The Early Hasidim

The Early Hasidim

The Early Hasidim are mentioned in the Mishnah, Tractate Berakhot, Chapter 8, Mishnah 1:

The Early Hasidim would tarry in the synagogue for one hour before prayer, and only then would they pray, so that during this time they would cast out from their hearts the pleasures and delights of this world, and thus be able to direct their hearts in prayer to their Father in Heaven.

We learned in a Baraita: Rabbi Judah says, the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not bring about through the Early Hasidim any stumble of accidental sin, meaning: the Holy One, Blessed be He, protects them from sinning accidentally, and certainly from sinning intentionally.

Since no accidental sin was found in their hands, they did not have the opportunity to bring a sin-offering, which is brought by one who sins accidentally, and they yearned and longed to fulfill this mitzvah of bringing a sin-offering. [נדרים י.]

The Early Hasidim, who were very meticulous in mitzvot, used to affix tzitzit to a garment immediately at the first moment possible. Therefore, when they wove and prepared a four-cornered garment, they would immediately tie threads of tekhelet to the two corners that were already woven. [מנחות מ:]

The Early Hasidim would hasten to go to the house of mourning rather than to the house of feasting, as it is said: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all humanity, and the living will lay it to heart." [קהלת ז, ב] They said: Anyone who walks behind the bier of the deceased should say, after this man, I will die! Thus, he will come to lay to heart what his purpose in the world is. [שמות פי"ב ה"ה]

Rabbi Judah said: The Early Hasidim would suffer from intestinal illness for about twenty days before their death, in order to cleanse everything and enter worthy into the World to Come, as it is said: "The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man according to his praise." [משלי כז, כא שמחות פ"ג ה"י]-

Several of the early Tanna'im were called a Hasid, and they are:

• Yose ben Yoezer was a Hasid among the priesthood. [חגיגה פ"ב מ"ז]
• Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai would enumerate their praises: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, a plastered cistern that loses not a drop; Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah, happy is his mother; Rabbi Yose the Priest, a Hasid; Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel, one who fears sin; and Rabbi Elazar ben Arach, an ever-flowing spring. [אבות פ"ב מ"ח]
• We have a general rule: Wherever it says, 'an incident involving a certain Hasid,' he is either Rabbi Yehudah ben Baba or Rabbi Yehudah ben Rabbi Il'ai. [ב"ק קג].
• When Abba Yose ben Kattonata died, the Hasidim ceased. And why was he called Abba Yose ben Kattonata? Because he was one of the minor Hasidim. [סוף סוטה]

Apparently, all their acts of piety, good ways, and precious sayings were collected in a book called Megillat Hasidim. One saying from it has remained, as cited in the Yerushalmi at the end of Berakhot.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: In the Megillat Hasidim they found written, "The day you abandon Me, for days I will abandon you," meaning: If you abandon Me for one day, I will abandon you for two days.

The explanation for this: Because one turns his mind away from words of Torah, the Torah goes on and makes wise those who seek it, and he who seeks it becomes wiser than the one who abandoned it. [ירושלמי סח. פני משה]