ABRAHAM BEN ALEXANDER KATZ OF KALISK

ABRAHAM BEN ALEXANDER KATZ OF KALISK (Kalisz ; 1741–1810), ?asidic leader in Poland and Ere? Israel. He was a disciple of *Dov Baer of Mezhirech. According to ?asidic tradition he first studied under *Elijah b. Solomon, the Gaon of Vilna. He joined the Talk, an ?asidic conventicle whose precise nature is unknown. Abraham gave expression to the ?asidic principle of serving God with fervor in a bizarre fashion, "turning somersaults in the streets and marketplaces" and ridiculing talmudic scholars. These exaggerated practices were among the reasons for the excommunication pronounced on the ?asidim by the rabbinical court of Vilna in 1772.

In 1777 Abraham immigrated to Ere? Israel with the group of ?asidim led by *Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk. He first settled in Safed and later in Tiberias, where he spent his last years. After the death of Menahem Mendel, Abraham succeeded him as head of the ?asidic groups in Ere? Israel. His cordial relations with the founder of the ?abad movement, *Shneur Zalman, came to an end after the latter published his Tanya in 1796; Abraham expressed his disillusionment with Shneur Zalman's philosophical system, and Shneur Zalman, who was also treasurer of the fund in Russia, retaliated by stopping the flow of contributions. Abraham emphasized the importance of the ?asidic group, independent of the authority of a ?addik. He believed in dibbuk ?averim, a close association between comrades who through contemplation and self-abnegation arrive together at a state of mystical ecstasy. His sayings and letters are collected in ?esed le-Avraham (1851) and lggerot Kodesh (1927).

bibliography:

Brawer, in: ks, 1 (1924/25), 142–50, 226–38; I. Halpern, Ha-Aliyyot ha-Rishonot shel ha-?asidim le-Ere? Yisrael (1946), 65–79, passim; Horodezky, ?asidut, 2 (1953⁴), 39–46; Dubnow, ?asidut, 111f., 335–7, 483; Weiss, in: jjs, 6 (1955), 87–99; Scholem, Mysticism, 334–5; Schatz, in: Molad, 20 (1962), 514–5.