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Gadi Sagiv

The Open University of Israel, Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies, Faculty Member

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Marcin Wodzinski

University of Wroclaw

Waldemar Spallek

University of Wroclaw

Kirklareli University

Mercédesz Czimbalmos

Åbo Akademi University

Wojciech Tworek

University of Wroclaw

Bar-Ilan University

Morris Faierstein

Independent Scholar

Leore Sachs Shmueli

Bar-Ilan University

Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Bar-Ilan University

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Books by Gadi Sagiv

Habad in the Twentieth Century: Spirituality, Politics, Outreach, Collected Articles, eds. Jonatan Meir, Gadi Sagiv, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 2018, 160 pp. (English)

by Jonatan Meir and Gadi Sagiv

Habad (Lubavitch) is among the best known Hasidic communities in the world. One is indeed likely ... more Habad (Lubavitch) is among the best known Hasidic communities in the world. One is indeed likely to encounter a " Lubavitcher " at a wide range of occasions, from Hanukkah menorah lightings on the main squares of countless towns and cities to official Jewish ceremonies hosted by non-Jewish public figures and, naturally, at one of the thousands of Habad Houses, where " emissaries " cater to the religious needs of Jews. However, readers wishing to expand their knowledge of Habad's special nature would be hard-pressed to find an accessible, up-to-date, and balanced scholarly exposition on this topic. The present anthology, which consists of four articles on Lubavitch from the turn of and through the end of the twentieth century, endeavors to address this lacuna. The authors of the articles are leading scholars of Habad who study the movement from the perspectives of history, theology, sociology, and politics. Habad perpetuated its theological, organizational, and political characteristics during its entire history. This collection offers informed perspectives on Habad as a whole.

Hasidism: A New History (Princeton University Press, 2017)

by Uriel Gellman, Benjamin Brown, Gadi Sagiv, Marcin Wodzinski, and moshe rosman

P r i n c e t o n U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s P r i n c e t o n a n d O x f o r d •

Dynasty: The Chernobyl Hasidic Dynasty and Its Place in the History of Hasidism, Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2014, 472 pp. (Hebrew)

Habad Hasidism: History, Theology and Image, Collected Articles, eds. Jonatan Meir, Gadi Sagiv, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 2016, 343 + 114 pp. (Hebrew/English)

by Jonatan Meir and Gadi Sagiv

Articles by: Elliot R. Wolfson, Joseph Dan, Rachel Elior, Ada Rapoport-Albert, Gadi Sagiv, Moshe ... more

Papers by Gadi Sagiv

Marcin Wodziński, Uriel Gellman, and Gadi Sagiv, 'Marriage, Leadership, and Dynasties in Hasidism: Big Data Approach', Religion 55:1 (2024): 20-42

by Uriel Gellman, Gadi Sagiv, and Marcin Wodzinski

Religion, 2024

Marital strategies are of significant importance in socio-religious movements with dynastic lead... more Marital strategies are of significant importance in socio-religious
movements with dynastic leadership. This article investigates
marital strategies among the leaders of Hasidism, arguably the
most prominent socio-religious movement of modern Jewry. The
study is based on complete documentation records of all
marriages by Hasidic leaders from the inception of Hasidism in
the 1700s until today: 2,375 marital unions, mostly in 122
dynasties. The data demonstrate a tendency among Hasidic
leaders to marry off their children to other Hasidic dynasties,
thereby forming a pattern of inter-dynastic connections. We also
demonstrate that Hasidic leaders have avoided upward mobility
and preferred to marry their children to dynasties with a similar
social status. Most importantly, the ultimate gain of such
marriages is not material or political gain but rather the
maintenance of religious charisma. These findings explain how
Hasidic dynasties emerged, expanded, eroded, and negotiated
their status within the network of dynasties.

Studying Hasidism

The Narcissism of Small Differences?

Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 33

This chapter highlights the problematic nature of every attempt to characterize the diverse Hasid... more This chapter highlights the problematic nature of every attempt to characterize the diverse Hasidic groups, schools of thought, and sects, which comprise the Hasidic movement. It talks about three well-known Hasidic leaders: ’the Yehudi,’ Simhah Bunem of Pshiskhe, and the Rabbi of Kotsk, who are generally considered founders of the distinctive Pshiskhe–Kotsk school but differed greatly in their respective spiritual orientations. It also explains Hasidism as a collection of distinct and often conflicting groups that comprises one charismatic leader each, who usually belongs to a dynasty of hereditary leaders. The chapter discusses the awakening of the collective consciousness of belonging to one movement among the disciples of the Magid of Mezeritsh. It describes the fragmented structure of the movement that was inherent from its earliest formative period.

The Narcissism of Small Differences? Rituals and Customs as Hasidic Identity-Markers, Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry 33 (2021), pp. 151-171

Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, 2021

The most important determinant of ritualism is the experience of closed groups. mary douglas, Nat... more The most important determinant of ritualism is the experience of closed groups. mary douglas, Natural Symbols introduction: the challenge of differentiation In a letter to Gershom Scholem in 1929, Martin Buber observed: Singling out and stressing coherent sections is a difficult matter. Granted, it is easy to draw a line like that from the Maggid to the Vitebsk Rav; but has the theory developed equally logically from the Yehudi to Bunam to the Rabbi of Kotzk? In fact, can we even speak (with the teaching in mind) of 'Kotzk' or even of Pshiskhe-Kotzk as a unit? Kotzk and the personal mystery of the Rabbi of Kotzk are two different matters; Kotzk theoretically is closer to H. abad than people imagine, and is just as far from the psychological, sometimes quite skeptical (but not at all libertine) approach of the 'wise Bunam' as he is from the literally 'baptist' messianism of the Yehudi. The connection is not basically a theoretical one, and not positive in nature. At the same time, there is this methodological and stylistic similarity, which makes differentiation more difficult. 1 Buber highlights the problematic nature of every attempt to characterize the diverse hasidic groups, schools of thought, or even 'sects', as they are often called, that together comprise the hasidic movement. He gives as an example three well-known hasidic leaders: 'the Yehudi' ('the Jew', Jacob Isaac of Pshiskhe), Simhah Bunem of Pshiskhe, and the Rabbi of Kotsk (Menahem Mendel), who

Ritualization as Religious Renewal in 18th-Century Hasidism, Zutot 16 (2019), pp. 19-29

Zutot, 2019

Rituals have always been a characterizing and significant aspect of Hasidism. Although ritual pra... more Rituals have always been a characterizing and significant aspect of Hasidism. Although ritual practices are often considered rigid and conservative, Hasidism showed tremendous flexibility in composing, reviving, and disseminating old rituals in novel religious settings. Highly visible, easily deliverable, not requiring intellectual background, and embedded in Jewish tradition, rituals and ceremonies were the perfect means by which to popularize pietism and esoteric knowledge among large audiences, while maintaining the prestige of their performers.

A New Perspective on the Tekhelet Controversy of the Late Nineteenth Century, Zion, 82 (2017), pp. 59-95 [English Abstract]

Dazzling Blue: Color Symbolism, Kabbalistic Myth, and the Evil Eye in Judaism, Numen, 64 (2017), pp. 183-208.

The color blue is thought to protect against the evil eye in Mediterranean cultures. This article... more The color blue is thought to protect against the evil eye in Mediterranean cultures. This article unfolds the yet-unstudied role played by kabbalistic theology, symbolism, and myth in the construction of the color blue as a protective color for Jews. It traces particularly the development of a medieval kabbalistic myth of a dazzling blue garment of the feminine aspect of the godhead, protecting her from contact with evil forces. The article shows how this myth became the foundation for various practices against the evil eye among Jews in the modern period and contextualizes this myth within theories about the evil eye.

Habad versus “Polish Hasidism”: Toward the History of a Dichotomy, in: Habad Hasidism: History, Theology and Image, Collected Articles, eds. Jonatan Meir, Gadi Sagiv, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 2017, pp. 223-265 (Hebrew; with Ada Rapoport-Albert) [English Abstract]

Seeking an ideological niche for himself in the social arena, RaShaB formulated a radical anti-mo... more Seeking an ideological niche for himself in the social arena, RaShaB formulated a radical anti-modernist position that set him against the more moderate Orthodox circles. The foundation of RaShaB's ideology was a categorical refusal to accept any combination of tradition and modernity. In contrast to other Orthodox sectors of Russian Jewry, RaShaB had an extremely negative attitude toward processes of modernization in every sphere of Jewish life. He called for a clear-cut separation of the fundamental elements of tradition -Torah learning, fear of God, and religion -from the new trends he considered destructive -secular education, general knowledge, and nationalism. RaShaB thought that mixing these notions was a threat to the existence of Judaism itself; that as a result, ideas and concepts profoundly alien to the true Jewish traditions would penetrate the innermost depths of the Jewish religious consciousness, draw their living force from the pure source of religious faith, and destroy it from the inside. In order to stop the erosion of the foundations of tradition, RaShaB thought it necessary to shield the Jewish scholarly elite from any outside influence and make it a bulwark of the true Orthodox Judaism.

Deep Blue: Notes on the Jewish Snail Fight, Contemporary Jewry 35 (2015), 285-313.

The Bible requires Jews to tie a tekhelet (blue) cord as part of their tzitzit (fringes on tradit... more The Bible requires Jews to tie a tekhelet (blue) cord as part of their tzitzit (fringes on traditional prayer shawl and everyday undergarment). Rabbinic sources of antiquity insisted that the tekhelet dye must have been produced from a marine mollusk termed hillazon. For various reasons, the custom of having this tekhelet cord, which is usually associated with the colors blue or violet, disappeared from Jewish material culture sometime in late antiquity. During the 1880s the Hasidic leader Gershon Hanoch Leiner of Radzin (Radzyń Podlaski, Poland) announced that he had found the ancient hillazon and succeeded in producing tekhelet, which he distributed to his followers. However, his tekhelet did not gain popularity. A much wider interest in tekhelet began in the 1980s, when a new tekhelet was introduced by religious Zionist Jews, resulting in an abundance of Orthodox publications on the subject. However, the 1980s renaissance of tekhelet raised objections from various Jewish Orthodox circles.
This paper aims to sketch a preliminary map of the tekhelet
debate that took place after the introduction of the second tekhelet in the 1980s. It opens with a brief history of tekhelet, followed by a description of the dominant narrative of contemporary tekhelet, and its main opponents. The rest of the article presents central focal points of the controversy: debates regarding the production of the dye; issues of authority regarding acceptance of the new tekhelet; and a messianic tension revealed by the discussion of tekhelet. By providing a non-Orthodox account of the tekhelet debate, this article sheds light on contemporary tekhelet discourse yet also exposes fundamental issues in contemporary Orthodox Judaism, particularly with respect to the relationship between religion and science, and the tension between radicalism and conservatism.

Hasidism in Tsarist Russia: Historical and Social Aspects, Jewish History 27 (2013), 241-269 (With David Assaf)

It is difficult to ascribe to Hasidism sets of distinctive regional characteristics, because Hasi... more It is difficult to ascribe to Hasidism sets of distinctive regional characteristics, because Hasidism transcended both communal and national boundaries. Aware of this problem, the authors of this article seek to characterize Hasidism in Russia, while eschewing the essentialist assumption that Hasidism in Russia had a Russian character.

“Hasidism and Cemetery Inauguration Ceremonies: Authority, Magic, and Performance of Charismatic Leadership,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 103.3 (2013), pp. 328-351.

"The Rectification of the Covenant and the Element of Asceticism in Chernobyl Hasidism," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, 23 (2011), pp. 355-406 (Hebrew)

“Yenuka: On Child Leaders in Hasidism,” Zion, 76 (2011), pp. 139-178 (Hebrew).

Events by Gadi Sagiv

Hasidism at The National Library of Israel - Thursday, March 28, 2019, 6PM

Habad in the Twentieth Century: Spirituality, Politics, Outreach, Collected Articles, eds. Jonatan Meir, Gadi Sagiv, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 2018, 160 pp. (English)

by Jonatan Meir and Gadi Sagiv

Habad (Lubavitch) is among the best known Hasidic communities in the world. One is indeed likely ... more Habad (Lubavitch) is among the best known Hasidic communities in the world. One is indeed likely to encounter a " Lubavitcher " at a wide range of occasions, from Hanukkah menorah lightings on the main squares of countless towns and cities to official Jewish ceremonies hosted by non-Jewish public figures and, naturally, at one of the thousands of Habad Houses, where " emissaries " cater to the religious needs of Jews. However, readers wishing to expand their knowledge of Habad's special nature would be hard-pressed to find an accessible, up-to-date, and balanced scholarly exposition on this topic. The present anthology, which consists of four articles on Lubavitch from the turn of and through the end of the twentieth century, endeavors to address this lacuna. The authors of the articles are leading scholars of Habad who study the movement from the perspectives of history, theology, sociology, and politics. Habad perpetuated its theological, organizational, and political characteristics during its entire history. This collection offers informed perspectives on Habad as a whole.

Hasidism: A New History (Princeton University Press, 2017)

by Uriel Gellman, Benjamin Brown, Gadi Sagiv, Marcin Wodzinski, and moshe rosman

P r i n c e t o n U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s P r i n c e t o n a n d O x f o r d •

Dynasty: The Chernobyl Hasidic Dynasty and Its Place in the History of Hasidism, Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2014, 472 pp. (Hebrew)

Habad Hasidism: History, Theology and Image, Collected Articles, eds. Jonatan Meir, Gadi Sagiv, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 2016, 343 + 114 pp. (Hebrew/English)

by Jonatan Meir and Gadi Sagiv

Articles by: Elliot R. Wolfson, Joseph Dan, Rachel Elior, Ada Rapoport-Albert, Gadi Sagiv, Moshe ... more

Marcin Wodziński, Uriel Gellman, and Gadi Sagiv, 'Marriage, Leadership, and Dynasties in Hasidism: Big Data Approach', Religion 55:1 (2024): 20-42

by Uriel Gellman, Gadi Sagiv, and Marcin Wodzinski

Religion, 2024

Marital strategies are of significant importance in socio-religious movements with dynastic lead... more Marital strategies are of significant importance in socio-religious
movements with dynastic leadership. This article investigates
marital strategies among the leaders of Hasidism, arguably the
most prominent socio-religious movement of modern Jewry. The
study is based on complete documentation records of all
marriages by Hasidic leaders from the inception of Hasidism in
the 1700s until today: 2,375 marital unions, mostly in 122
dynasties. The data demonstrate a tendency among Hasidic
leaders to marry off their children to other Hasidic dynasties,
thereby forming a pattern of inter-dynastic connections. We also
demonstrate that Hasidic leaders have avoided upward mobility
and preferred to marry their children to dynasties with a similar
social status. Most importantly, the ultimate gain of such
marriages is not material or political gain but rather the
maintenance of religious charisma. These findings explain how
Hasidic dynasties emerged, expanded, eroded, and negotiated
their status within the network of dynasties.

Studying Hasidism

The Narcissism of Small Differences?

Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 33

This chapter highlights the problematic nature of every attempt to characterize the diverse Hasid... more This chapter highlights the problematic nature of every attempt to characterize the diverse Hasidic groups, schools of thought, and sects, which comprise the Hasidic movement. It talks about three well-known Hasidic leaders: ’the Yehudi,’ Simhah Bunem of Pshiskhe, and the Rabbi of Kotsk, who are generally considered founders of the distinctive Pshiskhe–Kotsk school but differed greatly in their respective spiritual orientations. It also explains Hasidism as a collection of distinct and often conflicting groups that comprises one charismatic leader each, who usually belongs to a dynasty of hereditary leaders. The chapter discusses the awakening of the collective consciousness of belonging to one movement among the disciples of the Magid of Mezeritsh. It describes the fragmented structure of the movement that was inherent from its earliest formative period.

The Narcissism of Small Differences? Rituals and Customs as Hasidic Identity-Markers, Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry 33 (2021), pp. 151-171

Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, 2021

The most important determinant of ritualism is the experience of closed groups. mary douglas, Nat... more The most important determinant of ritualism is the experience of closed groups. mary douglas, Natural Symbols introduction: the challenge of differentiation In a letter to Gershom Scholem in 1929, Martin Buber observed: Singling out and stressing coherent sections is a difficult matter. Granted, it is easy to draw a line like that from the Maggid to the Vitebsk Rav; but has the theory developed equally logically from the Yehudi to Bunam to the Rabbi of Kotzk? In fact, can we even speak (with the teaching in mind) of 'Kotzk' or even of Pshiskhe-Kotzk as a unit? Kotzk and the personal mystery of the Rabbi of Kotzk are two different matters; Kotzk theoretically is closer to H. abad than people imagine, and is just as far from the psychological, sometimes quite skeptical (but not at all libertine) approach of the 'wise Bunam' as he is from the literally 'baptist' messianism of the Yehudi. The connection is not basically a theoretical one, and not positive in nature. At the same time, there is this methodological and stylistic similarity, which makes differentiation more difficult. 1 Buber highlights the problematic nature of every attempt to characterize the diverse hasidic groups, schools of thought, or even 'sects', as they are often called, that together comprise the hasidic movement. He gives as an example three well-known hasidic leaders: 'the Yehudi' ('the Jew', Jacob Isaac of Pshiskhe), Simhah Bunem of Pshiskhe, and the Rabbi of Kotsk (Menahem Mendel), who

Ritualization as Religious Renewal in 18th-Century Hasidism, Zutot 16 (2019), pp. 19-29

Zutot, 2019

Rituals have always been a characterizing and significant aspect of Hasidism. Although ritual pra... more Rituals have always been a characterizing and significant aspect of Hasidism. Although ritual practices are often considered rigid and conservative, Hasidism showed tremendous flexibility in composing, reviving, and disseminating old rituals in novel religious settings. Highly visible, easily deliverable, not requiring intellectual background, and embedded in Jewish tradition, rituals and ceremonies were the perfect means by which to popularize pietism and esoteric knowledge among large audiences, while maintaining the prestige of their performers.

A New Perspective on the Tekhelet Controversy of the Late Nineteenth Century, Zion, 82 (2017), pp. 59-95 [English Abstract]

Dazzling Blue: Color Symbolism, Kabbalistic Myth, and the Evil Eye in Judaism, Numen, 64 (2017), pp. 183-208.

The color blue is thought to protect against the evil eye in Mediterranean cultures. This article... more The color blue is thought to protect against the evil eye in Mediterranean cultures. This article unfolds the yet-unstudied role played by kabbalistic theology, symbolism, and myth in the construction of the color blue as a protective color for Jews. It traces particularly the development of a medieval kabbalistic myth of a dazzling blue garment of the feminine aspect of the godhead, protecting her from contact with evil forces. The article shows how this myth became the foundation for various practices against the evil eye among Jews in the modern period and contextualizes this myth within theories about the evil eye.

Habad versus “Polish Hasidism”: Toward the History of a Dichotomy, in: Habad Hasidism: History, Theology and Image, Collected Articles, eds. Jonatan Meir, Gadi Sagiv, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Press, 2017, pp. 223-265 (Hebrew; with Ada Rapoport-Albert) [English Abstract]

Seeking an ideological niche for himself in the social arena, RaShaB formulated a radical anti-mo... more Seeking an ideological niche for himself in the social arena, RaShaB formulated a radical anti-modernist position that set him against the more moderate Orthodox circles. The foundation of RaShaB's ideology was a categorical refusal to accept any combination of tradition and modernity. In contrast to other Orthodox sectors of Russian Jewry, RaShaB had an extremely negative attitude toward processes of modernization in every sphere of Jewish life. He called for a clear-cut separation of the fundamental elements of tradition -Torah learning, fear of God, and religion -from the new trends he considered destructive -secular education, general knowledge, and nationalism. RaShaB thought that mixing these notions was a threat to the existence of Judaism itself; that as a result, ideas and concepts profoundly alien to the true Jewish traditions would penetrate the innermost depths of the Jewish religious consciousness, draw their living force from the pure source of religious faith, and destroy it from the inside. In order to stop the erosion of the foundations of tradition, RaShaB thought it necessary to shield the Jewish scholarly elite from any outside influence and make it a bulwark of the true Orthodox Judaism.

Deep Blue: Notes on the Jewish Snail Fight, Contemporary Jewry 35 (2015), 285-313.

The Bible requires Jews to tie a tekhelet (blue) cord as part of their tzitzit (fringes on tradit... more The Bible requires Jews to tie a tekhelet (blue) cord as part of their tzitzit (fringes on traditional prayer shawl and everyday undergarment). Rabbinic sources of antiquity insisted that the tekhelet dye must have been produced from a marine mollusk termed hillazon. For various reasons, the custom of having this tekhelet cord, which is usually associated with the colors blue or violet, disappeared from Jewish material culture sometime in late antiquity. During the 1880s the Hasidic leader Gershon Hanoch Leiner of Radzin (Radzyń Podlaski, Poland) announced that he had found the ancient hillazon and succeeded in producing tekhelet, which he distributed to his followers. However, his tekhelet did not gain popularity. A much wider interest in tekhelet began in the 1980s, when a new tekhelet was introduced by religious Zionist Jews, resulting in an abundance of Orthodox publications on the subject. However, the 1980s renaissance of tekhelet raised objections from various Jewish Orthodox circles.
This paper aims to sketch a preliminary map of the tekhelet
debate that took place after the introduction of the second tekhelet in the 1980s. It opens with a brief history of tekhelet, followed by a description of the dominant narrative of contemporary tekhelet, and its main opponents. The rest of the article presents central focal points of the controversy: debates regarding the production of the dye; issues of authority regarding acceptance of the new tekhelet; and a messianic tension revealed by the discussion of tekhelet. By providing a non-Orthodox account of the tekhelet debate, this article sheds light on contemporary tekhelet discourse yet also exposes fundamental issues in contemporary Orthodox Judaism, particularly with respect to the relationship between religion and science, and the tension between radicalism and conservatism.

Hasidism in Tsarist Russia: Historical and Social Aspects, Jewish History 27 (2013), 241-269 (With David Assaf)

It is difficult to ascribe to Hasidism sets of distinctive regional characteristics, because Hasi... more It is difficult to ascribe to Hasidism sets of distinctive regional characteristics, because Hasidism transcended both communal and national boundaries. Aware of this problem, the authors of this article seek to characterize Hasidism in Russia, while eschewing the essentialist assumption that Hasidism in Russia had a Russian character.

“Hasidism and Cemetery Inauguration Ceremonies: Authority, Magic, and Performance of Charismatic Leadership,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 103.3 (2013), pp. 328-351.

"The Rectification of the Covenant and the Element of Asceticism in Chernobyl Hasidism," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, 23 (2011), pp. 355-406 (Hebrew)

“Yenuka: On Child Leaders in Hasidism,” Zion, 76 (2011), pp. 139-178 (Hebrew).

Hasidism at The National Library of Israel - Thursday, March 28, 2019, 6PM