Who are the Hasidim?

The Jews called Hasidim, followers of Israel the Besht, founder of religious mystical teachings in Judaism - Hasidism. Around them usually goes a lot of rumors and misunderstandings.

Where went the Hasidim

Hasidism originated in the shtetls of Podolia, on the territory of modern Ukraine. In the early eighteenth century the Jewish community of the Commonwealth was recovering from the so-called uprising liberation of the Cossack war, which was accompanied by numerous pogroms the Jewish population, when the hands of the Cossacks and the pogroms that followed the famine killed a quarter of the whole community. At the same time on the tail fled the representatives of the Jewish Messianic movements of the Sabbateans, named for the Kabbalist Shabtai Zvi, who declared himself the Messiah, but then he was captured by the Pasha of Istanbul and converted to Islam. This was the impetus for the emergence of a new doctrine. The founder of Hasidism is considered to be Rabbi Yisrael Ben Eliezer more known as Baal Shem Tov, aka the Besht. The teacher focused on the personal experience of the Godhead and of personal righteousness, hence the name "Hasid" which means righteous. A new trend has spread rapidly among the Jews of the Commonwealth, but was met with hostility by the representatives of Orthodox Judaism. The teachings of the Hasidim was almost a secret that served as a breeding ground for various rumors, but today all the information about the doctrine can easily be found even in Wikipedia.

Chief Rabbi of Russia today is a Hasidic Rabbi. That is a U.S. citizen Berel Lazar, who represents the interests of the Jewish community in our country.

Hasidism broke up into many streams and consistently developed. Today it is certainly the richest Jewish community in the world. It is the leader of the so-called Lubavitcher Rabbi, whose yard is usually inherited.

Modern state of the community

Most Hasidim live in the United States. They try to strictly and fanatically to observe Jewish rituals, focusing on the rites of the days of the Besht. In the daily life of the Hasidim used the strict dress code, but every Chassidic group has its own special accessories, which can determine their identity. The most distinctive detail is the Hasidic shtreimel - a fur hat that they wear on Saturdays, even in the summer in Jerusalem, when the temperature rises to forty. On ordinary days, the Hasidim wear black hats from under which will certainly hang down the pace never shaved the hair on my temples. Ties Hasidim usually do not wear, because they resemble the shape of a cross. Among married Hasidic women have decided to shave my head and wear wigs.

Every year on the Jewish New year the Hasidim from around the world gather in Uman at the grave of Rabbi Nachman. This small Ukrainian town takes then to thirty thousands of Hasidim, who traditionally rapidly to meet the occasion.

The number of children in a Hasidic family usually reaches six to eight. They usually speak in the language of the country in which you reside, for prayers and Torah children in religious schools learn Hebrew. Also important in the Hasidic community language spoken Besht - Yiddish.