So what’s a Hasid anyway?
Ps. 86:2
The Hasidic Movement that began in the Ukraine in the 18th Century prioritized pious faith, earth-based joy and devotion to a mystical Jewish path celebrating community. How much of that bright spark is left in today’s vast Hasidic world is up for debate. My teacher Rabbi Arthur Green, the main teacher of Neo-Hasidic thought, has often claimed that Hasidism went astray a long time ago - insisting on preservation of the past and not dealing with evolving needs, concerns and values. But the term ‘Hasid’ existed long before the Baal Shem Tov founded the Hasidism movement in his humble hut. German-Jewish mystics used the title in the medieval period, the Talmud references Hasids as zealous individuals -- and it’s in today’s psalm that we encounter the curious label in one of it’s earlier incarnations.
So what’s a Hasid anyway?
The author of today’s psalm is assumed to be King David, and he begins by lamenting his dire situation and pleads for help from God - because he is a Hasid, though it is not clear what that exactly means:
שׇׁ֥מְרָ֣ה נַפְשִׁי֮ כִּֽי־חָסִ֢יד אָ֥֫נִי הוֹשַׁ֣ע עַ֭בְדְּךָ אַתָּ֣ה אֱלֹהַ֑י הַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ אֵלֶֽיךָ׃
Preserve my life, for I am steadfast;
O You, my God,
deliver Your servant who trusts in You.
Ps. 86:2
'Steadfast’ is the more popular English translation of the Hebrew ‘Hasid’, though others choose ‘pious’, ‘godly’, ‘faithful’, or ‘loving’.
The root of the word ‘Hasid’ is in the complicated Hebrew concept ‘Hesed’ that is sometimes translated as ‘love’ and sometimes as ‘kindness’. The word shows up four times in this psalm.
A Hasid is assumed to be one whose love of God and virtues exceeds the norm, and goes beyond the basics with expressions of piety or purpose. How did David walk this talk is not quite clear and was already troubling Talmudic readers two thousand years ago.
In Tractate Berachot of the Babylonian Talmud the sages explore David’s Hasidic character - projecting their own notions of piety on the psalmist:
“It is written: “A prayer of David…Keep my soul, for I am pious” (Psalms 86:1–2). Levi and Rabbi Yitzḥak debated the meaning of this verse. One said: David’s declaration of piety referred to his awakening during the night to pray, and so said David before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, am I not pious? As all of the kings of the East and the West sleep until the third hour of the day, but although I am a king like them, “At midnight I rise to give thanks” (Psalms 119:62).
The other Sage said: David said the following before the Holy One, Blessed be: Master of the Universe, am I not pious? For all of the kings of the East and the West sit in groups befitting their honored status, but I sit as a judge who issues rulings for the people. Women come with questions of ritual impurity and my hands become soiled with their blood as I labor to determine whether or not it is blood of impurity and she has menstruating woman status, and with a fetus that miscarried at a stage of development before it was clear whether or not it is considered a birth, and with placenta, which women sometimes discharge unrelated to the birth of a child in order to render a woman ritually pure and consequently permitted to her husband. And not only do I engage in activity considered to be beneath the station of a king, but I consult my teacher, Mefivoshet, son of King Saul’s son, Jonathan, with regard to everything that I do. I say to him: Mefivoshet, my teacher, did I decide properly? Did I convict properly? Did I acquit properly? Did I rule ritually pure properly? Did I rule ritually impure properly? And I was not embarrassed.”
In this fabulous imagined telling of the fabled king, fiction serves as a rabbinic projection.
Both sages imagine David as an extraordinary person - living life outside the expected norm of his rank and position. The poet who wakes up at midnight to pray while other kings sleep is a man of deep faith, a poet of prayer. The judge who spends all day in domestic decision making is a legalist communal leader - the role model for Talmudic teachers who do this kind of bloody business to this day.
Whoever David was and whatever Hasid means, this Talmudic fragment helps us unpack the meaning of this title and how it may be used today not only by those who wear 18th century Eastern European garb, maintain strict religious norms and gender segregation and sing a lot. A Hasid is one whose love of life and life of love exceeds the regular religious route and goes beyond the basics with an extra curricular devotion to divinity. That’s why in this psalm the poet concludes by reminding God that their love is matched by supreme love and echoes the vast love of the source of all things, spilling over to those who recognize it and saving the Hasid from the bottomless pits of despair:
כִּֽי־חַ֭סְדְּךָ גָּד֣וֹל עָלָ֑י וְהִצַּ֥לְתָּ נַ֝פְשִׁ֗י מִשְּׁא֥וֹל תַּחְתִּיָּֽה׃
“For Your steadfast love toward me is great;
You have saved me from the depths of Sheol.”
Ps. 86:13
So perhaps Hasid means lover? As wild and as corny and as cliche and as wonderful as what this word means?
What would it mean for us to wake up in the middle of the night to talk with the stars, to devote ourselves to the needs of others, and to be in communion with the core of the world as one lover to another?
In this world of so many wars, division and discord - how can we re-imagine what it means to truly be Hasidic and reclaim lives lived with unconditional love?
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