This study explores the Hasidic psychologization of Jewish mysticism by focusing on the problem of distracting thoughts that arise during prayer, and the attitudes and responses to them that can be found in Hasidic literature. Two different theories of the origins of such thoughts, both attributed to Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, along with various techniques for engaging with them, are described. It is argued that these theories reflect two distinct paradigms, both of which exhibit significant similarities to the dynamic unconscious of psychoanalysis. In addition to tracing the reception of Israel’s ideas on distracting thoughts within the Hasidic movement and without, the study connects them to his activities as a folk healer with a particular concern with treating mental illness.

Descriptions of the delivery of Hasidic sermons are relatively rare, especially from the first decades of the development of the movement. This article presents the earliest extant written account of a Hasidic sermon, which was delivered by Samuel Shmelke Horowitz, the rabbi of the Moravian city of Nikolsburg (Mikulov), on the eve of Yom Kippur of the year 1775. It situates the document containing this hitherto overlooked account in its historical and ideological context and explores the light it sheds on the geographical limits of the Hasidic movement in the 18th century. Appended to the article is an edition of the Hebrew text of the document based on two textual witnesses along with an English translation.