Anarchism and Orthodox Judaism - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Background

This article describes some views of notable Orthodox Jewish figures who supported anarchism

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

, as well as various themes within the scope of the Orthodox Jewish tradition or among the practicing Orthodox Jews that are generally considered important from the anarchist worldview. As it is often the case with pro-anarchist movements and personal anarchist opinions in spiritual traditions, authoritative organized Orthodox Jewish bodies may view some of the views described here as marginal. Anarchism found a number of notable supporters among the Orthodox Jews in the first half of the 20th century; On the other hand, a number of notable secular Jewish anti-authoritarians noticed some anarchic tendencies in traditional Judaism.

One post-denominational movement in Judaism, where the views described in this article are common, is Jewish Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Jewish Renewal , is a recent movement in Judaism which endeavors to reinvigorate modern Judaism with mystical, Hasidic, musical and meditative practices...

or Neo-Hasidism

Neo-Hasidism

Neo-Hasidism is a name frequently given to the significant revival of interest in Hasidic Judaism on the part of non-Orthodox Jews in different decades due to the writings of non-Orthodox teachers of Hasidic Judaism like Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Lawrence Kushner, Zalman...

.

While there is no organized Orthodox Jewish

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

anarchist movement

Anarchism

similar to Christian anarchist

Christian anarchism

Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology that combines anarchism and Christianity. It is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus...

movements, a number of pro-anarchistic ideas are found in the works of some Kabbalists

Kabbalah

Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...

and Hasidic teachers, as well as in the Jewish folk religion

Folk religion

Folk religion consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an organized religion, but outside of official doctrine and practices...

. A few Jewish mystical

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

groups in Antiquity were based on anti-authoritarian

Anti-authoritarian

Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as a "political doctrine advocating the principle of absolute rule: absolutism, autocracy, despotism, dictatorship, totalitarianism." Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law and strong civil...

or radically communal principles, somewhat similar to the Christian Quakers, Dukhobors and other similar movements. Some secular Jewish anarchists, such as Abba Gordin and Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm

Erich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...

, noticed similarity between anarchism and Jewish mysticism. Martin Buber

Martin Buber

Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....

, a deeply religious philosopher, although not an Orthodox Jew, was greatly influenced by the Hasidic tradition and often refers to it.

Some Jewish anarchists

Jewish anarchism

Jewish anarchism is a general term encompassing various expressions of anarchism within the Jewish community.- Secular Jewish Anarchism :Many people of Jewish origin, such as Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Martin Buber, Murray Bookchin, Noam Chomsky, Murray Rothbard or David D. Friedman have...

of the 20th century had explicitly combined contemporary radical thought with traditional Judaism, insisting that, in their view, Judaism calls for abolition of the state

State (polity)

A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...

, private property

Private property

Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...

and class society. These Orthodox Jewish anarchists personally observed the Halacha, but supported the social system of communist anarchism or anarcho-syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...

Orthodox Jews and Anti-authoritarian Left

British Orthodox Rabbi Yankev-Meyer Zalkind

Yankev-Meyer Zalkind

Yankev-Meyer Zalkind was a British Orthodox rabbi, an anarcho-communist, a close friend of Rudolf Rocker, and a very active anti-militarist. Rabbi Zalkind was also a prolific Yiddish writer and a prominent Torah scholar, who authored a few volumes of commentaries on the Talmud...

, was an anarcho-communist, a close friend of the anarchist thinker Rudolf Rocker

Rudolf Rocker

Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...

, and an active anti-militarist, who was jailed by the British authorities for his anti-war activism. Rabbi Zalkind was also a prolific Yiddish writer and a prominent Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

scholar, who authored a few volumes of commentaries on the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

. He believed that the ethics of the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

, if properly understood, are closely related to anarchism.

The famous Kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag

Yehuda Ashlag

Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag or Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag also known as the Baal Ha-Sulam in reference to his magnum opus, was an orthodox rabbi and kabbalist born in Łódź, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, to a family of scholars connected to the Hasidic courts of Porisov and Belz...

believed in a religious version of libertarian communism

Libertarian communism

Libertarian communism is a theory of libertarianism which advocates the abolition of the state and private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, a direct democracy and self-governance....

, based on principles of Kabbalah, which he called altruist communism. Ashlag supported the Kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

movement and preached to establish a network of self-ruled internationalist

Internationalism (politics)

Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...

voluntary communes, who would eventually dismantle the government and the system of law enforcement. However, most contemporary followers of the Ashlagian Kabbalah seem to be unaware of his anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian political stance.

Russian revolutionary

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...

and Territorialist

Territorialism

Territorialism, also known as Statism , was a Jewish political movement calling for creation of a sufficiently large and compact Jewish territory , not necessarily in the Land of Israel and not necessarily fully autonomous.-Development of territorialism:Before 1905 some Zionist leaders took...

leader Isaac Nachman Steinberg

Isaac Nachman Steinberg

Isaac Nachman Steinberg was a lawyer, revolutionary, politician, a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in Soviet Russia and in exile.-Early life and first exile:...

, whose ideas were essentially anarchist, although he defined himself as a left eser

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries

In 1917, Russia the Socialist-Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Provisional Government, established after the February Revolution, and those who supported the Bolsheviks who favoured a communist insurrection....

or left narodnik

Narodnik

Narodniks was the name for Russian socially conscious members of the middle class in the 1860s and 1870s. Their ideas and actions were known as Narodnichestvo which can be translated as "Peopleism", though is more commonly rendered "populism"...

, was an Orthodox Jew. Like Martin Buber

Martin Buber

, Steinberg supported the idea of binational solution

Binational solution

The one-state solution and the similar binational solution are proposed approaches to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Proponents of a binational solution to the conflict advocate either a single state in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or a single state in Israel and the West...

of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and tried to establish a compact self-ruled Jewish settlement somewhere else outside the Middle East.

Rabbi Abraham Yehudah Khein

Abraham Yehudah Khein

Abraham Yehudah Khein was a Hasidic Rabbi in the Ukrainian town Nyezhin and a pacifist anarchist. Khein belonged to the Hasidic Chabad tradition by family descent and spiritual training....

(1878–1957), a prominent follower of the Hasidic Chabad

Chabad

Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...

tradition, was eloquently committed to pacifism and non-violence during the days when the Jewish community in Palestine was battling the Arabs and the British. He tried to relate his readings of Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...

and Pyotr Kropotkin to Kabbalah and Hasidism. Rabbi Khein deeply respected Kropotkin, whom he called "the Tzadik

Tzadik

Tzadik/Zadik/Sadiq is a title given to personalities in Jewish tradition considered righteous, such as Biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ṣadiq, is ṣ-d-q , which means "justice" or "righteousness", also the root of Tzedakah...

of the new world", whose "soul is as pure as crystal"

Rabbi Yehudah-Leib Don-Yakhia from Chernigov, another Chabadnik, was known as a Tolstoyan and frequently quoted Leo Tolstoy in his synagogue sermons.

Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov

Shmuel Alexandrov

Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov of Bobruisk was a prominent student of the Volozhin Yeshiva, who became close to the tradition of Chabad Hasidism...

, also close to Chabad

Chabad

Hasidism, was an individualist anarchist, whose religious thought was marked by some degree of antinomianism

Antinomianism

Antinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....

Period of the Judges

The Bible indicates, that the pre-monarchic Israelite society was anarchistic: "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges, 21:25); The prophet Samuel harshly criticized the Jews for trying to establish a monarchy. Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag

Yehuda Ashlag

, referring to the above-mentioned verse, believed, that the future society will be libertarian communist

Libertarian communism

Essenes

The Essenes

Essenes

The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests...

were a monastic Jewish sect, that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. Although the Essenic society was divided into four strictly hierarchic orders, they rebelled against the establishment, lived a radically communal life, kept vegetarian diet and supported themselves by manual labor, usually agricultural. New initiates to Essenism took some vows, including an oath not to force personal views or authority on others.

The Account of Eldad ha-Dani

Eldad ha-Dani was a merchant and traveler of the ninth century, who professed to have been a citizen of an "independent Jewish state" in eastern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, inhabited by people claiming descent from the tribes of Dan

Tribe of Dan

The Tribe of Dan, also sometimes spelled as "Dann", was one of the Tribes of Israel. Though known mostly from biblical sources, they were possibly descendants of the Denyen Sea Peoples who joined with Hebrews...

(hence his name, "ha-Dani" = "the Danite"), Asher

Tribe of Asher

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Asher! was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...

, Gad

Tribe of Gad

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Gad was one of the Tribes of Israel.From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BC, the Tribe of Gad was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government existed,...

, and Naphtali

Tribe of Naphtali

The Tribe of Naphtali was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...

. According to his travel narratives, there is somewhere in the world a large land, encircled by the mysterious river Sambation

Sambation

According to rabbinic literature, the Sambation is the river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V.-Location:...

, inhabited by descendants of Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

. The inhabitants of this land have beautiful houses and live happy, wealthy and extremely long lives; they are all equal and farm their land by themselves, because they don't have servants; no one of them locks their doors at night, because they would consider it a shame; unlike the other tribes described in the story, no king or authority is mentioned.

Eldad ha-Dani's fanciful travel narratives were accepted by his contemporaries as true and were very popular in the Jewish world until recent times. Even today, there are a few people, who believe that this mysterious land exists, perhaps somewhere in a parallel dimension. Regardless of the factual truth of Eldad ha-Dani's account, it indicates that many medieval Jews believed that such a utopian society is possible and has been actually implemented.

Mystical communities in Eastern Europe

According to Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

an Jewish legends, before the establishment of the Hasidic movement by the Baal Shem Tov

Yisroel ben Eliezer (The Baal Shem Tov)

Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer , often called Baal Shem Tov or Besht, was a Jewish mystical rabbi...

, there existed a secret society of Kabbalists, who hid their mystical knowledge and refrained from public positions and honors. Some of these mystics, according to the legends, had establishing self-ruled agricultural settlements, which emphasized individual autonomy, solidarity and compassion, closeness to nature and living by their own labor. The sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, said that the village of Lyubavichi

Lyubavichi

Lyubavichi is a rural locality in Rudnyansky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia.-History:The village is known to have existed in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since at least 1654 . In 1784 mentioned as a small town , then a possession of the magnate Lubomirski family...

took its origin from such a settlement, established by a mystic, named Reb Meyer, whose love to his fellows, both Jews and non-Jews, was boundless, and who also showed great compassion to all living beings. According to the legend, the village was originally named "Luba", meaning "love" both in Russian and Polish.

Hasidim

Some Hasidic rebbes had proposed social structures that emphasize equality and anti-authoritarian principles. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piasetzno

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piasetzno

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira , was the Grand Rabbi of Piaseczno, Poland, who authored a number of works and was murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.-Early years and life before the war:...

had organized a mystical circle of Hasidim, focused on spiritual development and meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

. Rabbi Shapiro had insisted that his organization should refrain from choosing the chairman, vice chairman etc., as it was a custom in many organizations, because in a place, where holiness is revealed, there is no rulership and honors.

Another example of Hasidic anti-authoritarianism are some sectors of the Breslov

Breslov (Hasidic dynasty)

Breslov is a branch of Hasidic Judaism founded by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism...

community, who refuse to obey any contemporary authorities and follow only the teaching of rebbe Nachmen

Nachman of Breslov

Nachman of Breslov , also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover , Nachman from Uman , was the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement....

and his disciple, reb Nosn

Nathan of Breslov

Nathan of Breslov , also known as Reb Noson, born Nathan Sternhartz, was the chief disciple and scribe of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, founder of the Breslov Hasidic dynasty. Reb Noson is credited with preserving, promoting and expanding the Breslov movement after the Rebbe's death...

. The Breslov community in general is very decentralized and includes followers of diametrically opposite political opinions, such as far-right settlers of the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

and Neturei Karta

Neturei Karta

Neturei Karta is a Haredi Jewish group formally created in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, in 1938, splitting off from Agudas Yisroel...

.

Some Hasidic masters, including Simcha Bunim of Peshischa

Simcha Bunim of Peshischa

Rabbi Simcha Bunim Bonhart of Peshischa was one of the main leaders of Hasidic Judaism in Poland. After studying Torah at yeshivas in Mattersdorf and Nikolsburg, he was introduced to the world of Hasidism by his father-in-law, and became a chasid of Rabbi Yisroel Hopsztajn , and then Rabbi...

, Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica

Mordechai Yosef Leiner

Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica was a rabbinic Hasidic thinker and founder of the Izhbitza-Radzyn dynasty of Hasidic Judaism.Rabbi Mordechai Yosef was born in Tomashov in 1801 to his father Reb Yaakov the son of Reb Mordechai of Sekul, a descendant of Rabbi Shoul Wahl. At the age two he became...

and Zadok of Lublin

Zadok HaKohen

Rabbi Zadok HaKohen Rabinowitz of Lublin , also spelled Tzadok Hacohen, Tsadok Hakohen, Tsadok Hacohen and Tzadok Hakohen, was a Hasidic Rebbe.-Biography:...

, emphasize individual choice, freedom, spontaneity and dynamism of thought and action.

God

According to the Hasidic panentheistic

Panentheism

Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...

view, God is the true nature of all reality and the true self of the human soul ("the soul of the souls"). All duality and multiplicity is an illusion, resulting from the Tzimtzum

Tzimtzum

Tzimtzum is a term used in the kabbalistic teaching of Isaac Luria, explaining his concept that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his infinite light in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a finite and seemingly independent world could exist...

. The contemporary Hasidic researcher Immanuel Schochet had described this view as monistic

Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...

acosmism

Acosmism

Acosmism, in contrast to pantheism, denies the reality of the universe, seeing it as ultimately illusory, , and only the infinite unmanifest Absolute as real....

. Everything in the world is everchanging and lacks intrinsic reality, while the only true reality - God - is beyond all definitions and boundaries, including time, space, personality and even substantial existence. Such views of reality are common in the Chassidic literature, although many contemporary Chassidim are unaware of these teachings and might consider them too esoteric.

The appearance of God as a personal being in the world of Atzilut is also a result of the Tzimtzum

Tzimtzum

and, according to the teachings of the Lubavitcher rabbi

Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...

, is a reflection of the to-be-created human personality, though some other Chassidim might consider such views bordering on heresy. In Kabbalistic and Hasidic literature, God is commonly called Ein Sof
Ein Sof (Kabbalah)
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...

(the Infinite) or, sometimes, Ayin (Nothingness). The purpose of "worshipping" God is the realization of the Absolute Reality and unification with it.

Such esoteric view of God differs radically from conventional monotheism

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...

and resembles the Eastern concepts of Nirguna Brahman

Nirguna Brahman

Nirguna Brahman, signifies in Hindu philosophy the Brahman that pervades the Universe, considered without form , as in the Advaita school or else as without material form, as in Dvaita schools of philosophy.-Advaita:According to Adi Shankara, the famous reviver of Advaita...

, Suchness and Dharmakaya

Dharmakaya

The Dharmakāya is a central idea in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the 1st century BCE...

. Thus, Mikhail Bakunin's

Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...

and Daniel Guérin's

Daniel Guérin

Daniel Guérin was a French libertarian and author, best known for his work Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, as well as his collection No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism in which he collected writings on the idea and movement it inspired, from the first writings of Max Stirner in the...

critique of religion can be only partly applied to such a theology.

Law

According to the Hasidic esoteric philosophy, the Halacha is not a set of laws, imposed by an external authority (since in panentheistic view God is never "external"), but a framework of means for spiritual self-development, somewhat similar to the Eastern concept of Dharma

Dharma

Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...

. The reward of fulfilling the commandments is the inner development itself; the punishment for the sin is the destructive spiritual impact of certain actions. Thus, the religious laws are seen as natural (and, at same time, divine and supernatural), as the laws of physical nature. Halacha itself is open to inquiry, though actual change or violation of halachic norms, according to traditional Hasidism, usually requires extensive expertise and mystical knowledge, and should be taken with great caution. According to some Kabbalists, in the Messianic world the standardized Halacha will be abolished, because everyone will realize his/her personal spiritual path by personal intuition. Such views are very common in the classic Chassidic literature, although many contemporary Chassidim might consider these teachings too esoteric and view the Halacha primarily as "law".

Mutual Aid and International Solidarity

There are two clearly anti-authoritarian passages in the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

ic tractate Pirkei Avot

Pirkei Avoth

Pirkei Avot , which translates to English as Chapters of the Fathers is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims of the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period. Because of its contents, it is also called Ethics of the Fathers. The teachings of Pirkei Avot appear in the Mishnaic tractate of Avot,...

: "Love labor, hate mastery over others, and avoid a close relationship with the government" (Avot, 1:10); "Be careful with the government, for they befriend a person only for their own needs. They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them, but they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress" (Avot 2:3).

Another passage in Pirkei Avot

Pirkei Avoth

lists four possible social relationship schemes: "He who says, 'What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours', is the median type, though some say that this is the quality of Sodom. He who says, 'What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine', is a simple (or, according to other readings, an ignorant) man. He who says, 'What's mine is yours and what's yours is yours', is a pious man ('Hasid'). And he who says, 'What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine', is wicked.'" (Avot, 5:13). According to Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag

Yehuda Ashlag

, consistent application of this ethical rule by all members of the society leads to voluntary communism.

During the Middle Ages, some Jews practiced usury

Usury

Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...

against the non-Jews, while condemning it within the Jewish community. Most medieval rabbis approved of such practice, which helped the Jews to survive in antisemitic states, where they were excluded from most professions. However, a number of prominent rabbis explain that usury is unethical in nature, and is not allowed against people, who treat Jews well. Emphasis on cooperative productive word and criticism of wage labor and of profit from financial operations is found in some Judaic ethical treatises, including Sefer HaBrit by Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu of Vilna, Tiferet Israel

Tiferet Yisrael (commentary)

Tiferet Yisrael is a commentary on the Mishnah written by Rabbi Israel Lipschitz....

by Israel Lipschitz

Israel Lipschitz

Israel Lipschitz was rabbi and one of the Acharonim first at Dessau and then at the Jewish Community of Danzig. He was the author of Tiferet Yisrael a well-known commentary on the Mishna...

, and Memoirs of Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavicher Rebbe.

Traditional Judaism is often viewed as a national religion, concerned mostly with internal affairs. However, many well known Torah

Torah

scholars called for international solidarity, cooperation and compassion. For example, the Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n-born Rabbi Pinchas Elijah Horovitz, the author of Sefer haBrit, who lived in 18th century Galicia, had insisted that the Jews are obligated to love their neighbors, Jews and non-Jews alike, like themselves. He called for compassionate international solidarity, mutual aid and cooperative labor.

Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh

Elijah Benamozegh

Elijah Benamozegh, sometimes Elia or Eliyahu, was an Italian Orthodox rabbi and a noted Kabbalist, highly respected in his day as one of Italy's most eminent Jewish scholars. He served for half a century as rabbi of the important Jewish community of Livorno, where the Piazza Benamozegh now...

, an Italian Orthodox Kabbalist, strongly supported religious universalism

Universalism

Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...

and political internationalism

Internationalism (politics)

Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...

Nonviolence

Contemporary Judaism rejects capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

and, at least in theory, almost never advocates physical coercion, except for some rare cases, such as forcing a husband who refuses to give a get

Get (divorce document)

A is a divorce document, which according to Jewish Law, must be presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. The essential text of the is quite short: "You are hereby permitted to all men," i.e., the wife is no longer a married woman, and the laws of adultery no longer apply...

to his wife, who wants to be divorced. However, historically Judaism (as laid down in the Torah) did mandate, at least in theory, the death sentence for certain crimes, provided that certain requirements are met, namely two eyewitnesses and the perpetrator being warned of (and acknowledging) the punishment if they were to carry out the crime. This however requires participation of active Sanhedrin (the supreme court of Jewish law) which is presently non existent. The only exception to that rule is the case of the "moyser" ("informer") who threatens the life of others by informing

Informant

An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...

the authorities; such a person could be killed, in principle, even today.

While Tanakh

Tanakh

The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

contains many violent stories of military conquest, capital and collective punishment for various sins, the Talmud and the later commentators tend to interpret these stories not literally or reduce them to unique one-time contexts. For example, the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

ic requirements for corporal punishments are so complicated and unrealistic, that render them virtually impossible even in the biblical times and certainly impossible today. The Talmud says, that a Sanhedrin

Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...

, who would put someone to death even once (or, according to another version, more than once) in 70 years, deserves to be called a "bloody Sanhedrin". According to Kabbalah, the purpose of these rare punishments was the spiritual "correction" of the sinner's soul, in order to liberate it from the Klipot

Qliphoth

Qliphoth/Qelippot, alternatively Klippot/Kellipot etc. refers to the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism.In the Kabbalistic spiritual cosmology, the Kelipot are metaphorical "shells" surrounding holiness...

.

Rabbi Abraham Yehudah Khein

Abraham Yehudah Khein

Abraham Yehudah Khein was a Hasidic Rabbi in the Ukrainian town Nyezhin and a pacifist anarchist. Khein belonged to the Hasidic Chabad tradition by family descent and spiritual training....

, a supporter of communist anarchism, noticed that Rabbi Akiva

Rabbi Akiva

Akiva ben Joseph simply known as Rabbi Akiva , was a tanna of the latter part of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century . He was a great authority in the matter of Jewish tradition, and one of the most central and essential contributors to the Mishnah and Midrash Halakha...

, one of the most prominent Talmudical sages, rejected capital punishment altogether. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon said that if they and their pupils would participate in a Sanhedrin, they would make sure that no one ever gets killed.

The Talmud teaches: "Who is mighty? One who controls his passions" (Pirkei Avot 4:1); "Who is the mightiest of heroes? He who makes an enemy into his friend" (Pirkei Avot, 5:11); "Be of the persecuted rather than the persecutor" (Bava Kama 93a). However, a number of anti-Zionist

Anti-Zionism

Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...

rabbis, especially, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum, known as Reb Yoelish or the Satmar Rav , was a prominent Hungarian Hasidic rebbe and Talmudic scholar. He was probably the best known Haredi opponent of all forms of modern political Zionism...

, the late Satmar

Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)

Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...

rebbe

Rebbe

Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...

, condemned the violence of the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

, including the Six-Day War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

, although many observers considered this war an act of "preemptive self-defence". While Judaism fully recognizes the right of military defense, many Orthodox Jews only consider it legitimate in cases of clear and unavoidable danger. Even in such cases, some anti-Zionist Jews deny the right of the State to execute such power.

A few Orthodox Jewish anti-Zionist

Anti-Zionism

groups, especially Neturei Karta

Neturei Karta

Neturei Karta is a Haredi Jewish group formally created in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, in 1938, splitting off from Agudas Yisroel...

, don't support any Israel's military actions, interpret the Arab aggression as a result of the Zionist politics and reject the State of Israel altogether, because they view its existence as a heretical

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

contradiction with the belief in the future Messianic redemption, which they usually don't see as the restoration of the Jewish statehood, but as a spiritual 'kingdom' of universal harmony and peace.

Critical approach to organized religion

Though in ancient times the Jewish religious practice centered around the Great Sanhedrin

Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...

, which acted as a rabbincal legislative authority controlling the whole of ancient Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

, Modern Judaism is a principally decentralized religion that lacks a central clerical body.

Often today, Rabbis are considered to be just more knowledgeable people, who serve as advisors and analyze how the Halacha applies to different situations, although some rabbinical figures and organizations impose their authority though coercive means. Some rabbis have secular jobs and refrain from being supported by the community. Nevertheless, in ultra-orthodox Haredi circles, the concept of Da'as Torah still mandates near-complete obedience to the authority of gedolim (a special cadre of especially esteemed rabbinic scholars) in every area of everyday life. This authority structure exists both in the Haredi Litvish camp and among Hasidic groups, where the Admor or Rebbe is consulted for Da'as Torah. One notable exception are the Breslov

Breslov

Breslov may refer to one of the following.*Bratslav, a town in modern Ukraine.*Breslov , founded in Bratslav....

Hasidim, who tend to be decentralized and individualistic.

Despite this, even in the most authoritarian Jewish communities it's very common to disobey the rabbis for various reasons, and to organize new independent groups, who would choose their own rabbis, or, sometimes, would refuse to obey any living authority. For example, some Satmar Hasidim

Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)

refuse to recognize their current leadership and rely solely on the teachings of the late Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum

; most Satmar Hasidim do not recognize and harshly criticise all Zionist and pro-Zionist rabbinical institutions, especially the Chief Rabbinate of Israel

Chief Rabbinate of Israel

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...

. Some educated Orthodox Jews do not affiliate with any particular rabbi or group, and choose halachic opinions on their own, by researching rabbinical literature and comparing opinions of different rabbis.

The tradition of decentralization and somewhat critical approach to authoritarian structures is common among Orthodox Jews, especially among the Hasidim, who are divided into over 100 independent sects.

Relativity of power structures

The Kabbalistic and Hasidic literature often views hierarchies, dichotomies and casual relationships as relative and overturnable, based on the ontological principle of Sefer Yetzirah

Sefer Yetzirah

Sefer Yetzirah is the title of the earliest extant book on Jewish esotericism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed to Kabbalah...

, that the beginning is wedged in the end, and the end is wedged in the beginning, and the monistic

Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...

concepts of unity and interrelated nature of all things. For example, Malkhut, which usually represents the feminine aspects of Reality in Kabbalah, is the lowest and, at the same time, the highest of the Sephirot

Sephirot (Kabbalah)

Sephirot or Sephiroth , meaning "enumerations", are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which God reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms...

, because in its root it's identical with Keter

Keter (Kabbalah)

Keter also known as Kether, is the topmost of the Sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah. Since its meaning is "crown", it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Sephirot and the "regal crown" of the Sephirot. It is between Chokmah and Binah and it sits above Tiphereth...

; according to the teachings of Chassidus, Moses had lost some "sparks" of his spirituality due to the misdeeds of the Jews in the desert, because the leader is in some aspect lower the led, "like the head, that can not go without the feet, in which aspect the feet become the head"; the empty part of a book or a Torah scroll is considered more ontologically significant, because it enables the very existence of the text; repentance can elevate a sin to the level higher than a Mitzvah

Mitzvah

The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...

; destruction can be a creative force, like the seed, that must be destroyed in the soil, in order to grow into a new plant.

In general, the dialectic of Kabbalah often closely resembles deconstructivist

Deconstructivism

Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of...

philosophy.

Truth

Judaism accepts that truth is relative to some extent and that the opposite Halachic opinions can both be right, although this idea is usually not generalized beyond some traditional contexts. Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twerski of Chernobyl had stated, that even contradicting descriptions of historical reality can both be, and sometimes are, true. According to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

Nachman of Breslov

Nachman of Breslov , also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover , Nachman from Uman , was the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement....

, the true knowledge is denial of any final knowledge; when a person reaches the "peak" of one spiritual world, all his/her previous knowledge is nullified by the new knowledge, that he discovers in the next world. However, one must seek and follow his or her personal truth, in order to keep "climbing" to the higher worlds and new levels of the knowledge, which have no end.

Question of Messianic 'Kingdom'

The belief in the future restoration of the Messiah

Messiah

A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...

's kingdom on earth is considered one of the fundamental tenets of traditional Judaism. Some classic rabbinical commentaries, especially the Rambam

Maimonides

Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...

, supported monarchy and viewed the future Messiah as a king in literal sense and the future Messianic redemption as restoration of the Jewish state. According to other classic interpretations, the Torah

Torah

only tells what limitations are supposed to be put on the king's power and possessions, if the Jews decide to choose monarchy as an option. According to Isaac Abrabanel

Isaac Abrabanel

Isaac ben Judah Abrabanel, , commonly referred to just as Abarbanel, was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator, and financier.-Biography:...

, the "king" Moshiach will be a universally accepted spiritual teacher and a judge, but not a monarch; the state will be abolished and humanity will eventually return to the original Edenic harmony. Though Abarbanel's commentary is complex and may be interpreted in a number of different ways, his view of the ideal society in not statist. Rabbi Jonathan Sachs

Jonathan Sachs

Jonathan Sachs was the programmer who co-founded Lotus Development Corporation with Mitch Kapor in 1982 and created the first version of the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program...

considers Abarbanel an 'utopian anarchist'

A number of Hasidic teachers consistently rejected or spiritualized the idea of a future Messianic

Messianism

Messianism is the belief in a messiah, a savior or redeemer. Many religions have a messiah concept, including the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Christ, the Muslim Mahdi and Isa , the Buddhist Maitreya, the Hindu Kalki and the Zoroastrian Saoshyant...

"kingdom", and viewed Messiah as a compassionate teacher and advisor, but not a coercive ruler. According to such Hasidic interpretation, the Messiah

Jewish Messiah

Messiah, ; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25...

will "fight" God's eschatological "wars" by providing a role model of a great Tzadik

Tzadik

. Some Jewish mystics emphasize the concept of 'Messianic spark' or the 'inner Messiah' within every righteous individual or every human soul. According to such view, the whole humanity will attain collectively redemptive Messianic consciousness in the future.

There is a seemingly monarchist passage in the Talmud: Pray for the stability of the kingdom, for were it not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbor alive (Avot 3:2). However, Isaac Abarbanel, Israel Lipschutz and a number of other classic commentators hold that this passage only stresses the need for social order ("kingdom"), which might be organized by the people, and not necessarily by the king. Some mystical commentators interpret this passage in non-literal fashion, as referring to the spiritual Divine kingdom inside every human individual, not unlike Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

Quotes

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

Love labor, hate mastery, and avoid relationship with the government (Avot, 1:10)

He who says, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours", is the median type, though some say that this is the quality of Sodom. He who says, "What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine", is a simple man. He who says, "What's mine is yours and what's yours is yours", is a pious man ("Hasid"). And he who says, "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine", is wicked. (Avot, 5:10)

Simcha Bunim of Peshischa

In worship of God there are no rules - and this statement is also not a rule.

Mordechai Yosef Leiner

Someone whose spiritual root is good does not have to restrict himself. Whatever he does is good in God's eyes.

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piasetzno

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira , was the Grand Rabbi of Piaseczno, Poland, who authored a number of works and was murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.-Early years and life before the war:...

In a place where holiness is revealed, there is no rulership and honors.

Yehuda Ashlag

Altruistic Communism will finally annul the brute-force regime completely, for “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” .. Indeed, there is nothing more humiliating and degrading for a person than being under the brute-force government http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/full/3811.

Orthodox Jewish anarchists

Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag
Yehuda Ashlag
Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag or Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag also known as the Baal Ha-Sulam in reference to his magnum opus, was an orthodox rabbi and kabbalist born in Łódź, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, to a family of scholars connected to the Hasidic courts of Porisov and Belz...
Isaac Nachman Steinberg
Isaac Nachman Steinberg
Isaac Nachman Steinberg was a lawyer, revolutionary, politician, a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in Soviet Russia and in exile.-Early life and first exile:...
Rabbi Yankev-Meyer Zalkind
Yankev-Meyer Zalkind
Yankev-Meyer Zalkind was a British Orthodox rabbi, an anarcho-communist, a close friend of Rudolf Rocker, and a very active anti-militarist. Rabbi Zalkind was also a prolific Yiddish writer and a prominent Torah scholar, who authored a few volumes of commentaries on the Talmud...
Abraham Yehudah Khein
Abraham Yehudah Khein
Abraham Yehudah Khein was a Hasidic Rabbi in the Ukrainian town Nyezhin and a pacifist anarchist. Khein belonged to the Hasidic Chabad tradition by family descent and spiritual training....
Shmuel Alexandrov
Shmuel Alexandrov
Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov of Bobruisk was a prominent student of the Volozhin Yeshiva, who became close to the tradition of Chabad Hasidism...

Background

Orthodox Jews and Anti-authoritarian Left

Period of the Judges

Essenes

The Account of Eldad ha-Dani

Mystical communities in Eastern Europe

Hasidim

God

Law

Mutual Aid and International Solidarity

Nonviolence

Critical approach to organized religion

Relativity of power structures

Truth

Question of Messianic 'Kingdom'

Quotes

Orthodox Jewish anarchists

See also