Возвращаясь к напечатанному. Откуда цадики брали деньги?

Когда аз, многогрешный, писал главу "Хасидская экономика" для своей очешуительной книжки, монографии Рафаэля Малера "Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment: Their Confrontation in Galicia and Poland in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century" я еще не читал. Иначе непременно вставил бы туда меморандум, поданный в сентябре 1823 Юзефу Зайончику, первому наместнику Царства Польского. Где этот вопрос разбирается достаточно подробно, хотя и не полно - у цадиков были и другие доходы, о которых в книжке тоже написано:

After the death of the Ba’al Shem his disciples dispersed and each proclaimed himself the
successor of his master by virtue of his talismanic power to perform wonders and also obligated those who came to visit him to offer a sum of money called pidyon, meaning redemption, that is, the redemption of the soul, as a condition for his plea for help’s being fulfilled. Each sought to draw into his fold the youth and those of limited intelligence, and even more, the rich and women.

They conducted themselves as follows: They would spread reports among the multitudes that in a specific city there could be found a man endowed with the divine spirit who foresaw everything and, by virtue of his soul’s devotion to God, was qualified to alter the course of the world by his word alone, and by way of proof they would tell of his spurious wonders. The ignorant, especially women, asked him various questions, personally or by messenger, such as whether to enter into a particular business undertaking, whether or not to make a specific
marriage match, or whether a couple would remain married. They also made requests such as for their sons’ success in business, for the sick to be healed, for deliverance from trouble, for the restoration of what was stolen, for the exorcism of a dybbuk, for the granting of a request submitted to the authorities, or for a favorable judgment in a lawsuit. At times, a sheet of paper on which the request was to be written was brought by the supplicants or submitted through a messenger so that it would be blessed by the holy man, the leader (herszt).
Each request was accompanied by a pidyon, but the Hasidim constantly emphasized that the condition requisite for a favorable decree was that the giver of the pidyon have complete faith in the Hasidim and their leader. For the most part, the leader of the Hasidim assured the fulfillment of the request, but in the event of a negative outcome, the Hasidim invented all kinds of excuses, such as that the giver of the pidyon did not have enough faith in the zaddik or that he later became an even greater sinner than he had been previously.

For a yet greater degree of deception and spread of superstitious belief, the Hasidim inaugurated a custom of placing petition slips on the graves of their leaders, the intermediary being the son of the deceased or his successor; this also was done with a pidyon. Recently, the number of Hasidic leaders had multiplied, each one with followers who
elevated him over the others. Furthermore, despite their common goal of disseminating vanities and rebelling against enlightenment, it sometimes happened that the leaders would quarrel among themselves, each claiming that everyone except himself was a charlatan.

The great assemblies of the Hasidim took place in the courts of their leaders. They came there from far and near on the festival days and sometimes on the Sabbath. At times, young people came without asking their parents or even against their wishes with slips bearing
petitions, bringing pidyon for themselves and others. The Hasidim believed that every word uttered by their leader was divinely inspired and had the force of a heavenly decree. Many young people spent several weeks there and educated themselves to a life of idleness and
superstitious beliefs. Their conduct, as well as the doctrines inculcated at their meetings and assemblies, had one purpose—to keep the youth removed from any learning and knowledge and to bring them into close contact only with mystical doctrines. The reading of any book in a
foreign language or a book written in a foreign alphabet was considered sinful.

В общем, паки и паки повторю - покупайте нашу книжку, в ней вся правда написана.