Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

July 17, 2018

The Mystical Artwork of the Hasidim

Kabbalistic kiddush cups.

Ḥasidic mystical theology, combined with the ḥasidic tendency to invest minor details of custom with religious significance, led Ḥasidim to view ritual objects not invested with sanctity by halakhah—kiddush cups, seder plates, the decorations on the collars of prayer shawls, and so forth—as imbued with kabbalistic symbolism. Ḥasidic craftsmen then began to make these items with this symbolism in mind. In an interview with Alan Brill, Batsheva Goldman-Ida, the author of a recent book on this subject, explains:

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