How old is hasidism

Notably, until relatively recently, H asidic scholarship has totally ignored the subject, implicitly dismissing it as either marginal or insufficiently documented to permit serious consideration. This was expressed in three ways:. H asidism, which revolved round the intimate connection between a charismatic leader titled Z addik or Rebbe and the community of his adherents, forged a strong new bond between husband and wife through their common allegiance to their Rebbe. This acted as an equalizing force between the sexes, invigorating family life and raising the status of women in the community.

H asidism threw open the gates of scholarship to women by producing, in addition to works in Hebrew—traditionally accessible only to educated men—also a large body of literature in the vernacular, Yiddish, which was accessible to women. As a result, the largest obstacle was removed from the way to the full spiritual and intellectual development of women within H asidism.

In H asidism a modest, passive role is attached to a woman. From time to time, she may approach a Z addik, pour out her soul before him and receive counsel and a blessing from him. Very rarely in the history of H asidism do we encounter active female characters who have influenced their surroundings.

It was during this period that the second and third Lit. This was in line with his overall view of the H asidic spiritual revival as an authentically Jewish model for the rebirth of the Jewish nation on its historic land, cleansed of all the Lit. Greek "dispersion. Far from improving the position of women and reinforcing the bond of marriage through the equality of husband and wife before the Rebbe, H asidism seems to have effected precisely the opposite.

They abandoned the women to fend for themselves materially and, even more crucially, absented themselves at precisely those points in the Jewish calendar—the Sabbath and Festivals, the most popular times of assembly at the court of the H asidic leader—at which the presence of the husband and father was essential for proper ritual celebration at home.

It did not, of course, renounce marriage formally or on a permanent basis, but it offered its male followers periodic liberation from marital and family ties, for the sake of the higher pursuit of spiritual invigoration. In the initial stages of H asidism, the attachment of young recruits to this alternative, woman-free, spiritual family often entailed a partial or even a complete break with their non- H asidic or anti- H asidic biological families.

This diminished in time, as the affiliation with H asidism ceased to be a voluntary act by individual males and became more commonly inherited, encompassing whole families that now transmitted the association with one H asidic leader or another from generation to generation. Whether or not at this stage, from the early decades of the nineteenth century, the position of women who had inherited their H asidic identity was significantly different from that of their non- H asidic counterparts is extremely difficult to assess.

Generally, however, they continued to be excluded from the life of the Hasidic court. They did not usually accompany their men on their visits to the Rebbe, and descriptions of male H asidim of all ages setting out on their Festival journeys to the courts of the Z addikim while leaving their womenfolk behind persist until well into the twentieth century.

The accessibility of the courts to women was probably subject to regional differences and a variety of policies and idiosyncratic practices adopted by individual Z addikim. Nevertheless, the hagiographical literature of H asidism suggests that, at least in some cases, women could gain access to the Rebbe in their own right, to be advised and blessed by him as were his male followers. This is corroborated by the internally contradictory claims made by some of the mitnaggedim who, while accusing the H asidim repeatedly of deserting their women and children to linger idly at the courts of the Z addikim, refer also to women who flock to the courts and whose presence there, to seek advice or a blessing, inevitably leads to all manner of licentious conduct among the H asidim.

H asidism did produce a considerable body of literature in Yiddish, but this was by no means created especially for women, nor did it represent any attempt to make universally accessible in Yiddish all the works that had been previously restricted to the Hebrew-reading male elite. The translation of H asidic books from Hebrew into Yiddish began relatively late in the development of the movement, with the publication of the Yiddish version of Shiv h ei ha-Besht In Praise of the Besht in This appeared in several editions and versions only a few months after the launch of the first Hebrew edition in December Significantly, as well as being the first H asidic book to become available in Yiddish, Shiv h ei ha-Besht , consisting of cycles of tales celebrating the saintly lives and extraordinary feats of the Besht and his associates, was also the first H asidic book to belong to the hagiographical genre.

This was a literary genre which the H asidic movement never invested with the full legitimacy and authority it accorded its speculative-homiletical literature, whose publication had begun much earlier, in the s and s. Moreover, following the appearance of Shiv h ei ha-Besht in both Hebrew and Yiddish, the publication of H asidic hagiography was arrested for at least another fifty years, quite possibly on account of the uncertain status of the genre, which had attracted the critical attention and ridicule of the maskilim.

Publication in this genre was eventually resumed, with a fresh crop of works achieving popularity, if not full sanction, in the second half of the nineteenth century. The hagiographical works that proliferated from then on, whether they were published in Hebrew, in Yiddish, or in both, were not directed primarily at women, although women may well have formed a significant proportion of their readership.

What it did possess was an internally controversial but nonetheless pervasive ideology of communication: the teachings and ethos of H asidism were disseminated purposefully and widely, albeit on a variety of levels, in different modes, and with varying degrees of exposure to its radical or esoteric doctrines, as was felt to be appropriate for different classes of recruits.

The transmission or consumption of hagiographical tales in Hebrew and even more so in Yiddish served as the lowest point of access into the H asidic orbit, however much it was promoted from the start as a meritorious activity of the highest degree of holiness. The tales captured the imagination even of ordinary, uneducated Jews, a class within which women had traditionally formed a sub-category. It was only in this incidental capacity that they became a target audience for the hagiographical literature of H asidism.

While they may have constituted an element of the readership of Shiv h ei ha-Besht when it was first published at the beginning of the nineteenth century, they very likely represented a substantial segment of it by the s and s, when the second wave of H asidic hagiography was beginning to flood the book market. Although the women were no more directly involved in the devotional life of the court at this stage than they had been in the earlier period, their H asidic identity had become firmly established, and it could be nourished by the hagiographical literature that was available to them.

However, alongside this popular literature in the vernacular, H asidism continued to publish, and to ascribe the highest value to, a large body of speculative writings in Hebrew. Mystical and ethical works of this nature usually originated in the sermons or discourses that were delivered orally by the H asidic masters to the gatherings of their male followers at their courts.

While the language of delivery was Yiddish, often combined with Hebrew and Aramaic elements drawn from the earlier literary sources, the printed versions, following a publication convention that prevailed long before and outside H asidism, were always in Hebrew translation. As a result, the speculative teachings of H asidism were as inaccessible to women in print as they were in their original form of oral delivery in Yiddish.

Notably, it was with these speculative teachings, and in Hebrew, that H asidism first launched itself in print. In the three and a half decades between the publication of the first collection of H asidic homilies in Hebrew in and the publication of the first hagiographical work in Yiddish in , at least thirty speculative works by major figures in the early H asidic leadership were published exclusively in Hebrew. They formed an important element of the campaign for the wider dissemination of H asidism during the crucial stage of its expansion beyond its region of provenance.

It was during this period also that the internal H asidic controversy erupted about the degree to which it was appropriate to publicize in print the traditionally esoteric, kabbalistic aspects of H asidism.

Significantly, throughout this debate no mention was ever made of women as a distinct class to be initiated into or, conversely, to be excluded from any particular level of instruction. Horodezky does not supply any sources from which these descriptions might have been drawn.

Some of them may be traced back to well known, fairly early H asidic works, such as the reference in Shiv h ei ha-Besht to Adel Hodel , whose distinguished soul the Besht had derived from the Torah she-bi-khetav : Lit. Others must be based on later oral traditions whose authenticity is difficult to establish. Nevertheless, the fact need not be questioned that these women, and others like them, commanded considerable prestige and authority in H asidic circles.

It is considered a top rule which was commanded directly from G-d. This is the reason that even though some sects were nearly wiped out in the Holocaust, there are now communities packed with tens of thousands of people!

And this is the reason that Hasidic neighborhoods in the USA are loaded with small children and school buses. School hours are long: male teenagers might be at school am - pm on 5 days per week.

The schedule will consist mainly of talmudic studies in the morning and early afternoon, and then in the late afternoon will be secular studies mathematics, history etc. Saturday is the holy day of the week. The agenda is to relax with family and spend time worshiping.

Prayers are always 3 times per day - on Shabbos each prayer session is longer than usual. The defining rule of Sabbos is that 'work' is prohibited. The interpretation of this extends overwhelmingly over almost every aspect of daily life.

Activities that are prohibited include driving, using any electric device, cooking, shopping or handling money. A Jewish person is not even allowed to carry any object outside of their home. All Hasidic ultra orthodox rules apply to Jewish people only - people who are not Jewish are not required to follow these customs or prohibitions.

This is the reason that occasionally Hasidic Jewish people will ask a non-Jewish person to perform a basic task for them - such as turning on a light, turning on an air conditioner, etc. When enlisting a non-Jew to assist, they will try to avoid making a direct request example: "Can you please turn on the light? Rather, they will hint at what they need and hope the non-Jew will understand and help them example: "It's very dark in here, it would be brighter if the light switch was turned on".

Hasidic Jews have more than 8 different holidays that they practice. A holiday is called a 'Chag' in Hebrew or 'Yuntiff' in Yiddish. The major restrictions of Shabbos no electricity, no phones.

A single exception to this is that cooking is allowed on holidays even though it's prohibited on Shabbos. Here are the main holidays which are the most openly visible in an ultra orthodox neighborhood:. Sukkos is a 7 day holiday in autumn. The main practice is to build a temporary hut called a 'sukkah' outside of the home. The purpose it to reminisce about the 40 years wandering in the desert, where the Jews had no permanent shelter and were protected by god.

The sukkah must have a wooden roof which is partially open to the sky. The rule is that all meals must be eaten in the sukkah, and some Hasidic Jews with more stringent beliefs will study in it or even sleep in it.

The Sukkah can be built from lumber, or nowadays there are prepared Sukkahs which can be purchased and self-assembled. They might be made of metal, plastic or fiberglass.

Pesach is an 8 day holiday in spring. It is also celebrating the Jewish redemption from Ancient Egypt. The main practice is to refrain from consuming any wheat and wheat-based products. A Hasidic Jew must also completely purge them from his or her possession. They must perform an exhaustive cleaning of their home, property, vehicle or business to remove every single crumb of bread or wheat-based food. Generally, a strong strain of traditional folk belief, including beliefs in the "evil eye" or particular omens, as well as belief in more esoteric forecasting from the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical system that dates to the twelfth century, persists among many Hasidim.

In a classically American Hasidic mix of tradition and modernity, one can now buy specialized computer software programs to help discover the Kabbalah's elusive messages. Historically, each rebbe, and his followers, came to be known by the name of the town in which their court was located in Eastern Europe: thus the Lubavitch came from Lubavitch, in Russia; the Satmar from Satu Mare in present-day Hungary; the Bobover from the Polish Galician town of Bobova.

Over time, cultural differences and ideological distinctions inevitably arose among the courts. Where one gained a reputation for a rationalistic bent the Lubavitch , another became known for miracle-working Belzer , or mysticism Bratslav or wealth Rizhyn-Sadgora. These differences sometimes developed into rivalries, and even open and deep conflicts that continue today, but never so seriously as to challenge a shared Hasidic identity.

Generally, Hasidism includes two main tendencies, which may be described as the emotional and the philosophical. These two outlooks are reflected in cultural expression and stylistic differences between Hasidic sects.

Songs, for example, originating from the first branch of Hasidim, are generally more ecstatic. They are called the rikud type, luring one to dance. Hasidim think of dance as an integral part of life, an act that permits every part of the body to serve God.

Rikud songs are sometimes repeated for several hours until the dancers and singers are exhausted, or a new melody is introduced. These songs are sometimes, at a wedding for example, accompanied by Klezmer musicians, i.

Women dance to these songs at a wedding on their side of the mechitzah partition between men and women. The second branch of Hasidism is typified by the Chabad school, which was founded in Russia by the first Lubavitch rebbe at the end of the eighteenth century. Chabad, an acronmyn for "Wisdom, Learning, and Faith" in Hebrew and a favored name the Lubavitch use for themselves, seeks to integrate Hasidic fervor with traditional Jewish intellectual endeavor.

Chabad songs tend to be more of the dvaykus type, designed to help achieve mystical union with God through meditation and reflection. The davykus melody is a slow, introspective song, usually lengthy and sung with deep feeling while dancing slowly, often to prepare for hearing a master's teaching. Hasidism has elaborated a long and rich tradition of dance, song, and story telling, arts cultivated as aids in the service of God.

Two Hasidic concepts play important roles in the elaboration of this culture. Hasidism believes that wholehearted personal participation in worship contributes to "uplifting" the Hasid toward divinity--achieving dvaykus, the state of adhering, cleaving, or becoming one with God--and that each individual has a responsibility to seek out the "divine sparks" hidden within all of creation. Thus Hasidic composers, for example, were allowed to hear divinity in the love songs, waltzes, or marches of their non-Jewish neighbors and freely adapted their melodies.

Hasidic music is often wordless. Like jazz scat singing, Hasidic song uses otherwise meaningless syllables, such as "aha ha" or "yam bam" or, for a sad song, the traditional lament "oy vey," to convey feelings too delicate or intimate or profound to express in words. Zmiros, songs for the Sabbath and holidays, however, all use words usually prayers or text from the Bible.