from his travels in Turkey,
through his conversion to Catholicism (1759), to the day of his death as
"Baron von Offenbach," would furnish material for a stirring drama. As
if to counteract this demoralizing tendency, a new sect, known as
Hasidim, originating in Lithuania and headed by Judah Hasid of Dubno and
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 BAeR 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
customs and beliefs of the Catholic church that had been adopted by the
followers of Frank. The prayers to the saints (zaddikim), the conception
of faith as the fountain of salvation, even the belief in a trinity
consisting of the Godhead, the Shekinah, and the Holy Ghost, these and
other exotic doctrines introduced by the Cabbala took root and grew i