Our Backs Will Touch: Similarities between Hasidim and German Jewish Hirschians Yisrael Kashkin
Four decades ago, I attended a lecture by Stokely Carmichael, the famous civil rights activist and champion of the global pan-African movement. During the Q&A, a young African American college student expressed to Carmichael his feelings of solidarity with and admiration of Carmichael but also his feelings of confusion since on numerous matters he and Carmichael differed. I don’t recall the entirety of Carmichael’s characteristically energetic response, but I remember vividly the words with which he concluded: “You fight your fight, and I will fight my fight. Our backs will touch.” The young man seemed relieved. Carmichael was saying that we don’t have to agree on everything to be comrades in our struggle.
This brings me to Baal Shem Tov and R. Samson Raphael Hirsch. It is commonly thought that Hasidim and German Jews (Yekkes) are worlds apart.[1] R. Yehonasan Gefen tells the story of how Yekke parents were “shocked” to hear that one of their sons wanted to be a Skverer Hasid. To them, Skverer Hasidus seemed like another world. They consulted with R. Yaakov Kamenetsky, who advised them to send him to the Skverer yeshiva.[2]
With Hasidim emerging from Eastern Europe and the Yekkes from Germany, there are cultural differences, often viewed inaccurately by outside groups through a lens that exaggerates them into a cliché. However, Hasidim with their long coats, beards, and sidelocks are visually distinguishable from traditional Yekkes with their short coats (the term Yekke might originate from the word jacket), goatees, and standard halakhic peyot. Hasidim often daven after the zeman and are somewhat casual with time. Yekkes, famously, are punctual.
More significantly, Hasidic thought and even practice is based partially on Kabbalah, which Yekkes are not commonly associated with, although allegations that they are averse to it are likely exaggerated. R. Elie Munk’s commentary on Humash is replete with references to the Zohar,[3] and Kabbalah was important in the lives of Yekkes Ahron Marcus[4] and Moreinu Yaakov Rosenheim among others.[5] Equally significant, Hasidic practice, particularly in the liturgy, constitutes somewhat of a departure from Ashkenazi tradition as it incorporated liturgy and practices of Sephardim as well as those derived from Kabbalah. The Yekkes pride themselves on strict adherence to the customs of historic Ashkenaz. There is no departure, “not even one iota” as they like to say, even though that’s not 100% accurate.[6]
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