Do you agree that the original Chassidim were reformers of Judaism?
Ask the rabbi.
HOW MUCH SLEEP?
Rabbi Raymond Apple
Q. How much should I sleep?
A. The answer is personal. Some people need seven to ten hours a day, others can get by on three. Some can only fall asleep if they listen to music, others can only fall asleep during sermons!
The real consideration is not how much sleep but how much wakefulness there is.
Though Shir HaShirim says, “I sleep, but my heart is awake” (5:2), this doesn’t mean that one should never sleep deeply but that, by a Divine miracle, the body can be at rest whilst the heart continues to beat.
That’s why one of God’s great gifts to His creatures is the ability to sleep and be refreshed (Heine said, “Sleep is the most precious of all inventions!”).
The important thing is that when you are fully awake, you should be alert and energetic and stir yourself when people need your interest, support and response.
The great curse is to waste good daytime hours in sleep: the Midrash noted the Biblical words, “Sleep to fall” (Gen. 2:21) and commented, “The beginning of a person’s downfall is (too much) sleep” (Gen. R. 17:5).
CHASSIDIM AS REFORMERS
Q. Do you agree that the original Chassidim were reformers of Judaism?
A. The 20th century thinker Hayim Greenberg wrote, “Chassidism did not reform Judaism – it reformed the Jews.
“Chassidism did not repudiate a single one of the 613 commandments, it did not do away with even one of the strictures of the Shulchan Aruch. It did not undertake to introduce any changes into Jewish theology or ritual.
“It added nothing and subtracted nothing. But it introduced new spirit into that which existed and was traditionally hallowed.
“It introduced ‘kavvanah’ (‘intention’) and ‘d’vekut’ (‘cleaving’) into the mechanics of religious life. Chassidism’s reform consisted in providing or returning to its followers the capacity for experiencing and beholding the miracle in the everyday…
“Chassidism did not revise the prayer book, but to the act of praying it imparted new dimensions and a lyricism which is perhaps the sole convincing justification for praying.”
In its early form, Chassidism was not too particular or punctilious about praying on time, studying Torah or carrying out every practice to the letter. Largely in order to counteract the protests of the “mit’nag’dim”, “the opponents”, there was a tightening up, and today the various Chassidic groups are regarded as ultra-orthodox.
Rabbi Raymond Apple served for 32 years as the chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, Australia’s oldest and most prestigious congregation. He is now retired and lives in Jerusalem where he answers interesting questions.
