hasidism

listen to the pronunciation of hasidism
İngilizce - İngilizce
(Hasidism, Chasidism, Chassidism, or Hassidism) A mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century, represented today by fundamentalist communities in Israel and New York
Pietistic and mystical movement in Judaism that originated in 18th-century Poland. It was a reaction against rigid legalism and Talmudic learning in favour of a joyful form of worship that served as a spiritual outlet for the common people. Hasidism began with the preaching of the man later known as the Baal Shem Tov. Teaching that God was immanent in all things and that piety was more important than scholarship, he won followers known as Hasidim ("loyalists"). Dov Baer founded the first Hasidic community 1710, and countless small communities soon sprang up in Poland, Russia, Lithuania, and Palestine, each led by a zaddik. Communal services were marked by dancing, shouting, and singing, through which participants reached a state of spiritual ecstasy. Though excommunicated from Orthodox Judaism in 1772, the Hasidim continued to flourish. By the 19th century Hasidism had become an ultraconservative movement that was accepted by the Orthodox as legitimate. Huge numbers of Hasidim fell victim to the Holocaust, but their survivors established vital movements in Israel and the U.S. The Lubavitcher sect, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., numbers about 200,000
(CHAH-see-diz'm) Eighteenth-century mystical revival movement
Mystical movement in Judaism originating in the Middle Ages
A Jewish religious movement founded by Baal-Shem-Tov in the 18th century Although it was declared heretical in 1781 by the Talmudists, Hasidic communities continue to thrive in the United States and Israel Followers of Hasidism regard acts of religious devotion as being more important than scholarly learning
beliefs and practices of a sect of Orthodox Jews
{i} principles and practices of the mystical Jewish sect founded in 18th-century Poland by Baal Shem-Tov