האשכנזי הפלאי - הצצה חסידית אל קסמיה של המודרנה: עיון בספרות השבחים החסידית

In numerous Hassidic stories in which the “Daytshil” or the “Ashkenazy” appears – the modernized and westernized Jew – he is revealed to be a hidden righteous man. The varied ways in which the “Daytshil” appears in Hassidic hagiographic literature is indicative of his representing a literary theme present within Hassidut. In these stories the “Ashkenazy” symbolizes the hidden spiritual charm of modernity, and he even replaces, to a certain extent, the holy revelation of the “simple man”. Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa [Przysucha] can be seen as a unique personality who sometimes acts as an incarnation of the “Mysterious Ashkenazy”. The stories of the “Mysterious Ashkenazy” reflect the ability of the followers of Hassidut to feel a spiritual quality and sparks of holiness within modernity, despite their hatred and fear of it. As opposed to the claims of “atrophy”, these stories reflect preservation of the curiosity and of the radical foundations within the spiritual world of the followers of Hassidut, even in its later generations. In these stories the Hassidim “glimpse” behind the “closed door” between them and modernity. They also give subtle approval to a number of values of the western world, first and foremost the new value system of couplehood and family.