R. ARELEH ROTH'S PRISTINE FAITH

Abstract

Areleh Roth responded to the Holocaust by labouring to have Jews actualize pristine faith. As the slaughter in Europe mended the sinful universe prior to the advent of the Messiah, the living were enjoined to bring to bear the faith which was experienced by Abraham and which the people of Israel inherited over the ages. This meant struggling against the forces of Amalek who clouded the perception of God's presence amid the tragedy. Under divine aegis, Amalek brought suffering to induce repentance, he tested the people in order to activate free will, and clouded the perception of God's presence amid catastrophe. The struggle centred on annulling one's personality entirely, enabling God to enter the heart so completely as to totally replace the ego. This was the experience of pristine faith, and with it one related to God, through Abraham, and gained the strength to endure the tragedy. Even more, one's soul could join the ascent of those sparks which were dispersed upon the cosmic catastrophe (described by Isaac Luria) and thereby contribute to, and participate in, the rise of Israel to the spiritual redemption of the Sabbath before Adam's sin. Roth's response to the catastrophe was not of theological exposition (for example, why the pious suffered) but of practical means to survive and thrive on the level of spirit.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Shaul Magid, Benny Brown, Yossi Benharush, Isaac Hirshkowitz, Zalman Alpert and Morris Faierstein for their knowledgeable insights.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Abbreviations

ME	=	Mevakesh ’emunah
UD	=	Uvdah de'Aharon
SE	=	Shomer ’emunim
IA	=	’Imrei ’Aharon
KH	=	Kunteras hatsava'ah
TH	=	Taharat hakodesh

Notes

1. Whether or not Roth's adherence to God (Devekut) falls under the category of the mystical remains a question. Discussion with Benny Brown, 12 January 2014, Jerusalem. See Benharush (2014). Unpublished paper, shared by the author.

2. On Roth, see Brown (1998, 31–67, 2005, 403–443, 2013, 475–522), Guzman (2008), Meijers (1992), Kohen (1989, 230–233), Magid (1997, 74–104), Regev (2011), Heilman (1992, 140–167), Shtaynberger and Roth (1980), Blum (1988–1992), and Aviezri (2000).

3. Roth, “Shalom venahat [18 December 1929],” in 2009, 262–263. I have not found information about how Roth arranged Aliyah during this period of turmoil.

4. On Roth and Taytlboym, see Keren-Kratz (2013), Roth, “Shalom verav simhah [Satmar, 2 September 1937] and ‘Kibalti mikhtavkhem’ [Beregszasz, n.d.],” in UD, 228–233.

5. Roth, ME 8.

6. Kahn, “Hakdamah mihamotsi le'or,” in SE 71.

7. UD 100.

8. SE 5^a/b.

9. Roth, “Kabbalat ‘ol malkhut shamayim: ’Ani ma'amim (Kodem hakal yeharher biteshuvah. Ve'ahar kakh ye'amer),” in SE 240^a-244^b. Roth, “Shomer ’emunim: Ma'amar mevakesh ’emunah,” in SE 227^b-234^b.

10. SE 5^a-6^a.

11. ME; Roth, Takanot vehaderakhot dehevrat shomrei ’emunim.

12. Roth's posthumously published and edited works include: (1954, 1975, 1986, 1992, 2003, 200[5]). Includes selections from Taharat hakodesh and Hazohar hakadosh. Roth (1980, 200[4]). Also Roth (1981, 1987, 1998, 2001, 2006) and Roth and Shtern (1991). Additional editions are listed under “References.”

13. D. B. (1947). On the terms “pristine” and “primary,” see Magid (1997). On non-cognitive and cognitive faith, see Hirshkowitz (2010, 457–477). On ‘Emunah peshutah and ’Emunah teminah for Hasidei Kotsk and Hasidei gur, see Schreiber (2013, 13–30).

14. Roth, “Parashat noah,” in IA 9, 13–14.

15. SE 227b–228a.

16. KH 2^a.

17. SE 13^b, 51^b-52^a, 92^a, 169^a/b, 171^a; KH 1^b-2^a. On Roth's ’Emunah berosh and ’Emunah besof and levels of Yediʻah, Hargashah, and Hakarah, see Brown (1998).

18. Roth, IA 18–19; KH 25^b-26^b.

19. IA 19-20.

20. Ta'anit 5^b. Also Zohar, Shemot: Terumah (Zhitomir 1863), fol. 174^a. KH 29^a/b.

21.

The Holy One Blessed be He promised Moses that he would be forever tied to Israel in terms of his soul. And those who knowingly worship God are sparks of Moses our teacher, who is the epitome of the knowledge of the house of Israel.

Citing Tikunei hazohar, fol. 112^a. Shneor Zalman Miliady, Likutei ’amarim, ch. 42. SE 49^a. Citing Levi Yitshak Miberditshev, “Yitro,” in Kedushat levi, 100-101. IA 91. SE 92^a.

22. Roth, “In what does the soul's tie to Abraham our father, and from there to Hashem our God and His sanctity, blessed be He, consist? Precisely through our holy Torah.” KH 2^a.

23. IA 92. See Yoma 38^b.

24. SE 49^a. KH 27^b.

25. SE 286^b-287^a.

26. KH 6^b-7^a.

27. SE 287^a/b, 342^b-343^a.

28. SE 74^a.

29. Roth, “Shalom rav [Satmar 3 September 193[2]].” UD 228–229.

30. “Nur mezol zikh berekhenen, zenen mir gekimen oyf dem oylem vegin inets, vegin dem [geulah],” “Shalom yesagei [Beregszasz 1939].” Also, Roth ([1942] 1966, 37).

31. Roth, “Likhvod habahurei hemed [Jerusalem 1940],” ’Igrot shomrei ’emunim 55^a.

32. IA 85–87, SE 225^a.

33. ME 8.

34. ME 7–8.

35. SE 92^a. Roth (1933, 51^a).

36. SE 4^a.

37. Roth, “Toʻelet yesurei hagalut,” in 1994, 49^b-50^a. For similar analogies between the Holocaust and surgery, see Sokolover (1966, 114–119), Botschko (1945, 19–20), and Tsevi Yehudah Kook (1976). Also, Lifshits-Halberstam (1956, 5–11) and Schneersohn (2000, 180–182). See Greenberg (2014, 86–122).

38. SE 130, 137–138 as cited by Regev (2011, 40).

39. “Before one enters the Garden of Eden, one must first enter Gehinnom and undergo other punishments needed to undo trespasses.” KH 24^a.

40. SE 130, 137–138, as cited in Regev (2011, 41).

41. SE 118^b-119^b.

42. “Veʻezut panim dikedushah keneged haretsah hagadol.” Roth (Jerusalem, n.d.) to Tsevi Avigdor Madani, “’Odia ki kibalti,” in UD 213–214.

43. SE 121^a. IA 85.

44. SE 104^b.

45. KH 23^b, 29^a. Roth (1934, 18^a).

46. IA 140–142.

47. “Therefore the entire labor is a matter of annulment, annulling oneself totally into nothing.” UD 78–79, 279–280.

48. UD 121–123. Roth ([1942] 1966), 37^b.

49. “When the Lord lives upon a heart, the heart then, perforce, feels nothing [else]. The heart feels and knows that everything is only the creator … . One undergoes an ascent of the heart.” (Roth [1942] 1966, 37^b).

50. Tanhuma ad tetsaveh 5. Roth, ME 4–5, 35.

51. Roth, “Lishof bekirbi ’ahavatekha,” in Noʻam halevavot 13^b.

52. Roth wrote:

There is no creation in all the worlds which could estimate even an infinitely small amount of Your greatness … . Nevertheless You lowered Yourself to such degenerate, contemptible and despicable creations such as I—whose foundation is of dust, whose life is dust and death is dust. Worms surround us as long as we are in this world. Thereafter, insects and worms and clods of dust envelop us. We consist of fetid drops, demolished by burning flames, a clod in the image of a worm, but a moist drip, shut up in a filthy womb, enclosed in a dirty belly.

Roth, “Shefelut ‘atsmo, ubushah lifnei hashem,” in 1988, 86.

53. TH 6–8.

54. TH 11.

55. Roth, “To submit your soul, in the entire depth of your heart and entire mind, to tie oneself to [God],” in No'am halevavot 26a–30b.

56. UD 232. TH (1931), 7–13, 16.

57. Roth ([1942] 1966), 55^b.

58. TH 15. Blum (1988–1992, 52). For similar applications of Job 20:15, see ’Elimelekh of Lyzhansk, Noam ’elimelekh 94^a and Messer (1985, 65–67), written in Siberia during the Holocaust.

59. ME 16. UD 242.

60. Roth, “To raise the holy sparks from out of the external…until one's prayer, cry and tear awaken great compassion from the sublime source of compassion, for the wretched soul which is imprisoned in the prison of the foul and vile body.” TH 6–8.

61. IA 93.

62. SE 4^a. KH 30^b.

63. TH 6–7.

64. TH 6.

65. Roth, Noʻam halevavot, 21^b.

66. SE 102^a/b.

67. SE 4^a, 117^a/b.

68. KH 23^b.

69. TH 7-13, 16.

70. Roth, Noʻam halevavot, 6^a/b.

71.

The purpose of the human being is to illumine the darkness within, to unfold light from darkness, and darkness from light. By worshipping God, precisely from out of this gloom I am made beautiful. For the entire purpose of living creation is to illumine the darkness, the light from within the darkness. The more the darkness in the world, the more visible and esteemed the little light within: therefore, the generation of our righteous messiah is the purpose of all the generations. In the future it will transcend all the prior generations. For there is nothing in the beginning, so to speak, which is not there in the end. (Roth [1942] 1966, 55^b)

72. SE 343^a.

73. ME 33.

74. KH 16^a. SE 344^b. IA 9.

Additional information

Gershon Greenberg is Visiting Professor in Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, and Professor of Philosophy and Religion in Washington, DC at American University. He has published numerous studies of hasidic, kabbalist, Musar, Agudat Yisrael and Mizrahi thought during the Holocaust.