Maggid

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Maggid (disambiguation).
The prophet Daniel, with a maggid behind, from Die Bücher der Bibel, by Ephraim Moses Lilien. While the term maggid is frequently used to refer to an itinerant Jewish preacher, in Jewish esoteric traditions a maggid is an angelic teacher; a spirit guide.

A maggid (

Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a darshan
(דרשן‎). The title of maggid mesharim ('a preacher of uprightness'; abbreviated מ"מ‎) probably dates from the sixteenth century.

There have long been two distinct classes of leaders in Israel—the scholar and rabbi, and the preacher or maggid. That the popular prophet was sometimes called "maggid" is maintained by those who translate מַגִּיד מִשְׁנֶה‎ (maggid mishne) Zechariah 9:12, by "the maggid repeats" (

sophists, the early maggidim based their preaching on questions addressed to them by the multitude. Thus the Pesiqta, the first collection of set speeches, usually begins with "yelammedenu rabbenu" ('let our master teach us'). An excellent example is the Passover Haggadah
, which is introduced by four questions; the reciter of the answer is called the maggid. When there were no questions, the maggid chose a Biblical text, which was called the petichah (opening).

The term maggid comes from Jewish mysticism (see Magid) and originally referred to a celestial entity, most commonly an angel, who manifests itself as a voice delivering mystical secrets to a kabbalist, or sometimes speaking through the mouths of the chosen ones.[1][2][3]

Popularity of the Maggid

The greater popularity of the maggid as compared with the darshan is instanced from

Sotah 40a).Talmudic Sages like Rabbi Meir combined the functions of a darshan and a maggid (Sanhedrin 38b). When Rabbi Isaac Nappaha was requested by one in his audience to preach a popular haggadah, and by another a halakic discourse, he answered, "I am like the man who had two wives, one young and one old, and each wishing her husband to resemble her in appearance; the younger pulled out his gray hair while the older pulled out his black hair, with the result that he became entirely bald." R. Isaac thereupon delivered a lecture that embraced both halakah and aggadah (Bava Kamma
60b).

In the Gaonic period and the Middle Ages

yeshivah, or the rabbi, delivered a lecture before each festival, giving instructions in the laws governing the days of the festival. The maggid's function was to preach to the common people in the vernacular whenever occasion required, usually on Sabbath afternoon, basing his sermon on the sidra
of the week. The wandering, or traveling, maggid then began to appear, and subsequently became a power in Jewry. His mission was to preach morality, to awaken the dormant spirit of Judaism, and to keep alive the Messianic hope in the hearts of the people. The maggidim's deliverances were generally lacking in literary merit, and were composed largely of current phrases, old quotations, and Biblical interpretations which were designed merely for temporary effect; therefore none of the sermons which were delivered by them have been preserved.

Maggidism reached a period of high literary activity in the 16th century. The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 revealed a master maggid in

Moses Alshech, a maggidic scholar, was one of a community of great Jewish spiritual figures who shaped Jewish thought, in the 16th-century town of Safed in the Galilee
. Others in his circle included the compiler of the Shulchan Aruch code, Yosef Karo, and the leading Kabbalists Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria. In the mystical environment of this community, the Alshech preached every Sabbath before large audiences. Isaac Luria attended his expositions, which included Kabbalistic aspects. In his classic Biblical commentaries he followed closely the method of Abravanel. Alshech also became an authority for the maggidim, who quoted him frequently.

Relation to Messianic fervour

The persecutions of the Jews brought forth a number of maggidim who endeavored to excite the Messianic hope as a balm to the troubled and oppressed Jewry. The new articulation and cosmic doctrines of redemption in Kabbalah, taught by Isaac Luria in the 16th century, inspired a new mystical awareness and focus on Messianism. Messianic messengers and potential candidates sought to advance the Messianic quest in Judaism. Asher Lemmlein preached in Germany and Austria, announcing the coming of the Messiah in 1502, and found credence everywhere. Solomon Molko preached, without declaring the date of the advent, in both Italy and Turkey, and as a result was burned at the stake in Mantua in 1533. R.

Sabbatian Abraham Rovigo in Modena. Perlhefter restored the Sabbatian theology after the death of the pseudo-Messiah, and advocate of mystical heresy, Sabbatai Zevi
(1626-1676).

Motivation and admonishment

Hasidism
. Typically, Hasidism avoids rebuke of punishments, replacing it with shame and remorse from nullification of self-awareness, before the omnipresent Divine presence that awakens joy.

Judah Rosanes of Constantinople (d. 1727), in his "Parashat Derakim," combined the darshan with the maggid. He adopted a new method of harmonizing the acts of Biblical personages with the legal views of Talmudic scholars. For instance, Pharaoh, in refusing to release Israel from bondage, acted according to the contention of Abaye, while Moses insisted on Israel's release in accordance with the decision of Rabba. This farfetched pilpulism had many followers, some of whom asserted that Ahasuerus concurred in the decision of Maimonides, and that Vashti coincided with the opinion of RaBaD.

The Dubner Maggid

Æsop
".

His most famous parable is about how he finds appropriate parables: Walking in the woods a man sees many trees with targets drawn on them. Each target with an arrow in the center, and a little boy with a bow. The little boy acknowledges that he had shot all the arrows. When further questioned he answers: 'First I shoot the arrow, then I draw the target'.

Kranz's pupil Abraham Dov Bär Flahm edited and published the Dubner Maggid's writings, and a host of other maggidim adopted this method. In the same period there were

Shklov
, 1797); Ezekiel Feiwel of Deretschin, author of "Toledot Adam" (Dyhernfurth, 1809) and maggid in Wilna (Levinsohn, "Bet Yehudah," ii. 149).

In modern times, a descendant of the Dubner Maggid, Moshe Kranc wrote down several parables of his, along with modern interpretations, in a book about business and Jewish stories: "The Hasidic Masters' Guide to Management" (The Dubner Maggid was not Hasidic, but followed

Lithuanian Jewish Orthodox
spirituality. There are stories of his relationship with the Vilna Gaon).

Philosophical Maggidim

The most celebrated maggid during the nineteenth century was Moses Isaac ben Noah Darshan, the "Kelmer Maggid" (b. 1828; d. 1900, in

Krotoschin
, 1842), was a noted philosophical maggid.

Meïr Leibush Malbim
(d. 1880), in his voluminous commentaries on the Bible, followed to some extent Abravanel and Alshech, and his conclusions are pointed and logical. Malbim's commentaries are considered to offer the best material for the use of maggidim.

From the "terror", or "

maskil", maggid was called "Volksredner" (people's orator), and closely followed the German "Prediger" in his method of preaching. Tzebi Hirsch Dainow (d. 1877) was the first of the modern type of maggid, which soon developed into that of the "national," or "Zionistic," maggid. Yehuda Zvi Yabzrov from White Russia, as well as Tzvi Hirsch Masliansky and Joseph Zeff, both of New York, were representatives of the latter class. See Homiletics
.

See also Category:Maggidim

Hasidic Maggidim

The founder of the

dveikus (cleaving) through joyful fervour in daily life. This new teaching had popular appeal to the common folk, but also attracted great scholars who saw its deeper significances and philosophical depths. The Baal Shem Tov opposed the admonishing methods of the "musar" maggidim, which criticised and demoralised, as well as motivated, the community. His mysticism saw the inner holiness of each person. He would often illustrate to his disciples the preciousness in God's eyes of the simple sincerity of the unlearned Jewish folk. In the biographical hagiography
of stories about the Baal Shem Tov, his encounters and "conversions" of admonishing preachers are recounted, as well as his encounters with the isolated, ascetic scholars, whose practices he also opposed.

His personal model of the Hasidic Master

Tzaddik
(saintly leader), who channels Divine blessing to the world. The microcosmic Messianic redemption offered by a Hasidic Rebbe, gave a new form of teacher and leader to the Jewish community, combining public mystic and redeemer, along with the traditional notions of darshan and maggid. Some Hasidic leaders are known with the name of "maggid", sometimes gained from before their adherence to Hasidism. The continual regard of this title to them, indicates a new interpretation of the traditional notion of a maggid, incorporated into the Hasidic role of Rebbe. The mystical revival of Hasidism elevated hagiographic storytelling about the Masters to a new degree in Judaism, reflecting the importance of the mystical adherence to a Tzaddik. The popular titles of each Master therefore reflect personal endearment and reverence.

Rabbi

Rabbi Aharon (HaGadol) of Karlin, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
.

Notable Maggidim

See also

References

  1. Joseph Karo (see his "Maggid Mesharim" (Preacher of Righteousness): the appearing maggid is the Mishnah herself), Nathan of Gaza
    , Abraham Yakhini, Rabbi Samson b. Pesah of Ostropol etc.
  2. ^ "Biography of the Ramchal". Ramchal Institute, Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 2014-11-05. Retrieved 2014-11-05. At the age of twenty, an inner spiritual voice, a Maggid revealed himself to the Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Haim Luzzatto of Padua). In a letter to Rabbi Benjamin HaCohen in December 1729, he wrote: "While I was meditating on a Yihud, I fell into a sleep and when I woke, I heard a voice saying: "I have come down to reveal hidden secrets of the Saintly King."
  3. JSTOR 1486699
    .
  4. ^ "GLUSKER MAGGID - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
  5. ^ "ABBA GLUSK LECZEKA - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
  6. Jewish Encyclopedia at: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=41&letter=M
    e.g.)
  7. ^ "Masliansky, Zvi Hirsch". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.

Further reading

  • Bibliography: G. Deutsch, The Decline of the Pulpit, in American Hebrew, 1899, No. 17;
  • Dor Dor u-Darshanim, in Ha-Yom, 1887, No. 213

External links

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Eisenstein, Judah David; Jacobs, Joseph (1906). "Maggid". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 252–254.

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