TY - JOUR
TI - Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin’s Polemic with Hassidism
AU - Shuchat, Raphael
TI - Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin’s Polemic with Hassidism
AB - 
	R. Hayyim Volozhin, the main disciple of the Vilna Gaon, set up the Volozhin Yeshiva in 1802. Unlike his mentor, R. Hayyim was not interested in perpetuating the animosity between Hassisdm and mirthnagdim, welcoming Hassidic students in his yeshiva. Despite this, R. Hayyim had a major ideological dispute with the Hassidic world. This is obvious from the collections of questions and answers we have from him, the sheiltot, in which he spells out his differences with Hassidism. His Nefesh Ha-Hayyim, his only autographic work published posthumously, was both a polemic on Hassidism as well as an alternative Judaic-Kabbalistic world view to Hassidism. R. Hayyim’s polemic strengthens the point of view that the Vilna Gaon and his students were more ideologically than politically opposed to Hassidism.
VL - 2018
IS - Volume 16
PY - 2018
SN - 1733-5760
C1 - 2084-3925
SP - 15
EP - 27
DO - 10.4467/20843925SJ.18.002.10816
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/scripta-judaica-cracoviensia/article/rabbi-hayyim-of-volozhins-polemic-with-hassidism
KW - Hassidm
KW - Mithnagdim
KW - Kabbalah
KW - Vilna Gaon
KW - Halakhah
KW - Eastern European Jewry