But the greatest revolution in the dissemination of Kabbalah to the public occurred in the 18th century, two hundred years after the Ari. It happened with the founding of Chasidut, the Chasidic movement, by Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov (the Besht, for short). The Besht’s great innovation was translating the mystical wisdom of Kabbalah to the language of psychology. The Besht took the foundational content of Kabbalah—the intricate structures of the higher worlds, the Names of God, the complex spiritual intentions, and more—and showed how they can be applied for the growth and purification of the soul. For the chasidim, the Besht’s followers, the wisdom of Kabbalah became a tool to understand ourselves and the meaning of our lives, permeating us with the awareness of God’s Presence in everything.
Chasidut was the most significant and meaningful spiritual renewal movement in Judaism in the modern era. It spread rapidly across the Jewish towns of Eastern Europe, bringing a fresh and rejuvenating breeze to the routine of study, prayer, and service of God. The experience of those who encountered it for the first time was one of awakening from a years-long slumber, a feeling that they had never truly tasted the flavor of faith and closeness to God before.
The Chasidic approach completely dissipated the concerns about studying the inner dimensions of the Torah, and even turned them on their head. Whereas previously there was concern that the inner dimensions of the Torah might fall into the hands of someone unstable, it now became clear that it was the other way around: Deep emotional stability is precisely attained through studying the inner dimensions of the Torah in the Chasidic way.
Moreover, since Chasidic study interprets the concepts of Kabbalah about God using concepts taken from the soul rather than the body, it bypasses the risk of anthropomorphism. And since there is no longer any danger, there is no longer an age limit: even children are deemed capable of learning and absorbing Chasidut from a young age.
In fact, the teachings of Chasidut paved the way for opening the inner dimensions of the Torah to two additional audiences. The first is women. According to Jewish law, women, just like men, are obligated in commandments whose primary fulfillment is in the inner, spiritual layer (belief in God, love of God, fear of God, etc.), the study of Chasidic teachings is as relevant to them as it is to men. Indeed, an important topic discussed extensively in Kabbalah and Chasidut is the spiritual development of women as a crucial step in bringing redemption.
The second audience is the nations of the world: part of the complete prophetic vision of Judaism is the unification of humanity to serve God “with one shoulder.” For this purpose, later generations of Chasidic leaders have permitted teaching non-Jews the extensive parts of the inner dimensions of the Torah that relate to them.
