Jew. For a while a cessation of hostilities was evident in the camp of
Israel. The reforms introduced by the Gaon, and propagated by his
disciples, began to bear fruit. Hasidism itself underwent a radical
change under the leadership of Rabbi Shneor Zalman of Ladi (1747-1813)
and Jacob Joseph of Polonnoy, who, unlike their colleagues of the
Ukraine, were learned in the Talmud and familiar with the sciences.
Protests by Hasidim themselves against the irreverent spirit that
developed after the death of the Besht, had in fact been heard before.
The saintly and retiring Abraham Malak (d. 1780) had denounced, in no
uncertain terms, the gross conception held by the Hasidim of the sublime
teachings of their own sect. He drew a beautiful picture of the ideal
zaddik, who is "so absorbed in meditation on the Divine wisdom that he
cannot descend to the lower steps upon which ordinary people stand."[16]
But the more active Rabbi Shneor, or Zalman Ladier, as he was usually
called, insisted on putting the zaddik on a par with the rabbi, whose
duty it is not to work miracles but to teach righteousness. Assuming for
his followers the name HaBaD, the three letters of which are the
initials of the Hebrew words for Wisdom, Reason, and Knowledge, he
furthered the cause of enlightenment in the only way possible among his
adherents.[17] How well he succeeded may be inferred from the fact,
trivial though it be, that the biography of the Besht, _The Praises of
the Besht_ (_Shibhe ha-Besht_), by Dob Bär, published in Berdichev
(1815), omits many of the legends about the Master included in the
version published the same year in Kopys. The omission can be explained
only on the ground that the editor, Judah Löb, who was the son of the
author, did not wish to give offence, or he had outgrown the credulity
of his father.[18]

The feeling of tolerance manifested itself also in the Jewish attitude
towards the Gentiles. "O that we were identified with the nations of our