The Beginnings of Hasidic Judaism (1698-1750)

[@BeigeFrequency]

I'm not Jewish as far as I know but these videos are so well made and interesting that I can't get enough of them.

[@yetigriff]

M'Lord Jason is Jewish so I watched the video looking for ments

[@Opinionated-By54nder]

If you like history the jewish perspective is a rarity, when the victors would write the narrative, while the losers would be destroyed.

[@georgeptolemy7260]

Yooo I can totally see the connecting thread between y'all's work. Love your videos bro, you're a great artist.

[@EdwardSnortin]

Hey its Joe Rogan documentary guy

[@Arturino_Burachelini]

That's why I'm binging the channel for the Jewish history in Ukraine :)

[@brancheortiz8804]

Nice homage to Karolina Żebrowska. Sam, you have a impressive artistic eye.

[@fabiogrossodived]

Always look forward to the next video! Awesome content, from a Muslim fan ❤️

[@cornerman5586]

I recently discovered my Jewish heritage and your channel has been a big inspiration as Ive been researching. My maternal grandmother was an orphan and we only just learned her parents were both Jewish from some ancestry research and document digging. My gratitude for being such an inspiring and useful resource in expanding my understanding. I look forward to seeing your channel continue to grow. Keep up the excellent work Sam.

[@chnsm]

Well if your grandma from your mother side is Jewish, well then by Jewish tradition you are a full jew, because Judaism goes through maternal lines

[@bnelkin]

man, as a lifelong atheist Jew i can say this has become one of my favorite youtube channels. i'm nuts about national and cultural identities and how they evolve over time, even got a History Master's at Leiden University in the Netherlands with a study program called "Political Culture and National Identities" lol. watching your channel fills in a lot of missing Lego pieces for me my dude, keep up the good work!

[@Artur_M.]

About the list of official and unofficial languages of the PLC at 1:46, the date (1700) is important because until 1697 a form of Ruthenian retained an official status in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Also, I assume that Arabic is on the list of unofficial languages because it was the liturgic language for the Muslim Lipka Tatar community. An interesting fact is that this community also developed a new form of Arabic script to write in the Ruthenian (Old Belarusian) language, and also in Polish. BTW I was not expecting to see a cameo of Karolina Żebrowska, known to some as 'Meme Mom'. :)

[@jacob_and_william]

Am i dumb? I don't see the Karolina reference

[@Artur_M.]

@@jacob_and_william Well, the lady at 2:40 looked strangely familiar, although I wasn't sure. But in the credits, at the very end of the video, there's this bit: "Special Consideration: (...) Model (Szlachta) Karolina Żebrowska".

[@theklorg305]

What was their language called?

[@Artur_M.]

@@theklorg305 Of the Lipka Tatars? Well, originally it was the Crimean Tatar language (Turkic, from the Kipchak subgroup), but pretty quickly it became Ruthenian (in the form we can call now Old Belarusian) and later also Polish and for some Lithuanian. That's why they developed a new form of Arabic script, known as the "Belarusian Arabic alphabet" or Arabitsa (Арабiца).

[@Artur_M.]

@@micahistory Yep, it's me again.

[@מ.מ-ה9ד]

12:53 Don't forget using smile stickers everywhere and driving minivans with huge loudspeakers!

[@SamAronow]

Na Nach was founded in 1986. This is kinda what I was getting at in the pinned comment.

[@Hircine0]

@@SamAronow Breslovim are probably still the wildest strain of Hasidim, both in philosophy and lifestyle, could be a fun video :)

[@מ.מ-ה9ד]

@@SamAronow Of course, it was just a joke about the most prominent faction within one of the biggest Hasiduiot

[@SeekersofUnity]

This is gonna be good.

[@marcello7781]

Coincidentally, yesterday I was wondering about the origin of Hasidic Judaism. Great video!

[@SamAronow]

*POSTERS:* usefulcharts.com/collections/sam-aronow?aff=18 (disclosure: I am a UsefulCharts affiliate) *IMPORTANT NOTE:* This video is not intended to be an exhaustive examination of Hasidic beliefs and practices, and for good reason. While researching for this video, I was surprised to discover that Hasidism was still an extremely nebulous movement by the end of the Besht's life. Very little was codified at this point, and many of the traits we associate with the movement emerged in the late 18th and early 19th century. In any case, this video was only intended to focus on the origins of Hasidism and the life of its founder, which is why it's called "The _Beginnings_ of Hasidic Judaism." I'm sure to revisit this topic in the near future. If you _do_ want a more comprehensive overview of the movement past and present, I urge you to check out Seekers of Unity's recent video on the subject: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKaqi5mZec6YaaM

[@SeekersofUnity]

Wow, thanks for the shout out. I wasn’t expecting that 🙈

[@dimaignatiev6370]

Sam,it's kind of counter-intuitive to ask people that watch a Jewish history channel whether they seek to buy gifts this season...

[@SamAronow]

In the US and Canada, Hanukkah is traditionally a gift-giving holiday.

[@varana]

Also, I'm quite confident that this channel isn't only watched by Jews. ;) Or is even aimed primarily at Jews.

[@omerlavie2816]

Is there a digital version of those posters?

[@Jimdixon1953]

As a viewer from the UK with links to Essex and certain parts of North London, it was an unexpected but nice surprise to be briefly transported from the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth to Epping Forest!

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

Well, this video definitely filled up gaps in my knowledge of the history of the Commonwealth. The maps are great too. Detailed and adapted accordingly as your narration moves through the timeline. A rare sight. Most youtube channels, hell even professional TV documentaries often use one and the same map while covering entire decades without adjusting to territorial changes. I guess the only thing I can nitpick is calling Commonwealth "Poland-Lithuania". I know that it settled as the name for Rzeczpospolita in Anglo-Saxon historiography but the name is frankly as accurate as calling Eastern Roman Empire "Byzantium". It would be en equivalent of calling the UK an "England-Scotland"

[@Artur_M.]

The term "Poland-Lithuania" is also being used as a shorthand for the entirety of the Polish-Lithuanian union in all its forms, from 1386 to 1795. Like in The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania by Robert I. Frost, which currently has only the first volume (out of 3 planed) ending with the formation of the Commonwealth in 1569. We of course could have an entire separate discussion about the question is "Commonwealth" a good translation of "Rzeczpospolita" but I guess that the English-speakers just won't call a state with a King (even an elected one) a "republic".

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

@@Artur_M. I am aware that "Poland-Lithuania" is used as an abbreviation for Polish Lithuanian Union/Commonwealth. Not only in English however as you can find it also in German as "Polen-Litauen". IMO, "PLC" would be a much better abbreviation. I, for one, am on a small personal crusade and often in discussions often refer to Rzeczpospolita as "Republic" in English. It raised a few eyebrows but often after explaining that the term "republic" was understood differently in the past, even relatively recently, it usually gets accepted... well with exception of some hard-headed Americans that entered an uga-buga mode and completely refused to accept any arguments. But that's rare.

[@Artur_M.]

@@kamilszadkowski8864 Recently I found an interesting lecture by the aforementioned Prof. Frost (apparently given to a group of German scholars) "A State so Oddly Constituted? The Political Culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Union" kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6iopaegg7Oreqc It might be something fitting to link/recommend to people in a case of such discussion.

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

@@Artur_M. Thanks! I'll look it up immediately.

[@theklorg305]

Jews have this problem too with things like "Palestine": Named take on a life of their own.

[@shimathonwerthheim2959]

10:45 it actually is translated as pepper which means all the spices - takes commentaries from all over and spices it with the commentaries.

[@theklorg305]

Its cool to see all the Poles coming in to see the connection between our history as Jews and that as Poles (and of course, Polish-Jews).

[@andymatmar]

Yes! This was the video I was searching for when I discovered your channel 6 months ago. Needless to say I got hooked in Canaan and after so many sagas enjoyed, the search comes full circle with this storyline. I'm eager for the next video. Cheers, Sam.

[@RafaelRabinovich]

It isn't true that the Baal Shem Tov was not fluent in Hebrew. He definitely wrote letters to his brother-in-law in the holy language. But his spoken language was Yiddish, and when his teachings were put down in writing, the language used was Hebrew. This is way before the attempts to resurrect Hebrew as a modern spoken language. The Baal Shem Tov's practice of speaking Yiddish and writing Hebrew was common place in his time.

[@pouletasse]

I love the way his videos are well researched and his delivery is free of academic jargon and affectation.

[@thefisherking78]

Have been interested in the Hasidim ever since reading My Name is Asher Lev for a class 20 years ago, and later living in Brooklyn and seeing quite a few of them around. Such an interesting group.

[@BFDT-4]

I like this channel. I also like usefulcharts' work.

[@AM-kr4pv]

This is so interesting. I grew up in London very secular, my dad is a gentile and I grew up celebrating Christmas. Being Jewish didn't effect my day to day, it was merely an interesting fact about me people might not have known, if that makes sense (especially because my dad's genetics really won out on me and I'm very ginger but not even in a Jewish way according to a Jewish friend 😂). My parents were pretty hippyish and did artistic and holistic jobs. So when we'd have to go into Stamford hill (this is a densely hasidic area in North London nearby where I grew up) or drive through it I'd see these very startlingly dressed people for London in the 1990s. And I knew that technically we were the same people but we couldn't have seemed more different. I was so mesmerised but also quite intimidated. This is all background to basically say that this was really interesting to me to learn how we diverged into these such radically different paths.

[@joshzeidner5412]

Nice work and getting the pictures of the baal shem tov correct

[@Amelia-np2xy]

Great video, i want to see the next ones on Hasidism! Anyway, a "concept" you still didn't talked about is the tzadik. Also, it would be nice nice to see something about the literature that comes from those traditions, like Bashevis Singer or the Dybbuk, and, why not, something about the Maiden of Ludmir.

[@RafaelRabinovich]

R. Adam Baal Shem passed away when the Baal Shem Tov was 14 years old. He had met R. Yisrael as a child, but it was R. Adam Baal Shem's son who brought his late father's secret writings to R. Yisrael ben Eliezer and studied with him in secret.

[@johnjon1823]

"I discovered a long time ago I am not Jewish, and neither are any of my relatives." This comes as no shock since I am Irish and Catholic :) I am enjoying hearing about the history you present here since it is quite interesting and helps explain certain things. God bless!

[@sleepworthy8349]

as a 12th generation of the bal shem tov i approve of this video

[@rafisw160]

Killing it as always

[@denizalgazi]

Another wonderful chapter of our people's history! Thank you!

[@nathanielchance1105]

I like how you used part of the soundtrack from Ocarina of Time 😁

[@Arturino_Burachelini]

Minor correction: Podillia. Galicia is the neighbouring region, just across the Zbruch river

[@moroaica3660]

>at full volume, dancing, doing somersaults, doing shots of vodka Idk dude, I know some Poles and that might have just been cultural on some level lol

[@SparrowValentine]

I just found you. This is amazing

[@kristenjuly2755]

Im so happy i found your channel! I just subscribed. I cant wait to watch all your videos!

[@BillGivens]

A wise man sees a sheep eating grass in a field. Every day that is all the sheep seems to do. So one day the wise man approaches the sheep and asks the sheep, “What are you doing - every day all you do is eat grass?” The sheep then motions to the sun and then motions to the grass. The wise man ponders what the sheep has done for a while and then says to the sheep “Ah, I see - by the power of sunlight you are helping to convert inert matter into a conscious state”. The sheep turns to the wise man and says “You are correct . . . and what are you doing?”

[@nick-jo3hy]

I'm going to pass that on.

[@DogDogGodFog]

What?

[@kevingriffith9626]

Woooooo new video on Jewish history been waiting all week for this!

[@trudojo]

I've been waiting for this episode :)

[@patrickkelmer6290]

I just love your videos. I wish it had existed back when I had discovered my jewish background, but here I am today.

[@matthewdavid6134]

I’ve watched so many of your videos, but now Google is giving me ads about Israel, and about learning the history of Zionism, and I’m not even Jewish but I still kind of love it

[@thewebbie]

Was there supposed to be a cliff hanger at the end there? Feels like there should be more coming.

[@minnaerd4412]

„Shuckling“ is for sure yiddish, the german verb being: schaukeln (swinging, swaying)

[@muhammadabdullahhanif8860]

Poor Luzzatto, peoples only use his teaching selectively.

[@ignemuton5500]

This is gonna be a spicy one

[@twingo7]

Awesome channel, keep up the good work! Also have you ever considered the history of the Radhanites as they would dovetail nicely in some of the topics you’ve covered

[@FagnerAro]

Very good work! Can't wait for the next one

[@HadiM-rb7yo]

Oh boy! getting an episode about Frankism!

[@ShaiPortnoy]

love this video! also great to watch bc my family have traced one side of our lineage to the Ba’al Shem Tov 🙏🏼

[@BarHawa]

Do you ever plan on making a video about the Karaites?

[@SeeHere2]

Another great video Sam. Very interesting and informative, watched many of your videos now and feel I know Jewish history so much better. Keep up the good work

[@ohajohaha]

Międzybórz - Myehn-zi-bouge. ("zi" like in chinese). In fact 米恩兹布 sounds really close. But a more correct pronounciation with the nasal ę would be more like: m-yin (in like lupin in French) zi (like in chinese) bouge (with g like in bourgeoisie) e =/= ę. Sounds very different

[@hibernianperspective6183]

@12:59 I could get used to that kind of praying! 🥃

[@subhashishdey4010]

2:45 Karolina Zebrowska... Our meme mom's early modern Jewish reincarnation.

[@Merle1987]

They sound influenced by Romanticism. Interesting how they started off so free wheeling and ended up so rigid and formulaic.

[@Soemrjruur]

That’s an Orientalist view. You are ‘reading history backwards’.

[@DogDogGodFog]

Due to the cult-of-personality aspect.

[@Achill101]

Thank you for covering this part of Judaism. I've read about it in Martin Buber's books but hadn't looked beyond that.

[@Ido_morgenshtein]

I'm actually watching it in Shavuot so happy holiday!

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Those two questions are biased but yes

[@CJC90909]

Awesome content man! I’ve always lived with and around Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian Jewish people (I’m from NYC) so it’s absolutely fantastic to learn about the history of the Ashkenazim and by proxy some of my oldest friends.

[@veselinvasilev278]

That is an amazing channel. I realize how less I know about Jewish history. Thank you!!!

[@radishinglad998]

Now that we're seeing hasidic Judaism develop in Europe, I would absolutely 1000% ADORE a video, even half a video, on the Jewish Labor Bund whenever you reachthe late 1800s. My great great grandfather was a member, as was his wife. They lived somewhere outside of Riga, and immigrated to Canada in 1913 after their friends, also Bundists, were imprisoned by the Russians. Their kids would move to America in the 30s. It's an incredibly interesting facet of Jewish history to me, and a lot of the Bunds music is amazing.

[@DogDogGodFog]

Correction 6:10 - Britain and the PLC were both located in Europe ;p

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

BTW, do you plan to cover the various attempts of Polish nobility to encourage Jews to embrace Catholicism by offering ennoblement upon conversion? Quite a few important noble families of Jewish descent were funded that way. I also wonder what was the reaction of the Jewish community in and outside of Poland to such attempts.

[@Artur_M.]

It looks like the next episode is going to be about Jakub Frank, so I suspect we might hear about it.

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

@@Artur_M. Good point. You can't explain the Frankist movement without touching on this topic.

[@korentindc5430]

Already impatient to see the next episode

[@menel3]

Great video! I hope that in your commentary video you mention the confusion regarding the portrait of the Baal Shem Tob, because everyone I know in the Jewish world attributes the portrait of Falk to the Besht. Where did you get the source of the art for the Besht from?

[@SamAronow]

I made it myself, modeled after one of his descendants, actor Martin Balsam.

[@menel3]

@@SamAronow huh. So you found no known surviving renditions the Besht? Fascinating. Guess he was more successful than the Chacham Tzvi!

[@gluzman3391]

There are some details here whose information is incorrect. But despite everything I love your channel.

[@threethirtythree8725]

Sam, is there any historical account of the 400 hidden years of the Israelites in Egypt between Joseph and Moses? Josephus, apocryphal, etc.? It'd be great if you could do a video on it. Thanks and keep up the good work!

[@jamesr8584]

Henry Abramson's channel covers Jewish history. Josephus kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJzFfYdvftekers

[@antonioiancu6823]

I think it will be nice if you'd make clips for every hasidic sect,especially Chabad

[@averyjacob7630]

As a Polish Jew, I’m in love with your pronunciation of Polish words

[@thelazyone1881]

I always wanted to ask a polish jew why did Yiddish die as the dominant language of Polish Jews

[@averyjacob7630]

@@thelazyone1881 When we went to Israel we largely adopted both Israeli Culture as a whole of the Sephardic community and the Hebrew language. Those who did not (mainly Hasids) keep the Yiddish language alive in America and Israel. Yiddish also was a language unique to Jews living together in ghettos, once we left them it saw the deli vibe of yiddish

[@SamAronow]

Also: 90% of Poland's Jews died in the Holocaust.

[@DogDogGodFog]

@@thelazyone1881Because the Polish Jews themselves died.

[@milascave2]

I wish that these videos were numbered so that I could watch them more easily in the proper historical order.

[@michaelfishman3976]

What is your source for “pilpul” being the source of how Hassidim derived their customs? When I think of pilpul, I think of the methodology popularized by the Tosefot in studying the Talmud. Where they’d take a sugya (section) of the Talmud, find a similar section elsewhere that contradicts that text, and come up with a whole drasha on how all sugyot can be reconciled. It involved a lot of wordplay, hair-splitting, and in many cases sophistry. This mode of study was particularly popular in yeshivot all over. The Vilna Ga’on, who would become the great opponent of the early Hassidic movement, was incidentally a huge opponent of the pilpul method as well.

[@Ramiiam]

Interesting video!

[@dovygoodguy1296]

There are many mistakes and confusion and misinterpretation in this video. First note that Miedzhyboz is not in Galicia. The Baal Shem Tov was expert in Talmud, and no chassidim prayed to the rebbes. I have no idea where this guy gets his ideas from.

[@jl696]

The guy pictured in the video still, the "Baal Shem Tov" looks like the actor, Martin Balsam. Maybe, that's where his surname is derived.

[@doomera5911]

Happy Hannukah

[@nafismubashir2479]

10:35 wow pilpul is mind boggling

[@malibu64]

Is the music at 5:16 from like a Zelda game?

[@trevor1667]

Fan engagement!

[@hershyfishman2929]

9:00 although "shem" in baal shem refers to God's names, "baal shem tov" is a play on words and means "master of the good name"

[@Meirstein]

Yehudah Segal: "Alright guys, we're going to build a new synagogue in Jerusalem!" *Sitting on a rock outside after getting all Ashkenazi Jews expelled from the city* "Well, that escalated quickly."

[@alexanderhaggerty2930]

Did useful charts remove the charts or were they a limited run?

[@Elietalks]

the baal shem tov is my 9 great grandfather

[@jonyprepperisrael60]

are you gonna refrence that skit about that messiah in "the jews are coming" in the next episode?

[@steffplaysmapping1104]

Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas

[@tallmikbcroft6937]

Amazing. Thank you for telling this History

[@yehudagreenfield]

I'm not sure why you keep bringing up luzzatto as the influence for everything. He had little to do with baalei shem or chassidus

[@Yitzhak480]

ok i'm super confused about the pictutres, if rabbi folk is not the Ba'al Shem Tov why you used the famous picture related today to the ba'al shem tov? and where did you go the picture of the real ba'al shem tov? and what is the origin this mash-up? Great video as always i was missing the original serise

[@tulsatrash]

Very interesting.

[@stevenkarras3490]

wonder if Martin Balsam descended from the Bael Shem Tov

[@adrianblake8876]

Where did you get Yekutiel Gordon's image from!?

[@avirorosenfeld200]

Pilpul originated from maharal of Prague, which was one of the influences of chassidic thought. He lived 16-17 centuries. I'm surprised he didn't get mentioned

[@SamAronow]

Although the practice of pilpul is actually quite a bit older, and the Hasidim brought it back after it died out in the early 17th century, the Maharal of Prague is someone I really regret not having done a video on, right up there with Shimon HaTzadik.

[@avirorosenfeld200]

@@SamAronow put them in the after after after thoughts

[@jasonsmall5602]

@@SamAronow I've been told that the Baal Shem Tov is my 10th great grandfather and the Maharal is my 15th great grandfather. It would be interesting to hear what you have to say about him.

[@ehudsolomon1720]

Can you upload it in a podcast form in Spotify?

[@yitzchokisaacschapiro1906]

I I like your channel, but on Chsiedis, are your information is really wrong and incorrect and ignorant. No offense but it’s just not correct do you homework better.

[@adigazel]

2:52 וואדקע. בבקשה שבאמת ככה אומרים וודקה ביידיש בבקשההה

[@Tounushi]

Why are the concept of repeated rocking/bowing and a guy named Twersky so uncomfortably close? It's as if the fates are teasing us with twerking being a religious act.

[@aleksandrplotnikov4287]

5:38 Oh i see what you did there ⚗

[@jerrydillon9436]

Your maps are great I never knew Lith was ever that big then u show the parts of Poland & all rest of those countries around it game of thrones man game of thrones COOL!!!👍👍👍🙂🙂🙂

[@mlbboxbreaks1358]

Can you make a video about the chabad sect of Hasidism the history of chabad and all the rebbes, thanks

[@jonyprepperisrael60]

12:08 you could say לנענע

[@hirumbiffidum9145]

I am curios if and how the Chassidim of that time compares to now ...

[@samuel0851]

Yes, I feel like the spirit of the early Hasidic tzaddiks of Eastern Europe is irreconcilable with the modern, more fundamentalist, urban and isolated Hasidic communities.

[@willieluncheonette5843]

" A few things about Hasidism. First, the word ‘hasid’ comes from a Hebrew word which means pious, pure. It is derived from the noun ‘hased’ which means grace. This word ‘hasid’ is very beautiful. The whole standpoint of Hasidism is based on grace. It is not that YOU do something - life is already happening, you just be silent, passive, alert, receiving. God comes through his grace, not through your effort. So Hasidism has no austerities prescribed for you. Hasidism believes in life, in joy, Hasidism is one of the religions in the world which is life-affirmative. It has no renunciation in it; you are not to renounce anything. Rather, you have to celebrate. The founder of Hasidism, Baal-Shem, is reported to have said, ‘I have come to teach you a new way. It is not fasting and penance, and it is not indulgence, but joy in God.’ The Hasid loves life, tries to experience life. That very experience starts giving you a balance. And in that state of balance, some day, when you are really balanced, neither leaning on this side nor leaning on that side, when you are exactly in the middle, you transcend. The middle is the beyond, the middle is the door from where one goes beyond. - Hasidism teaches life in community. It is a very communal approach. It says that man is not an island, man is not an ego - should not be an ego, should not be an island. Man should live a life of community. We are growing a Hasidic community here. To li

[@thebigcapitalism9826]

Can you do a video on the history of Jewish antiZionism? There’s not many sources on it I can access

[@mrmr446]

Seventy four years seems a more reasonable recovery period.

[@erhtm3030]

What is the background music at 9:35?