Of Vessels and Garments or Inside Out

The Tosher Rebbe

Of all the Chasidish Rebbes I've seen in person and in photos, the Tosher Rebbe seems to lead in best bekeshes (long coats). He is certainly presented to the public as a regal figure and this is conveyed with beautifully embroidered silk garments, fur, and a gold-handled cane.

Compare this image of the great Lithuanian leader of the yeshivah world and brilliant Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, the Chazon Ish.

So I want to bring to your attention two interesting texts that reflect on the spectrum of the garments that clothe and convey the bodies of holy men... Some are hunger artists, like the Litvishe crowd (Brisk, and Novardok, Slobodka, le-havdil etc.) while others take on the appearance of a well-fed monarch. We'll not be so crass as to name names...

First from S. Ansky's, The Dybbuk is this exchange between the three Batlanim (men who are supported by the community that they may maintain their days in the synagogue learning and praying) and the Messenger:

In a dimly lit synagogue three men sit entranced

First Batlen: By Reb Dovidel Tolner, may his merit guard us, was a golden chair and on it was inscribed: "David king of Israel, lives and endures!"

Second Batlen: Reb Yisroel Ruzhiner of blessed memory, went around like a real monarch. By his table an orchestra of 24 musicians would stand and play and he was used to traveling in a wagon with no less than 6 horses in front!

Third Batlen: They used to say that Reb Shmuel Kaminker would go around in golden slippers... golden slippers!

And then the messenger comes in to the conversation, in a soft voice, as if from afar.

The Messenger: The holy Reb Zusha Anipoler was a pauper his whole life, collected donations, and went about in a peasant's coat fastened by a rope and was no less worthy than the Tolner or the Ruzhiner.

First Batlen: No offence, but you don't know what you're talking about, and you intrude anyway? When one tells of the greatness of the Tolner or the Ruzhiner is one speaking of their wealth?? Are there only a few rich people in this world? One must understand that within the golden chair and the orchestra and the golden slippers lies a deeper secret, a hidden cause!

Third Batlen: It's understood! Who doesn't understand this?

...

Who indeed? Now consider this text from over a millenium earlier:

From the Talmud, Nedarim 50b

A The Emperor's daughter said to R. Joshua b. Hananiah: ‘Such comely wisdom in an ugly vessel!’ He replied. ‘Learn from thy father's palace. In what is the wine stored?’ ‘In earthern jars.’ she answered. ‘But all [common] people store [wine] in earthen vessels and thou too likewise! Thou shouldst keep it in jars of gold and silver!’ So she went and had the wine replaced in vessels of gold and silver, and it turned sour. ‘Thus,’ said he to her, ‘The Torah is likewise!’ ‘But are there not handsome people who are learned too?’ ‘Were they ugly they would be even more learned,’ he retorted.

B A certain woman of Nehardea came before Rab Judah for a lawsuit, and was declared guilty by the court. ‘Would your teacher Samuel have judged thus?’ she said. ‘Do you know him then?’ he asked. ‘Yes, He is short and big-stomached, black and large teethed.’ ‘What, you have come to insult him! Let that woman be under the ban!’ he exclaimed. She burst and died.

So what to make of these disparate, divergent views of the relationship between the outer and inner? Well for starters, as I noted, the Talmudic text was produced over a millenium before the Chasidim spoken by the Batlanim of The Dybbuk burst onto the European Jewish scene. Needless to say, Jewish culture was vastly different back at the time the first part of the Talmudic text was produced. What's interesting here is that the Talmud places two very different aesthetic views cheek by jowl. In A physical beauty is spurned, while in B from the Talmud, an insult to the physical appearance of Samuel, a Rabbi, is admonished to say the least.

As far as the regal accoutrement of the Hasidic Rebbes is concerned we can offer a very simple explanation. From the time of the rise of the Babylonian/Persian Jewish leadership there was an emphasis on presenting leaders who carried the mantel of authority, that entailed all sorts of civic responsibilities beyond the juridical, as leaders, as kings of their court with all that the Persian culture back then entailed. So with the Men of Silk, as one author refers to the Chasidishe Rebbes.

This is simply the way it was to be; in that historical moment:

Es muss sein! (As a great composer once wrote).

Dress the part if you want to be the King! And yes, there are hidden meanings and mystical reasons for the flourish, the flare, the grandiosity, and the unabashed bravura; not like "a guy who takes his time" who goes for big commotion as Mae West sang of the amateur.