The organizer of the sect Chasidim, existing to the present day in various parts of the continent, was Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer Baal Shem (12r) . e., possessor of the secret how to call upon the name so as to be able to affect the creation) ; also called Bescht, utyva, from the initials of ntv 3".2 mln. Baal Shem made his first public appearance in Tlusti in the district of Czortkow in Poland, where he began his wonderful deeds, which soon led to the discovery, on the part of his disciples, that his father had been visited by the prophet Elijah, to predict his birth, and that his mother was an hundred years old when she was delivered of him. Baal Shem then removed to Itledzihoze in Podolia, where his wonderful works secured for him the name saint (pnV). He spoke of his frequent communications with the Deity and the world of spirits, performed miraculous cures, and reclaimed human souls which had entered into beasts. His fame spread far and wide, and multitudes of deluded Jews flocked from all parts of Poland to this thau maturgus, to submit themselves to his guidance, and he formed them into the sect Chasidim of the present day. The following are their chief princi ples and tenets :— I. The great aim of every Chasid is to be in intimate communion with (niplzi) or wedded to the Deity (rulnc, nst), who is regarded as a bride. This communion is effected through prayer, and more especially through frequent contact with the Tzadic, or spiritual head, who is espoused to God, and who, as his delegate upon earth, can do all manner of wonderful things. The Tzadic is there fore the king and supreme judge of the community, has absolute power over their thoughts, words, and deeds, is richly supported by the voluntary contri butions of his followers, they perform pilgrimages to him to spend the Sabbaths and festivals with him, when the rich sit with him at the table, and the poor esteem it the greatest privilege to touch the hem of his garment, or even to catch a glimpse of him. 2. Revelation and the reward of all good works depend upon absolute faith, which is greatly interfered with by research and philosophy. 3. Miracles must be implicitly believed in ; the great est devotion is to be manifested during prayer, and hence shouting, clapping of hands, singing, dancing before the Lord, etc., must be resorted to, so as tc preclude the intrusion of profane thoughts. 4. Repentance and conversion are essential to salvo..
tion ; a man must always prepare himself for them and never despair. 5. The Chasid must keep aloof from profane knowledge and from the love of mammon, which lead to unbelief, but worship God, even in the performance of business. 6. He must be exceedingly cheerful, contented, unselfish, bene volent, peaceable, charitable in judging others, courageous, temperate in his dress and mode of living, etc. In every town or village where ten Chasidim are to be found, they must meet sepa rately for prayer and meditation, and use the Spanish form of prayer, introducing into it the Kabalistic elements. These doctrines the Chasiclinz derive from the Bible, the Talmud, and more espe cially from the Sohar. At the death of Baal Shem, A. D. 1760, his three grandsons, Bar of Meseritz, Mendel of Przemislaw, and Michael of Kolk, con tinued to govern the sect ; they spread the fame of their grandfather's wondrous deeds, promulgated his doctrines, and established communities through out Poland, Wallachia, Moldavia, Galicia, and in Palestine, where they exist to the present day. R. Moses Dattelbaum of Galicia, a Chasid who was invited to become the head of the Jewish com munity at Sator-Alja-Ujhely, introduced these doc trines into Hungary in ISci9, and, by means of his imposing appearance, deep penetration, profound Talmudic knowledge, and great popular talents, soon secured for them a rapid spread. The follow ing incident of this most remarkable orator's life will help to explain the cause of the extraordinary increase of Chasidim in Hungary. Dattelbaum, in delivering a discourse to a large assembly of Jews the evening before the great day of atonement, paused suddenly, and ordered all the youths present to be conducti.d before the sacred ark wherein the scrolls of the law are deposited, which was done immediately. The whole congregation watched with breathless silence what was coming. Chil dren,' said the Rabbi, ' are you resolved to lay down your lives for our holy faith, if the Holy One, blessed be His name, should demand it of you ? Oh ! I know your resolution. Respond then with
a loud voice, Yes, Rabbi, we are prepared to die.' The children repeated these words. The congre gation was deeply moved, and Dattelbaum ex claimed, ' Lord of the universe, the Thora men tions only one Isaac who was willing to submit to death to glorify Thy name, but here are assembled a large number of Isaacs, for their sakes look down upon us graciously ! ' Literature.—The Chasidim have published some very able and learned works in defence of their peculiar doctrines. The following are some of them :—I. A small work called t.nn, by Senior Salman Lidier, 1780, reprinted in Konigsberg, 1823 ; 2. n:1014,1m -nrrn Sklow, 182o ; 3. rinup rm.,nin, a book of ethics, arranged in alphabetical order by R. Nachman, I821 ; comp. also ,host Geschichte des yudenthunzs and seine Secten, iii, p. 185, etc. ; Ben Chananja, ii. pp. 1, 49, I93•—C. D. G.
CHASM 64cri). This word occurs I Kings viii. 37 ; 2 Chron. Vi. 28 ; Ps. lxxviii. 46 ; Is. xxxiii. 4 ; Joel i. 4 ; ii. 25. In the first two pas sages the LXX. give gpoSxos ; in the other except in Is. xxxiii. 4, where they seem to have followed a different text. In the A. V. the word is translated by caterpillar in all these passages.
The English word caterpillar belongs strictly to the larva of the genus lepidoptera, and more espe cially to the larva: of a section of it, the Papilionide.
It is, however, far from provable that the any species of caterpillar. The root from which it is derived, signifies to ' consume' or vour,' and it is especially used to denote the ravages of the laciest (Dent. xxviii. 38, nz-1,,tri The Arabic and Syriac cognates also signify to consume. The word &Oyu's, by which it is fre quently rendered in the Septuagint, from ppthcrin-co, I eat up, conveys also the idea of ravenousness. All these names indicate a creature whose chief characteristic is voracity, and which also attaches to all the species of locusts. The ancients, indeed, concur in referring the word to the locust tribe of insects, but are not agreed whether it signifies any particular species of locust, or is the name for any of those states or transformations through which the locust passes from the egg to the perfect insect. The Latin Fathers take it to mean the larva of the locust, and the Greek understand it as the name of an adult locust. The Latins give the name bruchus to the young locust before it has wings, call it attelabus when it begins to fly, and locusta when it is able to fly. Thus Jerome, in his Comm. in Nahum. c. Bruchus nihil aliud faciat, nisi semper in terra sit, et absgzte ails cibo et ventri serviat ; attelabus autem saltem modicas as sumat alas, et, cum in altum volare non possit, tamen de terra exsilire notatur, et tandem perveni ens in locustam volitat.' And again, Attelabus quern significantius conimessorem interpretatus est Aquila, parva locusta est, inter locustam et bruch urn, et modicis pennis reptans, potius quam volans semperque subsiliens.' Augustine also, on Ps. civ., says, Bruchus est locust fetus; una plaga e,t locustae et bruchi, quoniam altera est parens, et alter est foetus.' The same opinion is maintained by Gregorius in lib. xxxiii. c. 17. These statements of Jerome, and the other Latins, are very remarkable, since the Vulgate, in Nahum iii. 16, reads Bruchus expansus est et avolavit, and flies away; and the Septuagint, also, in the same place, reads ppoSxos t6Attwe Kat and what is still more remarkable, Jerome himself, Lev. xi. 22, puts the bruchus among the volucres. It is curious to see the Greek fathers ascribing wings and the power of flight to the bruchus in their comments on the same passages. Thus Cyril upon Nahum iii. : lad -yap, 6rz, marrobaw xaXciP77s, Kai Karapn-y-pw,uevcop etapavi.is cis 6 gpoitxos, Kara6c6cv,alvcov T irs-gpow. And Theodoret upon the same passage : iiMairijs irposPaXXolicrqs citcrIPos aviararat Kai srercivvuut Tit srs-cpet, Kai cis erepov kceral3alvet 7.67rov. The same writer on Amos vii. I plainly distinguishes the bruchus from the young of the locust. Tar ryosiv Se circpiScoP, he observes, rbp 'Ao-ripeor, gporixov Se roc Ba,thAthvzov. The Septuagint also in Lev. xi. 22, seems to distinguish the bruchus and its 764, 6gota, ' and its kind,' from the dicpts, or common locust, and its rbt 6aotct as differing not in age but in species. Thcophrastus also, Hopi dOpeiev yficavoiLeinop i'thcov says, xraerat Dire at civiScs, xaXoruizEpot Se of drreNepoz, cal 7"