‘Hakirah’ Explores Chassidic Origin of Hashgacha Pratis

In the latest issue of the Hakirah Journal published in Flatbush, R’ Michoel Rotenfeld, a historical researcher and Associate Director of Libraries at Touro, explores the Chassidic origin of Hashgacha Pratis, which has today become accepted in all circles.

Virtually all of contemporary Orthodox Jewry believes that hashgacḥa pratis affects the entirety of Creation and every occurrence including the most minor details, and this belief is manifest in their daily lives. Yet Orthodox Jews are generally not aware that this doctrine, so common today, only became dominant starting in the eighteenth century, nor are they familiar with its rather complex history since that time.

We will argue that prior to the advent of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (c. 1700–1760) and the proliferation of the Chassidic movement, hashgacḥa pratis was not nearly as integral a part of Jewish thought as it is today. Based on Talmudic sources, the Baal Shem Tov expanded the definition of hashgacḥa pratis to include Hashem’s providence over every minor detail of Creation and every minor happening.

This new interpretation and the new emphasis on hashgacḥa pratis in general spread rapidly with the growth of Ḥasidism starting in the mid-eighteenth century, particularly through its emphasis in Chassidic stories. Large parts of Eastern European Jewry, particularly Chassidim, began to experience hashgaḥa pratis as a daily presence.

Beginning in the 1870s, a countercurrent to traditional ideals began to seep into the consciousness of traditional Jewry. The ideas of modernity, including a historical consciousness, were becoming the norm even among Orthodox Jewry, ultimately causing the emotional intensity of the belief in hashgacḥa pratis to diminish—but not the intellectual belief.

Interestingly, since the proliferation of the Chareidi press in the early 1980s and as a result of Chassidic influences, the intellectual belief in the Baal Shem Tov’s interpretation of hashgacḥa pratis has been growing exponentially, although the intense feeling of hashgacḥa pratis as a daily presence is no longer there due to the influence of modernity.

We will look at translations of the Midrashic literature and the Jewish autobiographical genre as examples that illustrate these changes. We will also discuss an outstanding example of hashgacḥa pratis in the life of someone who lived his youth in the window of time after the rise of Chassidus but before the dawn of modernity, yet the advent of modernity did not affect his consciousness. We are referring to Pinkhes-Dov Goldenshteyn (1848–1930), a Chassidic shoḥet who wrote an autobiography to point out the hashgacḥa pratis in his life as a proof of God’s existence.

Through this discussion, we hope to make readers more familiar with the history of this important facet of Orthodox Jewish life, as well as to draw attention to the work of the Baal Shem Tov and his followers in disseminating it.

Download the full article here.

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