutting the world out. It is becoming
more and more plainly recognized and admitted, that it was, in reality,
an attempt at reform rendered imperative by the tyranny of the kahal,
the rigorism of the rabbis, the superciliousness of the learned classes,
and the superstition of the masses. Its aim was to bring about a deep
psychologic improvement, to change not so much the belief as the
believer. It insisted on purity rather than profundity of thought.
Unable to remove the galling yoke, it gave strength to its wearers by
prohibiting sadness and asceticism, and emphasizing joy and fellowship
as important elements in the fabric of its theology.

Hasidism was thus a plant the seeds of which had been sown by the
various sects. Like the former Hasidim, or even the Assideans of nearly
two thousand years before, their latter-day namesakes rigidly adhered to
the laws of Levitical purification, and, to a certain extent, led a
communistic life. In addition they accepted, in a modified form, certain