Daniel Reiser

THE ENCOUNTER IN VIENNA MODERNPSYCHOTHERAPY GUIDED IMAGERY AND

HASIDISM POST-WORLD WAR I

How wild anarchic and unreal were those years years in which with thedwindling value of money all other values in Austria and Germany began toslip [ ] Every extravagant idea that was not subject to regulation reaped agolden harvest theosophy occultism spiritualism somnambulism anthropos-ophy palm-reading graphology yoga and Paracelsism1

Stefan Zweig

MENTAL CONDITIONS FOR ACHIEVING HASIDISM

In 1921 a short Hebrew book was published in Vienna entitled TenarsquoeiHaNefesh LeHasagat HeHasidut [Mental Conditions for AchievingHasidism] The author was Rabbi Menachem Ekstein (1884ndash1942)2 aDzikow Hasid3 from Rzesow in the center of western Galicia who hadimmigrated to Vienna following World War I4 The reader will imme-diately notice that modern issues of psychology such as self-awarenesssplit mind and complex daring lsquolsquoguided imageryrsquorsquo exercises allappear and play a central role in this book5 In 1937 Ekstein wrotein the introduction to the Yiddish translation6 that he purported todefine the basic principles of Hasidism anew lsquolsquoIn this book I havemade a first attempt to find the appropriate definitions and proper styleto express the fundamental principles of Hasidismrsquorsquo7 Ekstein beginshis book with these words

The first principle that Hasidism tells all who knock at its gates andwish to enter its inner chambers is Know thyself [ ] to rise allnatural tendencies of your soul and become very familiar withthem Split yourself into two a natural human being who dwellsdown on earth lives daily life and is affected by all outside events[ ] and a supernal person who is not drawn by the outside eventsand is not affected by them but sits up in his own palace in a hightower and constantly looks down at the lower person and sees all

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The Author 2016 Published by Oxford University Press All rights reserved For permissions

please e-mail journalspermissionsoupcom

the things that are befalling him and all the actions that are drawnfrom them onto his soul He [the supernal person] gazes at all theseand recognizes them he examines them and is able to direct themand use them as he wishes8

Thus according to Ekstein the fundamental basis of Hasidismshockingly is neither knowledge of God nor the religious command-ments nor basic Hasidic theological ideas such as lsquolsquonullification of theworldrsquorsquo (bittul ha-yesh) lsquolsquoserving God through the physical worldrsquorsquo(avodah be-gashmiyyut) or lsquolsquoclinging to the divinersquorsquo (devekut) Ratherthe fundamental basis of Hasidism is a universal psychological con-ceptmdashself-awareness which gives the practitioner full control over hissoul and his personal inclinations

An instructive parallel is Hillel Zeitlin (1871ndash1942) for he too adecade earlier (1910) had tried to define the basic principles ofHasidutmdashbut in concepts such as lsquolsquobeing and naughtrsquorsquo tzimtzum(lsquolsquodivine contractionrsquorsquo) lsquolsquothe power of the Divine Affecter on the onebeing affectedrsquorsquo lsquolsquoelevating sparksrsquorsquo lsquolsquoelevating foreign thoughtsrsquorsquo andlsquolsquoelevating base qualitiesrsquorsquo9 Eksteinrsquos objective is different Zeitlin col-lected a number of concepts from the students of the Baal Shem Tovand attempted to present them in a consistent and systematic way asthe foundations of Hasidic thought Ekstein however presentedmodern psychological ideas and thus universalized HasidismMoreover Eksteinrsquos book presents guided imagery exercises for thereader with very specific precise instructions10 and thus is an exampleof a modern literary genre corresponding to the genre of popularself-help books of the early twentieth century which give readersadvice on how to improve their lives on their own11 Even Moses isdescribed as a spiritual instructormdashthe spiritual instructor the ultimatepsychologist of all humanity who was able to uncover the deep layersof the soul and understand the unconscious lsquolsquoMoses was the greatestteacher in the entire universe of all time and there was none like himeither before or afterwards he understood the entire depth of thehuman soul and its relationship to all things in the universe andtheir effects on itrsquorsquo12

Ekstein developed various imagery exercises which are essentiallydifferent from imagery exercises found in Kabbalistic and Hasidic lit-erature Eksteinrsquos exercises constitute an additional step in the devel-opment of imagination in Jewish mysticism In the prophetic Kabbalahof the twelfth century the imagery techniques were mainly of a lin-guistic nature Godrsquos name in various forms and permutationsbecame a basis for imagery Linguistic imagery exercises are foundalso in sixteenth-century Kabbalah both that of Luria and that ofCordovero13 In Hasidic books from the late eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries additional imagery exercises begin to appear

2 Daniel Reiser

which involve imagining a specific short scene such as the image ofjumping into fire the image of God the image of death the image ofa righteous person and others14 Eksteinrsquos imagery exercises howeverare composed of multiple scenes that come together to form a longcomplex plot similar to a dream or a film as he himself says lsquolsquoWe canimagine in front of us five ten or twenty different scenes which passin front of our spiritual eyes image after image as in a Kino[movie]rsquorsquo15 As far as I know there is no significant precedent forthis style before the late nineteenth or earlier twentieth centurywhether in Hasidic literature or in Jewish literature of any kind

However there is a similarity between Eksteinrsquos imagery exercisesand similar practices that developed in modern western psychologyand particularly in hypnosis This similarity is tantalizing what ledEkstein who was living in 1920s Vienna to present Hasidism in thisway and what was his relationship to modern psychology In thisarticle I will attempt to answer these questions and through themto understand the broader more encompassing interaction betweenHasidic psychology and modern psychology which became possible inthe German-speaking region of Central Europe and specifically inVienna after World War I

MESMERISM HYPNOSIS AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

In 1774 the German physiologist Franz Anton Mesmer (1734ndash1815)had a huge success in Vienna when he managed to heal FranzlOesterlin a young woman of twenty-eight Franzl had been sufferingfrom hysteria which was causing her seizures and paralysis Mesmerinstructed her to swallow a solution containing iron and affixed threemagnets to her body Franzl felt a fluid running throughout her bodyher paralysis was healed and her pains were gone16 Mesmer quicklybecame famous throughout Europe Doctors from throughout the con-tinent sent their patients to Vienna to be treated by him In additionMesmer traveled throughout Europe out of an interest in treatingepilepsy and thus gained additional fame17

Franz Mesmer was born in the small town of Iznang close to theGerman shore of Lake Constance He studied in Vienna specializingin medicine at a time when a mixture of Newtonianism and astrologywas accepted by the medical field Mesmer announced his discovery ofthe lsquolsquosupernal fluidrsquorsquo (lsquolsquofluidumrsquorsquo) which is found circulating throughthe whole body he called this fluid lsquolsquothe agent of naturersquorsquo which sup-plies heat light electricity and magnetism He especially praised thisfluidrsquos medical qualities18 Mesmer claimed that diseases result from a

The Encounter in Vienna 3

blockage of the flow of fluidum in parts of the body he argued thatthe activity of the fluidum corresponded to that of a lsquolsquomagnetrsquorsquo At thesame time Mesmer claimed that there are people who have the abilityto take control of the flow and activity of the fluidum by using lsquolsquomag-netismrsquorsquo (a practice that would eventually be called lsquolsquomesmerizingrsquorsquo inEnglish) that is using magnets to massage the lsquolsquopolaritiesrsquorsquo in the bodyand thus to overcome the blockage He would discharge the blockageby inducing some sort of lsquolsquocrisisrsquorsquo sometimes a shock or convulsionwhich would restore the personrsquos health and the harmony between theperson and nature19 Mesmer called his doctrine lsquolsquoanimalmagnetismrsquorsquo20

What promoted Mesmerrsquos idea of fluidum most of all was hisamazing success at getting this substance to lsquolsquoworkrsquorsquo Mesmer wouldbring his patients into a sort of epileptic shock or into a sleepwalkingtrance and thus cure them of all sorts of illnesses from blindness todepression Mesmer and his students accomplished amazing perfor-mances which held viewers spellbound they sat in such a way thatthe patientrsquos legs would be locked between their own and then rantheir fingers throughout all parts of the patientrsquos body in search of thepoles of the small magnets that together made up the immense mag-netic force of the entire body21

After being involved in and charged with a romantic scandal witha blind patient in Vienna in 177722 Mesmer was forced to leaveVienna and arrived in Paris in 177823 His name preceded him inParis by 1780 he had moved on from individual treatment to grouptreatment which he conducted with the help of an enormous bathtub(baquet) that he set up24 In 1784 Louis XVI king of France ap-pointed a scientific committee to examine the science of mesmerismand the existence of Mesmerrsquos lsquolsquofluidumrsquorsquo The committeersquos conclusionwas that there was no proof at all that such a fluid existed25 Mesmerhumiliated left Paris in 178526 Living in Switzerland he stayed out ofthe public limelight and became very introverted In the last year ofhis life he moved to Meersburg Germany and died there on March 5181527

Although Mesmerrsquos theories were rejected they played a signifi-cant role in the development of hypnosis and modern psychology inthe late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries The royal committeethat discredited Mesmerrsquos theories did not deny his successes in put-ting his patients into a trance epileptic shock or sleep it merelydiscredited the existence of fluidum In other words the committeedid not discredit the phenomena that Mesmer demonstrated but onlyhis interpretation of them Mesmerrsquos undeniable successes thus consti-tuted the harbinger of the lsquolsquounconsciousrsquorsquo the lsquolsquosubconsciousrsquorsquo and thepower of suggestion Mesmerrsquos lsquolsquodiscoveryrsquorsquo of the unconscious (which

4 Daniel Reiser

was done lsquolsquounconsciouslyrsquorsquo) and revelation of parapsychological forcesthat appeared in his patients when they were under the influence ofsleepmdashthese along with the element of the relationship between healerand patient which began to interest people in the wake of Mesmerrsquostreatments became the basis of hypnosis and Freudrsquos psychoanalysiswhich was developed in Vienna in the early twentieth century andbecame a springboard for the development of theories of the uncon-scious or subconscious in modern psychology28 Already in the early1930s the Jewish Viennese writer Stefan Zweig identified Mesmer andthe occult movements as the basis for Freudrsquos theories29

The intense preoccupation with modern psychology in early-twen-tieth-century Vienna allowed concepts from mesmerism to becomepart of European discourse and to enter the vocabulary of everydayspeech Although the ideas of lsquolsquofluidumrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomagnetismrsquorsquo were re-jected as scientific concepts certain circles accepted them as part ofEuropean discourse and terminology albeit not necessarily in theiroriginal meaning of an actual hidden fluid that is modulated by auniversal magnetic force but rather in the sense of a spiritual super-natural influence of one person on another Additionally James Braidbrought the concept of lsquolsquosuggestionrsquorsquo into everyday terminology refer-ring to the use of unconscious influence to affect the thoughts ofothers30

MESMERISM AND THE JEWISH WORLD

The teachings of mesmerism already in their early days in the lateeighteenth century seeped into the European Jewish world which wasnaturally influenced willingly or unwillingly by the intellectual devel-opments that were occurring around it31 Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger (1798ndash1871) one of the leaders of Orthodox Jewry in Germany (known aslsquolsquothe Arukh La-nerrsquorsquo after his Talmudic novella of that name) was askedto deal with the following question is mesmerism lsquolsquowitchcraftrsquorsquo (kishuf)and thus forbidden by Jewish law or is it not This was not merely atheoretical question but had a real-life application was it permissiblefor a Jew to receive treatment lsquolsquousing the power of magnetisierenrsquorsquo Thisquestion was addressed to the rabbi in 1852 by the Jewish communityof Amsterdam and referred to one of the later transformations ofMesmerrsquos theory of lsquolsquoanimal magnetismrsquorsquo namely the theory of hypno-sis which was beginning to develop in the second half of the nine-teenth century The questioner describes a deep hypnotic state inwhich the patient is under total anesthesia (lack of feeling) and outof this deep sleep displays certain supernatural phenomena For

The Encounter in Vienna 5

example the patient while completely asleep describes events that areoccurring in some faraway place of which the patient cannot possiblyhave any previous information this phenomenon is called clairvoy-ance Ettlingerrsquos response to this question constitutes the first halakhicdiscussion of mesmerism as far as I am aware

With Godrsquos help Altona Tevet [5]612 [frac14January 1852] To theJewish community of Amsterdam may God preserve it AmenQuestion There is a pious prominent individual who has fallen illand he has been advised to seek treatment by means of the powerthat they call magnetisieren this treatment makes the patient asleep tofeel no sensation at all According to what they tell the patientundergoes a great change and becomes a different man They saythat wondrous things happen the patient can know what is going onfar away and can tell what is going on in secret places and the likeTherefore this pious man is hesitant to undergo this treatment for itseems that it uses supernatural spiritual forces and therefore he isconcerned that it involves the working of the Forces of Impurity(kohot ha-tumrsquoah) which any righteous person will avoid This piousman will follow whatever you instruct him O rabbi so what do yousay to doAnswer I have consulted non-Jewish scholars regarding their opinionof the power of magnetisieren ndash whether it actually causes any changesin nature as they claim or not I have found that their views differsome say that the whole thing is a complete lie and nothing actuallyhappens but rather the patientrsquos imaginative powers are elevated tothe point that he thinks he is seeing wondrous things others say thatindeed the miraculous visions do occur and they surely must havesome natural cause but we do not understand it [ ] Therefore inmy opinion even if it is true that we cannot find any natural expla-nation of how magnetisieren can cause such great changes nonethe-less we do not need to be concerned that it is caused by the Forcesof Impurity for it is clear from the halakhic authorities and the rulingin the Arbarsquoa Turim and Shulhan Arukh (section Yoreh Dersquoah sect155) thatone is allowed to receive treatment that is performed by means of aspell (lahash) cast by an idolater as long as it is not certain that thepractitioner is actually mentioning the name of a foreign deity as partof the spell [ ] Surely such a spell has no basis in natural processesbut nonetheless we are not concerned that it might be using theForces of Impurity rather we attribute its working to one of manynatural processes that we do not yet understand So why should webe any more concerned about magnetisieren whose practitioners be-lieve that it is a natural process not a spiritual one [ ] And thusthere is no halakhic problem with seeking treatment through magne-tisieren whose practitioners say that it is a natural process eventhough they are unable to understand its natural basis [ ] Wecannot forbid such behaviors except where the Torah has explicitlyforbidden them Therefore in my humble opinion it is permitted toseek treatment by means of magnetisieren even for a patient who isnot deathly ill And may he receive help from GodJacob the Small [the rabbirsquos signature an expression of humility]32

6 Daniel Reiser

Thus Rabbi Ettlinger permits the use of mesmerism and distin-guishes between lsquolsquomagnetismrsquorsquo on the one hand and lsquolsquowitchcraftrsquorsquo orlsquolsquoa spellrsquorsquo on the other based on the subjective understanding of thepractitioner If the practitioner truly believes that the treatment oper-ates according to lsquolsquoa natural processrsquorsquo even if there is no convincingscientific explanation then it is not witchcraft nor use of lsquolsquothe nameof a foreign deityrsquorsquo or lsquolsquothe Powers of Impurityrsquorsquo Indeed Mesmerconsistently tried to provide scientific explanations for his treatmentseven after the scientific community had rejected him in the last yearof his life he wrote a long lsquolsquoscientificrsquorsquo book in which once again heexplained his theories33 Rabbi Ettlingerrsquos opinion is that the practi-tionersrsquo attempts to explain the various phenomena naturalisticallymake these treatments halakhically permissible and he distinguishesbetween these practices on the one hand and the use of Forces ofImpurity or names of foreign deities on the other34

The growing popularity of mesmerism which expectedly arousedgreat wonder among the masses was an inspiration also for Jewishwriters and inspired powerful literary motifs Isaac Baer Levinson(1788ndash1860) one of the pioneering writers of the JewishEnlightenment (Haskalah) in the Russian Empire who studied inGalicia in his youth wrote an anti-Hasidic satire that mentionsMesmer and the name of his theory in the bookrsquos subtitle The bookis called The Words of the Righteous with the Valley of the Rephaim It isthe vision in the world of Atsilut which one of the visionaries (lsquolsquosomnabulrsquorsquo inthe vernacular) saw by means of the techniques and mystical tiqqunim ofMesmer (lsquolsquomesmerismrsquorsquo in the vernacular) which is called magnetismusThis satire which was published in Odessa in 1867 includes a descrip-tion of an Egyptian rabbi named Levai who knows how to useMesmerrsquos secrets to perform countless wonders He uses these lsquolsquotiq-qunimrsquorsquo (mystical repairs) to heal several dangerously ill people35 Thisrabbi brings the patients into a hypnotic trance such that lsquolsquoseveral sickpeople when the sleep falls upon them seersquorsquo wondrous visions Whilethey are asleep the patients lsquolsquoanswer each question and speak fromthe World of Atsilut They speak of what is above [our world] and whatis below of the living and the dead and of spiritual matters regardingwhatever is asked of themrsquorsquo36

Levinson uses the patientsrsquo state of hypnotic sleep as a literary toolto reveal the deceit and corruption of the Hasidic leaders At the endof the treatment says the Egyptian rabbi lsquolsquoI remove my hands fromthe patient to restore him to his original state for his strength hasalready become weakrsquorsquo37 This anti-Hasidic satire thus shows acquain-tance with mesmerism which had reached Eastern Europe

The Encounter in Vienna 7

MENACHEM EKSTEIN MESMERISM AND IMAGINATIVE TECHNIQUE

Although Ekstein claims that he will use only terms from withinJudaism in his book Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism38 infact he uses the words lsquolsquofluidumrsquorsquo and lsquolsquosuggestiyarsquorsquo (ie suggestion)For him lsquolsquofluidumrsquorsquo is not a liquid as it is for Mesmer but a hiddenforce that is found in the world that moves from one person to an-other and is expressed by means of the influence of one person onanother By means of this hidden force Ekstein explains the value thatHasidism places on gatherings of Hasidim and above all he arguesthat this hidden force is of great value in Hasidic teachings

It is well known that Hasidism places great value on gatherings onSabbaths and festivals The reason for this is that it takes account ofthe influences and forces that pass between people [ ] For we oftensee how when a person is happy he can bring joy to a whole groupof people simply by appearing among them without taking anyactive steps to entertain them it is as if invisible lines of joy emanatefrom him and penetrate into their hearts and thus arouse feelings ofjoy in them as well Similarly when someone is sad and bitter he canbring sadness to others simply by being near them as if clouds ofanguish go in front of him and spread out into the hearts of theothers Hasidism places great value on this hidden force (fluidum)39

which issues from every individual for in matters of religion thisforce is even more powerful than in other matters40

How amazed will all the wise men of the world be when theyrealize that everything that they currently know about these won-drous forces that people receive from and spread to each other (sug-gestiya) are only like a drop from the sea in comparison to whatHasidism knows about this41

Ekstein explains the influence of the Hasidic rebbe42 on his fol-lowers as being due to the same hidden force which emanates fromthe rebbe

If we come close to a person who has already freed his soul from alldoubts and hesitation by using them for the goodness of his soul forhe has acquired clear certain knowledge of his Creator and this truelight already shines thoroughly in him ndash then we necessarily feel thehidden forces that emanate from him The greater a person is inspirituality and spiritual perfection the greater and stronger will bethe forces that emanate from him And especially if the people thatdraw near to him are also trying to free their souls from doubts anduncertainties then they will have an even greater experience of thelight that emanates from those great people43

Ekstein uses this hidden force also to explain Hasidic prayer lsquolsquoIfHasidim pray together and among them are several great individualswho have already elevated their souls to a high level then the roomwill be full of godly lines as it were and the spiritual inspiration

8 Daniel Reiser

passes from one person to another ndash the greater ones influence thelesser onesrsquorsquo44

The common factor behind all these termsmdashfluidum light linesgodly linesmdashis the basically mesmeristic conception that there is acosmic force in general and that there are certain skilled peoplewho know how to make use of it to do good things45 In kabbalisticterms this comes out thus there are certain men (such as the rebbe)who are able to draw forces from high lsquolsquogodly linesrsquorsquo and use them inthis world to draw emanations in order to emanate them onto otherslsquolsquoThe greater ones influence the lesser onesrsquorsquo46

Aaron Marcus (1842ndash1916) was an author scholar of the Hebrewlanguage and active member of the Zionist movement in Galicia Hewas born and raised in Hamburg and studied there with the studentsof Rabbi Isaac Bernays (1792ndash1849) the rabbi of Hamburg47 Marcuswas disappointed by the spiritual life of West European Jewry so in1862 he moved to Eastern Europe and settled in Cracow He wasenchanted with and lsquolsquocaught in the net ofrsquorsquo Hasidism and became afollower of Rabbi Solomon of Radomsko (1801ndash1866) and RabbiDavid Moses of Czortkow (1827ndash1903)48 Marcus was a unique indi-vidual and the first to write a modern interpretation of Hasidicthought which moreover he did in German49 Marcus viewed theHasidic teachings of Eastern Europe as a new psychological theorywhich brought freshness to Jewish spiritual life For Marcus psycho-logical phenomena such as lsquolsquosuggestionrsquorsquo and lsquolsquoautosuggestionrsquorsquo (theability to convince oneself to the point of influencing the physical)explained the wondrous phenomena that he saw and heard aboutamong the Hasidim When a certain Hasid agreed to die in place ofthe Sadigura Rebbe and thus to redeem the latter from death Marcusexplained this as an example of the phenomenon of autosuggestion

When the Sadigura Rebbe returned home he became so weak thatthe doctors worried that he might die any minute [ ] Then hisbrother R Dov of Leova went out to the people and said lsquolsquoOHasidim do you have anyone among you who is prepared to takeupon himself the decree of death that has been decreed upon mybrotherrsquorsquo [ ] Immediately a certain young scholar R MordecaiMichel of Lisk volunteered to rescue the rebbe with his own lifeOne might explain this as being by the power of autosuggestionbut one cannot deny the fact The volunteer became sick afterabout a day invited the members of the burial society happilybade farewell to his friends and departed this life The rebberecovered50

Like Ekstein Marcus explains the influence of the rebbe on hisHasidim in terms of the power of suggestion Marcus presents hisreaders with a story that he has heard in a first-hand accountmdashfrom

The Encounter in Vienna 9

the very individual who experienced the suggestive influence of theSadigura Rebbe when he met with him

I have had the opportunity to observe this phenomenon in reliablepersonalities A certain Russian [Jewish] soldier named Abramowitzwas the son of a border-smuggler [ ] The son was even more coarseand boorish than the father he had no semblance of any religiousfeeling He encountered me in a trading house where he was work-ing and once told me about his experience he escaped from Klept51

risking his life along with three other soldiers and after a number ofadventures he arrived at Sadigura past the Romanian border lsquolsquoIdonrsquot know what happened to mersquorsquo he said lsquolsquobut when the Rebbespoke to me I broke into uncontrollable tears I had never cried likethis since my childhoodrsquorsquo I have no doubt that there wasnrsquot a singlespark of religiosity in that man which could have caused this cryingto occur by self-suggestion52

In other words Marcus argues that we cannot explain this case as anexample of autosuggestion but only as absolute suggestion (of one indi-vidual on another) The Russian Jewish soldier did not have any con-cealed religious spark within him hence he could be moved only by therebbersquos direct influence Marcus recognizes and values Mesmerrsquos theory ofmagnetism and writes lsquolsquoAmong all the other evidence [ ] of the validityof lsquoanimal magnetismrsquo we must note the precise testimony given by theeyewitness lsquoVigorsrsquo (in his book The Bible and New Discoveries 1868) whohas determined without a doubt that we are dealing with a scientificproblem in nature [ ] if Napoleon and Mohammed succeeded in gath-ering hundreds of thousands of people around them we cannot attributethis to their words but only to their suggestive powersrsquorsquo53

We can see a relationship between developments in psychological-hypnotic praxis on the one hand and Hasidic practice on the otherin Marcusrsquos descriptions of Rabbi Shalom Rokeah of Belz (1781ndash1855)who would heal physical and mental ailments by making hand mo-tions similar to hypnosis

[The Belzer Rebbe] was an expert at treating spiritual diseases andparalyses which all the doctors had despaired of ever treating Inthousands of cases his activity was confirmed by Jews and gentilesnobles and peasants it aroused the interest of heads of colleges whosubsequently spent many decades trying to explain the phenomenonfrom the point of view of the new science of psychology which isinfluenced by the spiritist approach54

CHANGES IN THE ROLE OF BArsquoALEI SHEM (WONDER-WORKERS)

Eksteinrsquos developed imagery exercises cannot be explained purelyagainst the background of mesmerism Along with lsquolsquoanimal

10 Daniel Reiser

magnetismrsquorsquo there was another central factor of influence namelydevelopments in the concept of imagination in western philosophyEuropean philosophy from that of the Greeks to that of moderntimes saw developments in the attitude toward imagination that influ-enced modern psychology Whereas Plato viewed imagination as abase deceptive force modern philosophy considers it a productiveforce that can create a whole universe of values and original truthsand named it lsquolsquocreative imaginationrsquorsquo Following Kant and Germanidealism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries thelsquolsquocreative imaginationrsquorsquo was formally recognized by the central streamof western philosophy which directly influenced modernpsychology55

As already alluded to above the techniques of imagination inJewish mysticism changed over the centuriesmdashfrom linguistic tech-niques in the Middle Ages to imagining a single scene in earlyHasidism to imagining an entire plot in the early twentieth centuryIt seems to me that we must understand this development against thebackground of parallel developments in techniques of imagination inwestern psychology Already in studies in the late 1940s RaphaelStraus noted that the changes in the roles of Barsquoalei Shem (Jewishmystical wonder-workers) must be understood in the context of thedevelopment of mesmerism56 The lsquolsquoBarsquoal Shem of Michelstadtrsquorsquo RabbiIsaac Zekl Leyb Wormser (1768ndash1847) the rabbi of the city ofMichelstadt Germany was known for his healing powers His medicallsquolsquomiraclesrsquorsquo won him great popularity in Germany both among Jewsand non-Jews His private journals which describe his treatments overa period of two years list 1500 patients from seven hundred placesMost are women either during pregnancy or after childbirth whohave been diagnosed with various nervous disorders His prescriptionsfor them are usually the recitation of psalms either by the communityor by relatives giving charity secretly checking mezuzot and tefillinchanging the patientrsquos name wearing gold rings inscribed with thename of Raphael (the angel of healing) wearing white clothes andoccasionally also fasting57 Often the Barsquoal Shem of Michelstadt wasasked to give advice about nonmedical matters His diaries indicatethat he believed every physical symptom to be psychological in origin58

Karl Grozinger identifies a change in the understanding of therole of the Barsquoal Shem which occurred in the eighteenth centurymdashfrom a healer of physical ailments to a healer of spiritual ailmentsfrom a healer of the body to a healer of the soul This change isevident in the different roles of the Barsquoal Shem of Michelstadt theBarsquoalei Shem of eighteenth-century Frankfurt and the Barsquoal ShemTov (Israel Barsquoal Shem founder of Hasidism)59 Straus maintainsthat the activities of the Barsquoal Shem of Michelstadt and specifically

The Encounter in Vienna 11

his focus on spiritual healing must be understood in light of the de-velopment of Mesmerrsquos teachings

Considering Wormserrsquos interest in scholarship one cannot refer hismiracle-healings to old cabbalistic leanings alone True in his lifetimethe rise of a scientific way of miracle-healing under the name oflsquoMesmerismrsquo had created a sensation in Europe It is unlikely thatWormser would not have learned of Mesmerrsquos lsquoanimalic magnetismrsquoduring his stay in Frankfort or Mannheim and not have combinedthis then famous theory with his own cabbalistic views60

All this is even more true of Ekstein It should be borne in mindthat Ekstein developed his imagery exercises in a specific place andtimemdashin Vienna in the years following World War I

VIENNA AUTHORITY AND MYSTICISM

Carl Schorske in his seminal work Fin-de-Siecle Vienna Politics andCulture discusses the connection between the lsquolsquopoliticalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquocul-turalrsquorsquo dimensions of Vienna at the close of the nineteenth century61

Traditional Austrian culture unlike that of its neighbor Germany wasnot concerned with philosophy ethics or science instead Austria wasprimarily concerned with aesthetics Viennarsquos major contribution atthe turn of the century was in the realm of the arts architecturetheater and music Art became almost a religion in Vienna asource of meaning and sustenance for the soul62

Schorske argues that this phenomenon stemmed directly from thepolitical dimension In the last decade of the nineteenth century therise of right-wing conservative anti-Semitic influences led to the col-lapse of liberalism and left the small liberal intellectual community inVienna shocked and alienated The strong tendency among the rem-nants of this liberal upper class was simply to despair of the politicalsituation and to turn instead toward aesthetic romanticismmdashand theoccult That is the world of aesthetics became for the liberals arefuge from the rising racist political reality Paradoxically in theirvery escape from reality to art this elite group created an impressivehigh culture63 In other words the extraordinary vibrancy of Vienneseculture at the close of the nineteenth century resulted from the weak-ening of the liberal bourgeoisie which ended up imitating the aes-thetic of the nobility

Although Schorskersquos views are neither gospel truth nor immune tocriticism they are challenging and have produced great resonance inthe scholarly community Steven Beller argues that Schorske has ig-nored the Jewish aspect64 and that in fact Viennese high culturearound 1900 was effectively Jewish culture The leading figures in

12 Daniel Reiser

the liberal bourgeois intelligentsia were Jewish and they constituted thebasis of the cultural revival According to Beller the Viennese culturewas fundamentally Jewish65 and the work of Sigmund Freud or KarlKraus was lsquolsquonothing other than a culture produced against its Vienneseenvironmentrsquorsquo66 Either waymdashwhether the liberal Viennese group wasdefined as Jewish or merely as liberalmdashit fled from the racist lsquolsquorealworldrsquorsquo of politics and closed itself off in the realm of aesthetics andart which in a certain sense are the world of imagination andmysticism

One domain of the world of mysticism and imagination is that ofmusic which underwent development in Vienna by the AustrianJewish composer Arnold Schonberg (1874ndash1951) Schonberg theleader of the lsquolsquoComposers of the Second Viennese Schoolrsquorsquo and atrailblazer in twentieth-century atonal music composed music forsome poems by the German poet Stefan George (1868ndash1933)Georgersquos absolute adherence to lsquolsquosacred artrsquorsquo and his mystical senseof humanityrsquos unity with the cosmos attracted Schonbergrsquos attentionlsquolsquoGeorgersquos poetry had the synesthetic characteristics appropriate to theartist-priestrsquos mystical unifying function a language magical in sonorityand an imagery rich in colorrsquorsquo67

The bitter results of World War I intensified the Viennese moodof escape from real life to the world of mysticism and imagination AsStefan Zweig wrote with his characteristic sharpness

How wild anarchic and unreal were those years years in which withthe dwindling value of money all other values in Austria andGermany began to slip [ ] Every extravagant idea that was notsubject to regulation reaped a golden harvest theosophy occultismspiritualism somnambulism anthroposophy palm-reading graphol-ogy yoga and Paracelsism [paracelsianism] Anything that gavehope of newer and greater thrills [ ] found a tremendous market[ ] unconditionally prescribed however was any representation ofnormality and moderation68

Interestingly Zweig characterizes the flight to lsquolsquoevery extravagantidea that was not subject to regulationrsquorsquo as a reactionary activity aresponse to the sorry state of the country and of politics

A tremendous inner revolution occurred during those first post-waryears Something besides the army had been crushed faith in theinfallibility of the authority to which we had been trained to over-submissiveness in our own youth [ ] It was only after the smoke ofwar had lifted that the terrible destruction that resulted became vis-ible How could an ethical commandment still count as holy whichsanctioned murder and robbery under the cloak of heroism and req-uisition for four long years How could a people rely on the promisesof a state which had annulled all those obligations to its citizenswhich it could not conveniently fulfill69

The Encounter in Vienna 13

Obeying authority had been an integral part of Austrian cultureThe outcomes of World War I however fostered a change a rebellionagainst authority and a search for new values In Zweigrsquos view thisrebellion afforded leverage to the mystical and occult culture thatflourished in Vienna after the war Although Schorskersquos book doesnot deal with the postwar period his theory that the efflorescenceof art imagination and mysticism marked a flight from the bleakpolitical reality is even more applicable to that era post-World War I

VIENNA THE MEETING PLACE OF HASIDIC PSYCHOLOGY AND WESTERNPSYCHOLOGY

This leads us back to Menachem Eksteinrsquos psychology and mysticalteachings which as noted he developed in Vienna after World WarI It must be noted that at the time of the war tens of thousands ofJews came to Vienna as war refugees most from the frontier cities ofthe Austrian Empire in Galicia and Bukovina70 These refugeesbrought an East European Jewish spirit to Vienna a Western cityAmong them were many Hasidic rebbes along with their courts suchas the Rebbe of Czortkow the Rebbe of Husiatyn the Rebbe ofSadigura the Rebbe of Kopyczynce the Rebbe of Storozhynets theRebbe of Stanislaw and the Rebbe of Skolye (Skole) All these rebbesgathered around them a concentration of thousands of Hasidim whocontinued their East European ways of life almost unchanged andlsquolsquointroduced a new Jewish bloodstream [ ] into the arteries of theViennese communityrsquorsquo71 It was because of this concentration ofHasidic courts that the first conference the lsquolsquoGreat Congressrsquorsquo ofthe haredi movement Agudath Israel took place in Vienna and themovementrsquos headquarters and monthly journal HaDerekh were basedthere

The encounter of the Hasidim of Galicia with the progressive cul-ture of Vienna was fraught72 Although secularization and enlighten-ment had also made inroads in Galicia Hasidic writings indicate thatthe western culture of Vienna threatened their traditional lifestylemore considerably Rabbi Solomon Hayyim Friedman (1887ndash1972)the Rebbe of Sadigura moved to Vienna during World War I andcontinued to conduct his court there His sermons from that periodhave been collected and published as a book Hayyei Shelomo73 In1918 he gave a sermon for the opening of a new library of traditionalJewish works in Vienna Here he discusses the uniqueness ofHasidism and its ability to rescue the displaced Jews who wanderfrom place to place after the war74 and find themselves in western

14 Daniel Reiser

cities that lsquolsquodefile the soulrsquorsquo The Rebbe speaks of the powerful influ-ence of the West and the failure of many Jews to resist it as evident intheir abandonment of the Torah and its commandments especiallytheir violation of the Sabbath To counteract this trend the Rebbecalls on his listeners to open a network of Jewish schools for children

And in order to bring Jewish children to the chambers of Torah weneed to establish schools for learning Torah to which parents willbring their children We need to stop the flow of hundreds of thou-sands of Jews to the four corners of the earth in the aftermath of thewar to places that defile the Jewish spirit and bring them to throw offthe yoke of the Torah and its commandments and especially todesecrate the Sabbath75

Thus in Vienna Ekstein and many like him were exposed both toa more western secular culture than they had known in Galicia (asemerges from the testimony of the Sadigura Rebbe) and to mysticaland occult culture and mentalities as evident in Stefan Zweigrsquos de-scription of contemporary Vienna Indeed mesmerism and hypnosisbecame topics of renewed interest in Vienna already in the secondhalf of the nineteenth century both in western esoteric circles and inJewish mystical and Hasidic circles As early as 1856 Judah Barash hadpublished a book in Hebrew that dealt among other things with mes-merism and parapsychology76 He used the teachings of mesmerism toexplain the phenomena of dreaming and visions and his sympathytoward these teachings is overt lsquolsquoThe word mesmerismus is fromMesmer the name of a renowned doctor who lived about fiftyyears ago in Vienna and Paris He was the first to discover this fact[ ] Those readers who know non-Jewish languages can find manybooks in German French English and Italian explaining these won-drous mattersrsquorsquo77 Later on Rabbi Solomon Zevi Schick (1844ndash1916)used this book as a source for providing mesmeristic explanations ofvarious parapsychological phenomena that are mentioned in medievalHebrew writings78 In 1879 another Hebrew book was published inVienna called Torat Hayyim which explained mesmerism and dealtconsiderably with the lsquolsquounconsciousrsquorsquo a burning topic of modern wes-tern psychology at the time79

Rabbi Jekuthiel Aryeh Kamelhar Eksteinrsquos closest teacher alsoended up in Vienna after World War I and later emigrated to theUnited States80 In his book Dor Dersquoah he explains fundamentalHasidic ideas such as lsquolsquothe ascent of the soulrsquorsquo on the basis of theteachings of mesmerism and principles of psychiatric study that haddeveloped in Vienna

It has become clear that the art of somnambulism which a certainscholar and doctor invented in Vienna in 177681 can numb the

The Encounter in Vienna 15

bodyrsquos physical forces [ ] and by means of such inventions won-drous powers of the soul have been discovered and become knownto many through the books of the gentiles [ ] And thus we canunderstand that the Hasidic leaderrsquos [Tzadikrsquos] soul [ ] has purifiedall his limbs and uses them as God desires and while the physicalsenses do not disturb him the gates of heaven will be opened forhim ndash in the inner chambers of his heart which show the wonders ofheaven [hekhalot] and allow him to hear prophecies about the future[ ] This is precisely the lsquolsquoascent of the soulrsquorsquo [Aliyat Neshama] that istold about the Barsquoal Shem Tov may that righteous manrsquos memory bea blessing82

Thus Vienna was a meeting place between East European Hasidicpsychology and western psychology which was undergoing stages ofaccelerated development83 Here is an appropriate place to mentionthe 1903 meeting in Vienna between R Shalom Ber Schneersohn(1860ndash1920) the fifth rebbe of the Habad dynasty and SigmundFreud an encounter that has been discussed in studies by MayaBalakirsky Katz and by Jonathan Garb84

CONCLUSIONS AND CLOSING REMARKS

The Hebrew literature that deals with mesmerism the unconsciousand imagination developed specifically in Vienna which was also themeeting point of Eastern and Western Europe during Eksteinrsquos timethere after World War I This and the flourishing of mysticism andrebellion against rationalism which Zweig describes so well are signif-icant facts that must constantly be kept in mind when studyingEksteinrsquos concepts85 It is reasonable to assume that Ekstein encoun-tered the teachings of mesmerism and the study of the unconscious inVienna where he developed his unique imagery techniques whichmake use of imagination and visualization to reveal the unconsciouslayers of the soul

I have pointed out that Platorsquos negative attitude toward imagina-tion was turned into a positive one in modern philosophy and psy-chology which viewed imagination as a productive force lsquolsquothe creativeimaginationrsquorsquo in parallel psychotherapy developed techniques of im-agery from mesmerism to hypnosis to psychoanalysis Although thedevelopment of imagery techniques in Kabbalah and Hasidism was notdirectly influenced by the development of modern psychiatry I believeit is impossible to understand such development in Hasidism withouttaking into account the trends in eighteenth-century Europe whichintensified during the nineteenth century and reached a zenith inthe early twentieth century

16 Daniel Reiser

The rabbinic attitudes toward the phenomenon of lsquolsquomagnetismrsquorsquoas taught by Franz Mesmer are evidence of the involvement ofEuropean Jewry in the German-speaking areas with what was goingon around them This involvement makes possible the understandingof imagery techniques among Hasidim against the European back-ground from which the techniques had arisen Moreover thisEuropean atmosphere forms the background to a certain extent forunderstanding the channeling of such imagery techniques in Hasidismto the field of psychotherapy

Central Europe in general and Vienna in particular functioned aspoints of contact between Western and Eastern Europe As a part ofthe Austro-Hungarian Empire Vienna was a point of influence overGalicia which was the cradle of Hasidism and belonged to the sameempire up to World War I German literature about psychology andhypnotism was translated into Hebrew in Vienna and was distributedat the outskirts of the empire in Galicia Modern psychotherapeutictechniques came to Galicia by way of Vienna and amazingly theywere adopted into the Hasidic psychological thought of severalHasidic figures This process intensified after World War I whenVienna became one of the focal points of displaced people includingquite a few Hasidic courts According to our analysis MenachemEkstein would have encountered guided imagery techniques inVienna after World War I and here adopted them into his ownHasidic teachings

NOTES

This article was written with the support of the Center for AustrianStudies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and of the City ofVienna for which I would like to express my sincere and deepest grati-tude I would like to thank Prof Moshe Idel and Prof Jonathan Garb forreading and commenting on earlier drafts of this paper

1 For the source of this quote see below n 682 Dating is based on information I found in the Polish State Archives

in Rzesow Eksteinrsquos birth certificate appears there in Microfilm no 53362 pp 332ndash33 For more on this author including his essays published indifferent Hebrew and Yiddish Agudath Israel journals and his manuscriptsheld in the personal archives at the National Library of Israel see DanielReiser Vision as a Mirror Imagery Techniques in Twentieth-Century JewishMysticism (Los Angeles 2014) pp 225ndash36 (Hebrew)

3 On Dzikow Hasidism see Yitzhak Alfasi The Kingdom of WisdomThe Court of Ropczyce-Dzikow (Jerusalem 1994) (Hebrew)

The Encounter in Vienna 17

4 Regarding the Ekstein family see Moshe Yaari-Wald (ed) RzesowJews Memorial Book (Tel Aviv 1968) p 280 (Hebrew) Berish WeinsteinRzesow A Poem (New York 1947) pp 16ndash20 58 (Yiddish)

5 Menachem Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism(Vienna 1921) (Hebrew) The book came out in its second edition withomissions and changes titled Mavo LeTorat HaHasidut [Introduction to theDoctrine of Hasidism] (Tel Aviv 1960) This edition was reedited and itsdivision into chapters and sections did not accord with the original edi-tion The omissions were mainly things bearing a trace of lsquolsquoZionismrsquorsquo andlsquolsquosexualityrsquorsquo The book was published for the third time by penitent BreslovHasidim in 2006 according to the 1960 structure (ie the censorshipcontinued) with the title Tenarsquoei HaNefesh LeHasagat HaHasidut MadrikhLeHitbonnenut Yehudit [Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism A Guide forJewish Contemplation] (Beitar Illit 2006) It was translated into English asMenachem Ekstein Visions of a Compassionate World Guided Imagery forSpiritual Growth and Social Transformation trans Y Starett (New Yorkand Jerusalem 2001)

6 The translation appeared in the monthly periodical Beys YankevLiterarishe Shrift far Shul un Heym Dint di Inyonim fun Bes Yankev Shulnun Organizatsyes Bnos Agudas Yisroel in Poyln Lodzh-Varshe-Kroke [BethJacob Literary Periodical for School and Home Serving the Interests of BethJacob Schools and the Organization of Benoth Agudath Israel in Poland Lodz-Warsaw-Cracow] The publication began in Iyyar 5697 (1937) issue 142and stopped when an end was put to the publication (after issue 158 Av5699) as a result of the German invasion of Poland in September 1939The translation covers about half of the original work

7 Emphasis in the original The passage is cited as an introduction tothe Hebrew edition Mavo LeTorat HaHasidut p 16

8 M Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism p 19 Hillel Zeitlin Hasidut LeShittoteha UrsquoZerameha [Hasidism Approaches

and Streams] (Warsaw 1910) (Hebrew)10 See M Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism pp 3ndash5

1311 See Tomer Persico lsquolsquoJewish Meditation The Development of a

Modern Form of Spiritual Practice in Contemporary Judaismrsquorsquo PhD diss(Tel Aviv University 2012) p 293 (Hebrew)

12 M Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism p 4813 Imagery in kabbalistic and zoharic literature was extensively re-

searched and in depth by Elliot Wolfson See a selection of his worksThrough a Speculum that Shines Vision and Imagination in Medieval JewishMysticism (Princeton NJ 1994) Luminal Darkness Imaginal Gleaning fromthe Zoharic Literature (Oxford 2007) Language Eros Being KabbalisticHermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (New York 2005) A DreamInterpreted Within a Dream Oneiropoiesis and the Prism of Imagination(New York 2011) lsquolsquoPhantasmagoria The Image of the Image in JewishMagic from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Agesrsquorsquo Review of RabbinicJudaism Ancient Medieval and Modern Vol 4 No 1 (2001) pp 78ndash120

18 Daniel Reiser

14 See D Reiser Vision as a Mirror pp 113ndash18 Although all theseexercises have precedents in zoharic and kabbalistic literature and it isnot the case that hasidic books do not have linguistic imagery exercisesmdashnonetheless I find that there is a transformation from a period when thelinguistic imagery was central (alongside other exercises taking only a siderole) to a period when the visual scene is the main characteristic (along-side some linguistic imagery exercises)

15 M Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism p 8 Theword Kino means lsquolsquomoviersquorsquo in German Eksteinrsquos glosses on the Hebreware in German in Hebrew letters (not in Yiddish) Ekstein also recom-mends imagining multiple scenes that are the opposites of each otherlsquolsquoOne should train onersquos brain also [to visualize] opposites [ ] for theseare good tests of the brainrsquos quickness and agility ubungen zur Elastizitatdes Gehirnsrsquorsquo ndash that is lsquolsquoexercises for the brainrsquos flexibility (elasticity)rsquorsquo It isinteresting that Ekstein explains himself in German and not Yiddish in abook that views itself as part of the Hasidic corpus (In Yiddish the equiv-alent words would be genitungen far der baygevdikayt fun di gehirn) Thisfact may be evidence of the authorrsquos intended audience at the time thathe published this book he was living in Vienna where the German lan-guage was dominant even among the Jews Moreover until World War IGalicia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire where there wasGerman influence even among Hasidim

16 Henri F Ellenberger The Discovery of the Unconscious The Historyand Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry (New York 1971) pp 58ndash59 We find adescription of her recovery in the amazement of Wolfgang AmadeusMozart (1756ndash1791) who wrote in a letter to his father that Franzl hadchanged beyond recognition as a result of Mesmerrsquos treatment SeeMargaret Goldsmith Franz Anton Mesmer The History of an Idea(London 1934) pp 57ndash59

17 M Goldsmith Franz Anton Mesmer pp 75ndash77 NonethelessMesmer was strongly criticized by scientists in Vienna see HEllenberger Discovery of the Unconscious p 60

18 Robert Darton Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment inFrance (Cambridge 1968) p 3 Catherine L Albanese A Republic ofMind and Spirit A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion (NewHaven 2006) pp 191ndash92

19 R Darton Mesmerism pp 3ndash4 Regarding the element of lsquolsquocrisisrsquorsquoin Mesmerrsquos treatments see H Ellenberger Discovery of the Unconsciouspp 62ndash63

20 In German Thierischen Magnetismus and later in French magne-tisme animal The term lsquolsquoanimalrsquorsquo means something with life in it and doesnot refer to beasts

21 R Darton Mesmerism p 422 Regarding this whole incident see M Goldsmith Franz Anton

Mesmer pp 87ndash101 and Vincent Buranelli The Wizard from ViennaFranz Anton Mesmer (New York 1975) pp 75ndash88

The Encounter in Vienna 19

23 Henri Ellenberger argues that the true reason for Mesmerrsquos de-parture for Vienna is unclear and that attributing it to the incident withMaria Theresia Paradis is only a hypothesis Ellenberger prefers to attrib-ute Mesmerrsquos departure to his unbalanced personality arguing that he hadpsychopathological problems See H Ellenberger Discovery of theUnconscious p 61 Regarding the development of mesmerism inGermany see Alan Gauld A History of Hypnotism (Cambridge 1992) pp75ndash110

24 Mesmer treated two hundred people in each group treatmentsession Twenty people would stand around the tub holding ontotwenty poles that were attached to the tub and behind each of thesetwenty people was a line of another nine patients each tied together orholding hands such that the magnetic fluid would be able to flow throughthem all See H Ellenberger Discovery of the Unconscious pp 63ndash64

25 Ibid p 6526 V Buranelli Wizard from Vienna p 16727 Regarding this period of his life see ibid pp 181ndash88 199ndash20428 H Ellenberger Discovery of the Unconscious p 148 See also

Wouter J Hanegraaff Esotericism and the Academy Rejected Knowledge inWestern Culture (Cambridge 2012) p 261

29 Stefan Zweig Mental Healers Franz Anton Mesmer Mary BakerEddy Sigmund Freud (New York 1932) Regarding Mesmerrsquos role as thefounder of the basis of modern psychology see also Adam Crabtree FromMesmer to Freud Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing (NewHaven 1993) On Mesmer as the basis for Freud see also Robert WMarks The Story of Hypnotism (New York 1947) pp 58ndash97 Jeffrey JKripal Esalen America and the Religion of No Religion (Chicago 2007) p141

30 James Braid (1795ndash1860) known as the father of modern hypno-sis was a Scottish surgeon and physiologist who personally encounteredmesmerism on November 13 1841 A Swedish mesmerist named CharlesLafontaine (1803ndash1892) demonstrated mesmerism of patients before acrowd in Manchester and Braid was in the crowd Braid was convincedthat during the mesmerism these patients were in an entirely differentphysical state and different state of consciousness At this event the ideasuddenly came to Braid that he had discovered the natural apparatus ofpsychophysiology that lay behind these authentic phenomena See WilliamS Kroger and Michael D Yapko Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis inMedicine Dentistry and Psychology (Philadelphia 2008) p 3 This idea re-sulted in five public lectures that Braid gave in Manchester later thatmonth See James Braid Neurypnology Or the Rationale of Nervous SleepConsidered in Relation with Animal Magnetism (London 1843) p 2 Braidrejected Mesmerrsquos idea of fluidum and instead came up with a lsquolsquopurersquorsquopsychological model which made use of the concepts lsquolsquoconsciousrsquorsquo andlsquolsquounconsciousrsquorsquo and attributed mesmerismrsquos supernormal powers of heal-ing and perception to the intensive concentration that can be causedartificially by hypnosis See J Kripal Esalen p 141 Alison Winter

20 Daniel Reiser

Mesmerized Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain (Chicago 1998) pp 184ndash86287ndash88

31 Nevertheless it should be noted that even before the develop-ment of mesmerism one can find Jewish examples of hypnotic activitiesand certain individuals who had hypnotic abilities whether knowingly orunknowingly The difference is that in the wake of mesmerism modernpsychology and psychiatry developed and these hypnotic phenomenawere attributed more and more to the workings of the human soul (thelsquolsquounconsciousrsquorsquo) rather than to magic or to the powers of the practitionerFor a discussion of Jews with hypnotic powers from the thirteenth centurythrough the Barsquoal Shem Tov see Moshe Idel lsquolsquolsquoThe Besht Passed HisHand over His Facersquo On the Beshtrsquos Influence on His Followers ndashSome Remarksrsquorsquo in After Spirituality Studies in Mystical Traditions editedby Philip Wexler and Jonathan Garb (New York 2012) p 96

32 R Jacob Ettlinger Benei Tziyyon Responsa Vol 1 sec 67 See alsoJacob Bazak Lemala min HaHushim [Above the Senses] (Tel Aviv 1968) pp42ndash43 (Hebrew)

33 See Franz Mesmer Mesmerismus oder System der Wechsel-Beziehungen Theorie und Andwendungen des Thierischen Magnetismus(Berlin 1814) (German) This title shows that even in Mesmerrsquos lifetimehis theory was being called lsquolsquomesmerismrsquorsquo after his own name and notjust lsquolsquoanimal magnetismrsquorsquo It is unclear whether Mesmer advanced the useof this name over the course of his lifetime or instead used it only at theend of his days simply because it had become the accepted term amongthe masses who preferred to call the theory after the name of its origi-nator and not by its lsquolsquoscientificrsquorsquo name

34 A similar attitude toward hypnosis is expressed in a halakhic re-sponsum by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein a halakhic authority from the secondhalf of the twentieth century see Iggerot Moshe Responsa (Bnei Brak 1981)section Yoreh Dersquoah Vol 3 sec 44 (Hebrew) lsquolsquoRegarding your question ofwhether it is permitted to use hypnotism as a treatment ndash I have discussedthis with people who know a bit about it and also with Rabbi J E Henkinand we do not see any halakhic problem in it for there is no witchcraft init for it is a natural phenomenon that certain people have the power tobring upon patients with weak nerves or the likersquorsquo

35 Isaac Baer Levinson Divrei Tsaddikim Im Emek Refarsquoim (Odessa1867) p 1 (Hebrew)

36 Ibid37 Ibid p 23 The expression lsquolsquoI remove my handrsquorsquo can be inter-

preted in two ways either as a general description of stopping the hyp-notic treatment or as literal removal of the healerrsquos hands from before thepatientrsquos face

38 M Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism p 1 lsquolsquoIn whatways will it be possible for us to study the way of contemplation and toreach it Let us try and strive to give an answer to this question an answerthat is anthologized from various places in the books of the Hasidim here ar-ranged systematicallyrsquorsquo (emphasis added) See also his introduction to the

The Encounter in Vienna 21

Yiddish version lsquolsquoIn my book I have made a first attempt to find appro-priate definitions and an appropriate style to express the principles ofHasidic thought so that they can be accessible to the general readereverything is taken from primary sourcesrsquorsquo (emphasis added)

39 In the second edition of the book (p 110) and in the third edi-tion (p 107) the word lsquolsquofluidumrsquorsquo was removed However the word lsquolsquosug-gestiyarsquorsquo was left (see 2nd ed p 112 3rd ed p 110)

40 M Ekstein Mental Conditions for Achieving Hasidism p 5041 Ibid p 5242 Rebbe is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word rabbi

which means lsquolsquomasterrsquorsquo lsquolsquoteacherrsquorsquo or lsquolsquomentorrsquorsquo The term rebbe is usedspecifically by Hasidim to refer to the leader of their Hasidic court

43 Ibid pp 50ndash51 See what Ekstein says there about a strong ex-traordinary ability to influence others even against their will lsquolsquoFor thereare some extraordinary instances in which the words remove all veils andpenetrate the heart with great force even against the will of the listenersIn general though the force goes through only to people who are listen-ing intently and know how to nullify themselves in favor of the speakerand want his words to influence themrsquorsquo Ekstein shows here that he un-derstands one of the basic principles of psychotherapeutic and psychiatrictreatment that the therapist and the patient need to cooperate for thereto be any influence

44 Ibid p 5145 Of course one can find similar concepts already in antiquity and

in Jewish literature My point is that the terms that are used to describethese concepts in their modern form are based on Mesmerrsquos teachingsand the subsequent development of psychology We find similar neo-pla-tonic concepts expressed by the Greek word pneuma (pne ~um) in theurgyand Hellenistic magic and later in Islamic philosophy and mysticismtranslated as lsquolsquospiritualityrsquorsquo This lsquolsquospiritualityrsquorsquo functions as a cosmicforce which is between humanity and God and we find the idea of hu-manityrsquos ability to lsquolsquobring down the spiritualityrsquorsquo Regarding all this andthe attitudes toward it of Judah Halevi and Maimonides see ShlomoPines lsquolsquoOn the term Ruhaniyyat and its Origin and on Judah HalevirsquosDoctrinersquorsquo Tarbiz Vol 57 No 4 (1988) pp 511ndash40 (Hebrew) OnHalevirsquos Arabic term mahall which describes the sense in which a humanbeing may become an abode for the divine see Diana Lobel lsquolsquoA DwellingPlace for the Shekhinahrsquorsquo JQR Vol 1ndash2 No 90 (1999) pp 103ndash25 idemBetween Mysticism and Philosophy Sufi Language of Religious Experience inJudah Ha-levirsquos Kuzari (New York 2000) pp 120ndash45

46 The idea of a cosmic force in this sense and Mesmerrsquos fluid as anlsquolsquoagent of naturersquorsquo seems to resonate with Henri Bergsonrsquos (1859ndash1941)elan vital a concept translated worldwide as lsquolsquovital impulsersquorsquo This impulsehe argued was interwoven throughout the universe giving life and unstop-pable impulse and surge See Henri Bergson Creative Evolution trans byArthur Mitchell (New York 1911) pp 87 245ndash46 Jimena Canales ThePhysicist and the Philosopher Einstein Bergson and the Debate that Changed

22 Daniel Reiser

Our Understanding of Time (Princeton 2015) pp 7 282 See ibid pp 27ndash31 about Bergsonrsquos duration and elan vital and their connection to mysticfaith It is interesting to note that Bergson was a descendant of a JewishPolish Family which was the preeminent patron of Polish Hasidism in thenineteenth century see Glenn Dynner Men of Silk The Hasidic Conquest ofPolish Jewish Society (Oxford 2006) pp 97ndash113 In 1908 Max Nordau aZionist leader discounted the ideas of Henri Bergson by proclaiminglsquolsquoBergson inherited these fantasies from his ancestors who were fanaticand fantastic lsquowonder-rabbisrsquo in Polandrsquorsquo (Ibid p 97) I am grateful to theanonymous referee who drew my attention to Bergsonrsquos elan vital and itssimilarity to the ideas in this article

47 On R Isaac Bernays see Yehuda Horowitz lsquolsquoBernays Yitshak benYarsquoakovrsquorsquo in The Hebrew Encyclopedia (Jerusalem 1967) Vol 9 column 864(Hebrew) Isaac Heinemann lsquolsquoThe relationship between S R Hirsch andhis teacher Isaac Bernaysrsquorsquo Zion Vol 16 (1951) pp 69ndash90 (Hebrew) It isworth mentioning that Isaac Bernaysrsquos granddaughter married SigmundFreud see Margaret Muckenhoupt Sigmund Freud Explorer of theUnconscious (New York 1997) p 26 (I would like to thank my friendGavriel Wasserman for bringing this to my attention) Regarding aZionist pamphlet that Marcus published and Theodor Herzlrsquos reactionto the pamphlet see Herzlrsquos article lsquolsquoDr Gidmannrsquos lsquoNational Judaismrsquorsquorsquofound in Hebrew on the Ben-Yehuda Project httpbenyehudaorgherzlherzl_009html

48 See Meir Wunder Meorei Galicia Encyclopedia of Galician Rabbisand Scholars (Jerusalem 1986) Vol 3 columns 969ndash71 (Hebrew)

49 See Moses Tsinovitsh lsquolsquoR Aaron Marcus ndash the Pioneer of HasidicLiteraturersquorsquo Ortodoksishe Yugend Bleter Vol 39 (1933) pp 7ndash8 (Yiddish)Vili Aron lsquolsquoAaron Marcus the lsquoGermanrsquo Who Became a Hasidrsquorsquo YivoBleter Vol 29 (1947) pp 143ndash48 (Yiddish) Jochebed Segal HeHasidMeHamburg Sippur Hayyav shel R Aharon Markus (Jerusalem 1978)(Hebrew) Markus Marcus Ahron Marcus Die Lebensgeschichte einesChossid (Montreux 1966) (German) Regarding Marcusrsquos authenticity inhis descriptions see Uriel Gelman lsquolsquoThe Great Wedding in Uscilug TheMaking of a Hasidic Mythrsquorsquo Tarbiz Vol 80 No 4 (2013) pp 574ndash80(Hebrew) For certain doubts that can be raised about Marcusrsquos reliabilitysee ibid pp 590ndash94 for further clear mistakes that Marcus made seeGershon Kitzis lsquolsquoAaron Marcusrsquos lsquoHasidismrsquorsquorsquo HaMarsquoayan Vol 21 (1981)pp 64ndash88 (Hebrew)

50 Aaron Marcus Hasidism trans from the German by MosheSchoenfeld (Bnei Brak 1980) p 242 (Hebrew) The German title of thebook is Der Chassidismus Eine Kulturgeschichtliche Studie (Pleschen 1901)

51 This is evidently the name of a place but I have not been able toidentify it

52 Ibid p 23953 Ibid p 385 see also there pp 381ndash82 about a Jewish woman

who underwent hypnotism therapy and demonstrated supernaturalpowers during this treatment lsquolsquoDr Bini Cohen Bismarckrsquos personal

The Encounter in Vienna 23

doctor [ ] hypnotized the wife of R Gitsh Folk a Polish Jewish womanliving in Hamburg who did not know how to read or write German andhad fallen dangerously illrsquorsquo

54 Ibid p 225 Marcus mentions there that the Belzer Rebbe per-formed his treatments by passing his hands over the patientrsquos face On theBarsquoal Shem Tovrsquos use of influence of hands see Moshe Idel lsquolsquoThe BeshtPassed His Hand over His Facersquorsquo pp 79ndash106

55 Regarding this development see Mayer Howard Abrams TheMirror and the Lamp Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (NewYork 1953) Richard Kearney The Wake of Imagination Toward aPostmodern Culture (Minneapolis 1988)

56 Raphael Straus lsquolsquoThe Baal-Shem of Michelstadt Mesmerism andCabbalarsquorsquo Historica Judaica Vol VIII No 2 (1946) pp 135ndash48

57 Ibid pp 139ndash4258 Ibid p 143 see examples there and on the subsequent page59 Karl E Grozinger lsquolsquoZekl Leib Wormser the Barsquoal Shem of

Michelstadtrsquorsquo in Judaism Topics Fragments Faces Identities Jubilee Volumein Honor of Rivka (eds) Haviva Pedaya and Ephraim Meir (Bersquoer Sheva2007) p 507 (Hebrew) See also his book Karl E Grozinger Der BalsquoalSchem von Michelstadt ein deutsch-judisches Heiligenleben zwischen Legende undWirklichkeit (Frankfurt 2010) (German)

60 R Straus lsquolsquoBaal-Shem of Michelstadtrsquorsquo p 14661 Carl E Schorske Fin-de-Siecle Vienna Politics and Culture (New

York 1980)62 Ibid pp 7ndash963 Ibid pp 3ndash23 For more on the character of Viennese bourgeoi-

sie and the collapse of liberalism see Allen Janik and Stephen ToulminWittgensteinrsquos Vienna (New York 1973) pp 33ndash66

64 Steven Beller Vienna and the Jews 1867-1938 A Cultural History(Cambridge 1989)

65 In his book he attempts to define the culture as inherently Jewishnot just as a culture produced by Jews

66 See Michael A Meyer lsquolsquoReview of Steven Beller lsquoVienna and theJews 1867ndash1938 A Cultural Historyrsquorsquorsquo AJS Review Vol 16 No 1ndash2(1991) pp 236ndash39 Meyer presents Bellerrsquos analysis as being the oppositeof Schorskersquos but I am not convinced of this

67 C Schorske Fin-de-Siecle Vienna pp 348ndash49 For more onSchonberg and his critique of music and society see A Janik and SToulmin Wittgensteinrsquos Vienna pp 106ndash12 250ndash56

68 Stefan Zweig The World of Yesterday trans Anthea Bell (Universityof Nebraska Press 1964) p 301

69 Ibid pp 297ndash9870 Regarding the 77000 Jewish refugees in Vienna at the time of

World War I see Moshe Ungerfeld Vienna (Tel Aviv 1946) pp 120ndash24(Hebrew) On the flow of Jews from Galicia and Bukovina to Vienna seeDavid Rechter The Jews of Vienna and the First World War (London 2001)pp 67ndash100 According to Rechterrsquos count 150000 Jewish refugees arrived

24 Daniel Reiser

in Vienna over the course of World War I See ibid pp 74 80ndash82 andsee there p 72 where he says that this number caused the increase of anti-semitism On Jewish immigration before World War I see Marsha LRozenblit The Jews of Vienna 1867-1914 Assimilation and Identity (Albany1983) pp 13ndash45

71 M Ungerfeld Vienna pp 129ndash30 See also HarrietPass Freidenreich Jewish Politics in Vienna 1918-1938 (Bloomington andIndianapolis 1991) pp 138ndash46

72 On the tensions between the liberal Austrian Jews and theOrthodox immigrants from Galicia see D Rechter Jews of Vienna pp179ndash86

73 Solomon Hayyim Friedman Hayyei Shelomo (Jerusalem 2006)(Hebrew)

74 In 1915 there were about 600000 Jews who were homeless as aresult of the war see D Rechter Jews of Vienna p 68

75 S Friedman Hayyei Shlomo p 264 See also his sermons thatdiscuss the tension between the Orthodox immigrants and the Jews ofVienna the Ostjuden and Westjuden ibid p 277 lsquolsquoThe Sabbath-desecra-tors claim that they too are lsquogood Jewsrsquo [ ] but those lsquogood Jewsrsquo havetorn down and continue to tear down the foundations of Judaism onwhich the whole structure stands and without structure the nation cannotstandrsquorsquo (Vienna 31st day of the Omer [May 18ndash19] 1935) On the culturalassimilation of the Westjuden of Vienna see M Rozenblit Jews of Vienna1867-1914 Assimilation and Identity

76 Judah Barash Otsar Hokhmah Kolel Yesodei Kol HaYedirsquoot MeHelkatHaPilosofit Bah Yedubbar MeHaHiggayon MiMah ShersquoAhar HaTeva MiYedirsquoatHaNefesh UMiPilosofiyyat HaDat (Vienna 1856) (Hebrew) This book is asummary of eight pamphlets that survive in the authorrsquos handwriting inthe National Library of Israel department of manuscripts number B 758381893

77 Ibid pp 130ndash31 One can find books in vernacular languages yetfrom a Jewish perspective dealing with mesmerism and parapsychologicalforces such as the German book by Moritz Wiener Selma die JudischeSeherin Traumleben und Hellsehen einer durch Animalischen MagnetismusWiederhergestellten Kranken (Berlin 1838) [Selma the Jewish Seer Dreamsand Visions of a Sick Woman Who Was Treated by Animal Magnetism]Wiener tells of a woman named Selma who received mesmeristic treat-ment entered a trance of hypnotic sleep and saw events that were hap-pening in distant places about which she could not have known anythingRegarding this book see Aharon Zeitlin The Other Reality (Tel Aviv 1967)pp 208ndash10 (Hebrew)

78 Solomon Zevi Schick MiMoshe Ad Moshe (Munkacs 1903) pp 17ndash20 (Hebrew) He deals with testimonies of medieval authors such as RabbiSolomon ibn Adret (1235-1310) in his responsa Shut HaRashba sec 548

79 Aaron Paries Torat Hayyim (Vienna 1880) (Hebrew) He discussesmesmerism on pages 80 and 81

The Encounter in Vienna 25

80 See Yehoshua Mondshine HaTsofeh LeDoro Rabbi Yekuthiel AryehKamelhar His Life and Works (Jerusalem 1987) pp 150ndash51 154 165(Hebrew)

81 That is Franz Mesmer82 Jekuthiel Aryeh Kamelhar Dor Dersquoah Arbarsquoah Tekufot Hasidut

Beshtit BiShenot Tav-Kuf ndash Tav-Resh-Kaf [Four Generations of BeshtianHasidism from 1740 to 1860] (Ashdod 1998) p 53 (Hebrew) MenachemEkstein was familiar with Kamelharrsquos books he sometimes even fundedtheir publication See for example Kamelharrsquos acknowledgments toEkstein for funding the publication of his book Hasidim Rishonim DorDorim (Waitzen 1917) at the end of the preface Note especiallyKamelharrsquos affectionate words about Ekstein there lsquolsquoMy dear friendMenachem who restores my soul [cf Lamentations 116] may his lightshine from the city Rzesowrsquorsquo See also Mondshinersquos theory in HaTsofehLeDoro p 150 that Kamelhar and Ekstein spent Passover together in 1918in Vienna

83 For more discussion of the interface between Eastern andWestern Europe at the turn of the century see the foundational articleby Paul Mendes-Flohr lsquolsquoOrientalism and Mysticism The Aesthetic of theTurn of the Nineteenth Century and Jewish Identityrsquorsquo MehkereiYerushalayim BeMahshevet Yisrarsquoel Vol 3 No 4 (1984) pp 624ndash81(Hebrew) Mendes-Flohr lsquolsquoFin-de-siecle Orientalism the lsquoOstjudenrsquo andthe aesthetics of Jewish self-affirmationrsquorsquo Studies in Contemporary JewryVol 1 (1984) pp 96ndash139

84 Maya Balakirsky Katz lsquolsquoAn Occupational Neurosis APsychoanalytic Case History of a Rabbirsquorsquo AJS Review Vol 34 No 1(2010) pp 1ndash31 Jonathan Garb Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah(Chicago 2011) pp 145ndash47

85 I intend to write at length elsewhere about the Hasidic vibrancyand the extensive use of imagination that occurred in immigrant Hasidiccommunities in Vienna after World War I To mention one exampleRabbi David Isaac Rabinovitz (1898ndash1979) the Rebbe of Skole (Skolye)immigrated to Vienna after World War I where he wrote his Book ofVisions (in three volumes) in which he describes his imagination and vi-sions the manuscript is today in the hands of the current Skolye Rebbe inthe United States Regarding this manuscript see Kovets Bersquoer Yitshak Vol3 (New York 2001) p 18 (Hebrew) Regarding another encounter be-tween East and West that took place in Vienna and changed the outlookof the Rebbe Israel of Czortkow on the writing of historiographical workssee Y Mondshine HaTsofeh LeDoro pp 153ndash54

26 Daniel Reiser