המפנה בהערכת החסידות — אליעזר צווייפל וההשכלה המתונה ברוסיה

The book by Eliezer Zweifel, Shalom al Yisrael (Peace upon Israel) is the first work to retreat from the traditional hostile stand of the maskilim towards Hasidism. The maskilim looked upon Hasidism as their enemy and as the ideological and social antithesis to their vision of the future. For that reason, Zweifel's book led to a controversy within the circle of Russian maskilim. Some scholars attempted to explain Zweifel's unusual stand in terms of his personality and his tendency to avoid controversy. This article attempts to broaden the historical perspective and to link the change in his evaluation of Hasidism to the framework of Zweifel's thought, which represents the moderate trend of Haskalah among the Russian maskilim in the 1860s and 1870s. Zweifel, as a maskil of the old school, saw himself and his friends as the keepers of the 'true Haskalah', and by confronting the radical maskilim he consolidated a moderate, middle of the road worldview. Two elements are outstanding in this worldview: a reliance on Jewish history and the use of historistic modes of thought (under the strong influence of Nachman Krochmal), and the fear of a national schism. In Shalom al Yisrael these purposes are expressed and give force to his attempt to legitimize Hasidism. Zweifel creates a historical scheme according to which one must understand Hasidism, Hitnagdut, and Haskalah as different trends which are expressions of the 'spirit of the time', each contributing in a unique way to the Completeness Judaism. Together they must achieve a harmony which will smooth over the contradictions between them. Zweifel raises additional points in defense of Hasidism, such as the presentation of Hasidism as containing the potential for Haskalah, legitimizing Hasidism within the framework of Lurianic Kabbalah, evaluating its positive attitude towards the pleasures in life and aesthetics, and proving its closeness of thought to Neoplatonism and to the philosophy of Spinoza. Nonetheless Zweifel sharply criticizes the hasidic movement of his day, and he did not turn from a maskil into a hasid. His relationship to the Breslau school and to the ideas of Zacharias Frankel is also of interest. The last part of the article traces various evaluations of Hasidism among writers and historians in the late 19th century, some of whom follow Zweifel's interpretation.