Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 482. The hasidim, like all other Orthodox Jews, attach great significance to the wearing of tefillin, but the special hasidic emphasis on this mitzvah is ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 472-4. The mitnaggedim accused the hasidim of being indifferent to the study of the Torah and of despising talmudic scholars, but the revolutionary nature ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 471-2. The curious doctrine of the elevation of strange thoughts occupied, to the dismay of the mitnaggedim, a prominent place in early hasidic life and ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 469-70. There are two kinds of hasidic stories (maasiyot). The first of these is the tale told by the tzaddik himself either in the form of a mashal ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 453-4. According to the Shivhei HaBesht, one of the occupations the Besht followed before he became renowned was that of shohet. A legend tells of how the ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 402-3. Hasidic teachings on repentance differ from earlier Jewish teachings only in mood and emphasis. The motive for repentance, according to the hasidic ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 402. As Orthodox Jews the hasidim were opposed to any idea that Judaism should or could be “reformed.” Nor is it correct to see Hasidism itself, at least on ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 399-400. The title given from the earliest days of the movement to the hasidic master, probably in order to distinguish him from the rav, the traditional ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 375--77. In the traditional rabbinic scheme, prayer, for all its significance, yields to the study of the Torah as the supreme religious obligation. In ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 357. The identification of the all with God. Hasidic thought has frequently been described as pantheistic in that it tends to see God as the only ultimate ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 316-18. In every version of Hasidism it is believed that the tzaddik, as the channel through which the divine grace flows, has the power to perform ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 314-15. The high spiritual value connected to frequent immersion in the ritual bath (mikveh) is stressed in Hasidism from its early beginnings and in every ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 311-12. In his famous letter to his brother-in-law—Gershom of Kutov (printed at the end of Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye’s Ben Porat Yosef)—the Besht describes ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 275. A halakhic authority of universal recognition, Landau was a determined opponent of Hasidism, considering the claim made for the hasidic tzaddik as a ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 265-6. Klippot are shells or husks, the name given in the Kabbalah to the demonic forces. The klippot are nourished by the good and holy but seek to destroy ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 259-60. Intention, or concentration, especially during prayer. The concept of kavvanah (lit., directing, i.e., the mind) has had a long and complicated ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 249-52. Although a number of the hasidic masters—the Maggid of Kozienice, Barukh of Kossov, Tzvi Hirsch of Zydaczov, Yitzhak Eizig of Komarno and his son ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), p. 246. Joy is a key concept in Hasidism; its opposite, atzvut (melancholia), is held to be, as a well-known hasidic maxim has it, not a sin in itself but the ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 188-92. The followers of the Besht did not coin the term hasidim with which to describe themselves but found it ready to hand among the early ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Tzvi M. Rabinowicz (ed.), The encyclopedia of Hasidism (1996), pp. 169-71. The legal side of Judaism, the practice and study of the rules, customs, and observances. There is no doubt, despite occasional accusations to the ... Continue Reading ➨