" Religion itself, no matter how profound and sublime it may be, is, in the last analysis, only a vessel intended to contain the absolute - the vestment so to speak, of the absolute. And it is necessary to know how to distinguish the sacred treasure from the vessel which contains it; otherwise one risks falling into idolatry.
But men do not know how, or rather, do not wish, to make this distinction. Idols are to them - why one does not know - nearer, more comprehensible, than God."
Lev Shestov ( Russian religious philosopher, 1866 - 1938)"
M Rosen The Quest for Authenticity The Thought of Reb Simhah Bunim ( "The Quest" ), Urim Publications, p. 13, the above quote is the epigraph Rosen places at the beginning of his Introduction to "The Quest".
“‘Przysucha’ (pronounced: Pe-shis-ka) began with the Yehudi (1766 -1814), was continued after his death by his disciple R Simcha Bunim ( 1765 - 1827), and was led in the third generation by R Menachem Mendel of Kotzk ( 1787 - 1859 ).
But what was it about Przysucha that made it so challenging to the hasidic establishment? What was so unsettling in its program? The answer is simple: Przysucha had, directly or indirectly, declared an internal war upon the hasidic leadership of its time. It simply refused to accept anything that smelled of falseness and self-deception, be it the honor due to a zaddik or a particular religious practice. In short, Przysucha equated pretension and self-deceit with idol worship.”
M Rosen The Quest for Authenticity The Thought of Reb Simhah Bunim , Urim Publications, p. 18
