People who study ( or merely have an interest in) the history of Judaism in Eastern Europe eventually encounter the rise of the Hassidic movement. Many learned people have written about the Hassidic movement. They ask important questions such as, “What did its founders wish to create?” A commonplace answer to that question is that its founders wished to establish (or perhaps reestablish) a Judaism which would embrace the unlearned masses. As a corollary to this premise, many learned people saw the Hassidic movement as being “anti-intellectual.” These learned people postulate that as opposed to the “Establishment” which viewed Torah study and scholarship as being the highest form of serving Hashem the nascent Hassidic movement placed prayer on the pedestal because prayer is more “democratic”- everyone can pray.
This view is a gross oversimplification of a fascinating historical phenomenon. But it does contain some truth in that even in the Talmud we can find a certain tension between those scholars who emphasized prayer and those who emphasized scholarship.
In today’s final session on prayer and Rav Kook zt”l we will see what Rav Kook wrote on this subject.