![[Hasid divider line]](hasid.gif)
This FAQ is based on questions that I am often asked about my way of life by people in multi-cultural newsgroups and interfaith conferences. This FAQ is not intended to be an in-depth explanation of Hasidic philosophy. Rather, it is a set of basic Judaism 101-level questions written in a way that is understandable to the average non-Hasidic reader. In some cases, there is overlap between Hasidism and general Judaism here, since Hasidism is a form of Judaism. Many of these customs and practices are common to all Jews and are not necessarily limited to Hasidim only. Hopefully that will be clear in the Q and A.
The 1982 film, The Chosen
has been re-issued on DVD after being
out-of-print for years. It's not likely to show up in your local video
store, but you can
order the DVD on Amazon.com.
If you are not familiar with Judaism in general, you might want to check out The Judaism 101 website. That site explains basic Jewish beliefs, customs, practices etc., in plain English.
If you'd rather read a really basic physical book, I highly recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism, which, of course, is not really for idiots! Written by Rabbi Blech of Yeshiva University (Orthodox), it uses the familiar "Idiot's" series format to explain the basics in very accessible language.
Or, if you prefer the Dummies series, try Judaism for Dummies.
PART 3 of the Hasidism FAQ (which you are reading now) has questions about Hasidic beliefs, how one becomes a Hasid, observing the Sabbath, some medical issues, Hasidic music, occupations, belief in angels, etc.
PART 1-A covers some basic background about the origins of Hasidism, some of the different Hasidic groups today, Rebbe Nachman's Breslov movement (and why Breslov is not Bratzlav), etc.
Part 1-B discusses how Hasidim are portrayed in the media, Potok's The Chosen, recommendations & criticisms of books and movies, explanations of some bloopers and misrepresentations, etc.
PART 2 of the Hasidism FAQ covers some common questions (and misunderstandings) about Hasidic garb, customs, mannerisms, roles of men and women, etc.
For your convenience, many of the books, films, CDs, and other
reference materials mentioned in this FAQ are directly linked to
Amazon.com,
where you can read the customer reviews (including mine) and purchase
copies. Purchases made through these links pay a commission
to Gershom's
Book Shop and help underwrite
this FAQ to keep it on the Net. So please, if you decide to purchase
any
of these materials, use our links.
You
can also check out my
book reviews on Amazon.com, too,
and find out what I've been
reading lately. (not all of it Hasidic!) I'm currently in Amazon's list
of Top Reviewers -- voted there by readers you! So, visit if you visit
a listing and like my review, please click "Yes, it was helpful" to
keep me on Top.
And please -- be sure to read all three sections of the FAQ. The answer to your question might be on another page. At the end of each FAQ menu and at the bottom of each page there are links to the next page(s). And do not, repeat, do not waste my time with missionary questions about Jesus. Questions suspected of being "bait" to lure me into debates about Christianity will be deleted. This includes questions about blood sacrifices, the messiah, Isaiah 53, etc. Been there, done that, not interested. If you sincerely want to know what Jews believe about these things, try the Jews for Judaism site.
Q-2:Do Hasidim believe that non-Hasidic Jews are still Jews?
Q-3: I have heard that Hasidim do not accept gentiles as converts. Is this true?
Q-4: How do you become a Hasid?
Q-5: Can a person change Hasidic affiliations?
Q-6: How does one change Hasidic affiliations?
Q-7: Do Hasidim believe that their Rebbe is a god?
Q8: Do Hasidim pray to their Rebbe?
Q-9: Why do Hasidim ask their Rebbe about everything they do?
Q-10: Which Jewish prayerbook do Hasidim use?
Q-11: I heard that Hasidim will let somebody die rather than break the Sabbath rules. Is this true?
Q-14: How do Hasidim keep kosher in a hospital?
Q-15: Why do Hasidim leave small stones on graves?
Q-17: What do Hasidic Jews do for a living?
Q-18: What kind of music do Hasidim listen to?
Q-19: Do Hasidic Jews believe in angels?
Q-20:
Can a Hasidic Jew be a vegetarian?
However, many of the Hasidic Rebbes also have had non-Jews come to them for advice. Some non-Jews have followed the basic philosophies of Hasidism, without going all the way to convert to Judaism. The writings and stories of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, for example, are well-known throughout the world, and are often included in folklore and world literature classes. One does not have to be a Hasidic in order to get something out of the teachings. But one does have to be Jewish in order to marry into the community and/or participate in the religious life.
We should also note that there are a number of eclectic "neo-Hasidic" individuals and groups that are not accepted by traditional Hasidim. An example of this would be the movement founded by Joseph Gelberman in New York, who calls himself "a Hasid in the way of Martin Buber." Martin Buber, however, was not really a Hasid. He was an existentialist philosopher who wrote about Hasidism, but did not himself practice the Hasidic way of life. Buber deserves credit for making Jewish mysticism better known in the academic world, but there are many things in his books that are not accurate. Most Hasidim would not consider either Buber or Gelberman to be Hasidic.
Many Jews who have grown up in non-Hasidic homes have joined the Hasidic communities. Some groups are more open to new recruits than others, but all Hasidim would agree that any Jew can become a Hasid if he or she sincerely wants to. Such a person is called a baal tshuvah (Bahl-CHOO-vah), or "one who has returned" (to a Torah-observant life.)
![[order in association with Amazon.com]](book/surfing.jpg)
One
such story is told in the new 2001
book,
Surfing Rabbi by Rabbi Nahum
Shifren, known worldwide as the
Surfing Rabbi (really!) A wonderfully open, honest personal journey ---
from secular Malibu Beach rat who almost missed his own bar mitzvah to
catch a wave, to heroic lifeguard and triathelete, to yeshiva student,
to a Chabad rabbi who now uses surfing as youth outreach in Israel. A
great baal tshuvah story filled with genuine soul.
Click here to read my review and order
Judaism (and Hasidism within it) does permit gentiles to become Jewish, and prescribes certain requirements for such a conversion to be valid. Converting according to these requirements is called "conversion according to halachah" (Jewish law). Up until the late 20th century, all groups of Jews agreed upon the same criteria for "Who is a Jew.": A person who converts to Judaism according to the halachah is recognized as 100% Jewish by Hasidism (as well as all other forms of Judaism) and can join any Hasidic or other Jewish group. Many converts have done exactly that.
However, because Hasidim respect each others' privacy, you will not hear about Hasidic converts unless they themselves choose to tell you. Consequently, there are no statistics (that I know of) about the number of converts in the Hasidic community.
The children of a bona fide convert are also 100% Jewish, provided the mother is Jewish, either by birth or conversion. However, there are some groups of non-Orthodox Jews who currently perform conversions that are not done according to halachah. It is these non-halachic conversions which the Hasidim and other Orthodox Jews do not recognize as valid. The non-Orthodox Jews, in turn, spread the rumor that Hasidim do not accept converts, without explaining that it is the non-Orthodox forms of conversion that we reject, not conversion itself.
So, the issue is not whether a person is a convert per se, but, rather, whether or not s/he was properly converted according to Jewish law. A person who has had a non-halachic conversion would have to first re-convert according to halachah before joining a Hasidic group. In addition, we should note that the children of a woman who was not converted halachically are also not halachically Jewish.
Some non-Orthodox Jewish congregations now have a high percentage of intermarried and/or not-halachically-converted people, who are producing a second generation of people who believe themselves to be Jewish but who are not recognized as such outside their own communities. Such people would also have to go thorough a formal conversion (according to halachah) before joining a Hasidic community.
As I said, the whole conversion issue is very complex and very controversial right now. If you wish to pursue it further from all sides, there is a Conversion to Judaism website with discussions about conversion from the standpoint of several Jewish groups. (Hasidism, however, is not well-represented there. ) See also the basic Judaism section of my online bookstore for book recommendations.
A Jew from a non-Hasidic (or even non-Orthodox) background can also become a Hasid. In such a case, he or she chooses a Rebbe and adopts the Hasidic way of life, following the customs of the group that s/he has chosen ot affiliate with.
Acceptance of such individuals varies from group to group. In groups such as Breslov and Lubovitch, which have active outreach programs, it is common for new people to join. In other groups, "new recruits" are much less common and may meet with some suspicion at first, until they have proven that they are in it for the long haul. In all cases, however, if a person lives the Hasidic lifesyle with consistency, and is sincerely loyal to the Rebbe of the group, then he or she will eventually be accepted. (This is much the same as anybody who joins anything.)
Hasidim do sometimes ask their Rebbe to pray to G-d on their behalf. This is entirely within the framework of Judaism (and religion in general), since it is always permissible for one human being to pray for another. Some groups have the custom of leaving written prayer requests on the graves of Rebbes. These are not prayers "to" the Rebbe himself, heaven forbid. They are prayers to God.
However, nobody is ever forced to ask the Rebbe about anything. The decision to do so is entirely voluntary. But if you do ask, you are expected to heed the Rebbe's advice. Otherwise, why ask him?
Other Hasidic groups, such as Breslov, do not have an "official" version of the prayerbook, and each individual is free ot use whatever Orthodox prayerbook he or she chooses. We should also note that the differences among the various prayerbooks are not all that great, and most Hasidim can function with each others' liturgies with very little problem.
The exact details as to what laws may be set aside for medical reasons will vary from case-to-case, but, if there is a question of violating the Sabbath and no time to ask a rabbinic authority, then it is better to go ahead and violate, rather than risk the patient's life. "Violate one Sabbath that you may live to keep many Sabbaths" says the Talmud. In real life this means the ambulance crew does everything it can to save the person, and the hospital does whatever is needed to keep the patient's condition stable.
The common misconception about the Jewish Sabbath and medical law (and the frequent questions about it that I receive) seem to come from two main sources. The first is based on some stories in the Christian Gospels, where the founder of Christianity is criticized by other Jews for healing on the Sabbath. However, in the context of those stories, it is plain that none of the illnesses he healed on the Sabbath were life-threatening. They were old injuries like a withered hand, a man born blind, a woman with an ailment she had had for twenty years, etc. These were not life-threatening emergencies. They were things that could just as easily wait until "normal office hours" after the Sabbath was over. (The same as one would not go to the emergency room for them today.)
The second source of the misunderstanding seems to be a tendency to confuse Orthodox Judaism with certain sects of Christianity that refuse medical treatment because it is not the will of God according to their beliefs. Judaism, on the other hand, teaches that it is the will of God that we consult competent physicians and follow their advice. There are no Jewish prohibitions against blood transfusions or other modern medical procedures.
The Jewish Sabbath in general has received very bad press from Christian sources over the centuries, and Gospel sayings like "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" have entered the English language as cliches. Because of this, it is sometimes very hard for non-Jews to get beyond the stereotypes and see the beauty of the Sabbath which Jews themselves experience, within the context of Judaism itself.
A more recent calumny against the Sabbath, which has surfaced on certain neo-Nazi sites lately, concerns the false accusation that Jewish doctors will treat Jews on the Sabbath, but not non-Jews. This is based on some Talmudic legal discussions that are taken totally out of context (as anti-Semites are, unfortunately, fond of doing). Certainly it is preferable, if a non-Jewish doctor is available, for him or her to do the emergency treatment (for both Jews and non-Jews). But if the Jewish doctor is the only one available, then certainly he or she would handle the emergency. No religious Jew -- physician or otherwise --- is going to just stand there and let somebody die because it is the Sabbath, heaven forbid.
If
you are interested in
the inner philosophy of the Sabbath, and how the rules all fit together
to create a wonderful "palace
in time," I recommend
The Sabbath: It's Meaning for Modern Man
by Abraham Joshua Heschel.
This brief I(an inexpensive) little book was probably the first in
English
to explain how Jews live more in "sacred time" than in
"sacred space." When Jews talk about creating "Sabbath
space," they do not mean a physical place but rather, a certain
atmosphere built from the prayers, deeds and preparations used in
observing the Sabbath. To a religious Jew, this "palace in
time" is a genuine sanctuary, as real and tangible as a physical
cathedral might be to a non-Jew.
For a step-by-step explanation of the spirituality behind the Sabbath observance, I highly recommend the new 2003 book by Moshe Mykoff, 7th Heaven: Celebrating Shabbat with Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Not to be confused with the American TV show called 7th Heaven, this book explores the inner meanings of the Sabbath preparations, rituals, and customs, based on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. You can read my review on Amazon.com and order a copy there, too.
For something to read online right now, try the article A Taste of Heaven, about an Orthodox Jewish family (not Hasidic, but we share the same values on this)whose doors are literally open to all, rich and poor together, on the Sabbath.
See also the basic Judaism section of my online bookstore for more recommendations about Jewish religious observances and their meanings.
However, once the patient is stabilized, care-givers of the opposite sex should avoid any unnecessary physical contact, such as shaking or holding hands, hugging, etc. See Part 2 of this FAQ for more discussion about protocols between men and women.
At a Jewish funeral, each of the mourners shovels in some dirt to fill the grave. The shovel is usually turned over, using the back of the blade, to signify that we are not eager to fill a grave. After the coffin is covered, the mourners leave and the gravedigger fills in the rest of the hole in the normal way.
The little stones are left on the grave later, when individuals visit the grave. The custom dates back to biblical times, when people put piles of stones on graves to mark the grave and to protect it from wild animals. Nowadays it signifies that somebody has been there. (A stone is more durable than flowers.) When I was in Germany in 1997, I visited a lot of seemingly abandoned Jewish gravesites that, nevertheless, had a few small stones on them. So I knew that somebody had been there. And I left a few stones myself, too.
Connected with this section is the question: Why are Jewish graves so
close together, especially in old European cemeteries? The answer is
simple: In most European countries, Jews were severely limited as to
where they could live, whether or not they could own land, where they
could build the synagogue, etc. Buying new land for a bigger cemetery
was often forbidden. So more and more graves were crowded together. I
have also been asked if Jews stacked one coffin on top of another.
There is no ritual reason for doing such a thing but, in a crowded
cemetery that has been in use for centuries, it might have happened for
lack of space. (Even Hamlet's gravedigger hit a skull now and then.
Alas, poor Yorick...) In countries where Jews are free to buy land, the
cemeteries are more spacious.
Some people actually tear their coat or shirt. Others cut the collar of the garment, as you saw in the movie. Still others cut or tear a ribbon pinned to the clothes. A torn ribbon or shirt is worn for 30 days as a sign of mourning.
We may all look like rabbis to the outside world but, in fact, we do all kinds of work. It is a commandment in Judaism for a father to teach his son a trade (or arrange for him to learn one) so he does not become a burden on the community. In these days of two-income families, many women learn a trade also. However, the ideal is for the mother to be there for her children -- not because she cannot have a career, but because it is much more important for children to have a stable, caring home. For this reason, Hasidic women often have home businesses.
Hasidism -- and Judaism in general -- places no restrictions on the type of work we may do, as long as it is honest work that does not ask us to violate the Sabbath or Jewish holy days, or eat non-kosher foods, heaven forbid. Some Hasidic groups also shy away from university life because they believe the secular world is filled with too many temptations that might lead a young person away from the religious life. If they do attend a university, they live at home or with other Hasidim, not in the dorms or frat houses.
Unfortunately, in a world where big corporations use swing shifts and expect everybody to be available for overtime on Saturdays (the Jewish Sabbath), it can be very difficult for a religious Jew to find work that does not require him or her to violate the laws of the Torah. It can also be difficult to refuse to eat in a non-kosher restaurant with the boss or a client. (In places where there are no kosher restaurants, this means never "doing lunch" at all.) No doubt these things sometimes prevent Hasidim from getting a promotion in the company.
For these reasons, many Hasidim prefer to have their own businesses or to work for other Hasidim, to avoid hassles about food and/or taking the Sabbaths and holy days off. A Jewish-owned business closes on the Sabbath -- something to remember if you plan to shop in a Hasidic neighborhood. Hasidic shops close down on Friday afternoon, and do not re-open until Sunday, which is an ordinary business day for religious Jews. During the holy day seasons, the Jewish shops will close on other days also.
Some non-Jewish employers also object to the Hasidic style of dress and general appearance, and, if we are hired, they tend to put us in jobs where we are not so visible to the public. However, this prejudicial attitude is changing, and in the future you will see more and more Hasidim visibly employed in the general work force.
Yes, we do. The best known is probably Klezmer music, which has recently become popular in the non-Hasidic world as well. Klezmer has been described as "Jewish Jazz," because the musicians improvise on their instruments -- usually clarinets, horns, violins, accordians or other keyboards, etc. (Some Jewish musicians play both Jazz and Klezmer, and the two styles of music have influenced each other.)
In addition, there are Jewish folksongs and liturgical music, as well as a type of tune known as a niggun, which is repeated over and over as a form of meditation, something like a mantra. You will sometimes hear Hasidim humming a niggun while they work, or while walking on the way to the synagogue on the Sabbath, etc. The words -- if there are any -- are often taken from the Bible or Jewish liturgy, and are in either Hebrew or Yiddish. But with many nigunnim, the singer just repeats a meaningless sound or syllable, such as "oy-oy-oy!" or "ai-ai-ai", to express the joys and sorrows of the heart.
My online book shop has a Jewish music section where you will find links to various kinds of Jewish music CDs on Amazon.com. If your computer supports online music, you can also listen to samples from these CDs to get an idea of what the different kinds of Jewish music sound like.
For some nice Breslov music CDs, visit the site of Simply Tsfat, a Breslov folk group in Israel which has produced two excellent CDs so far. Their sound is what I call "happy Hasidic", i.e., lighter and more cheerful that, say, the military marches of Lubovitch. Each CD has an original song in English as well as the more traditional Hebrew. Their site has some nice photos and video clips of the group on tour. (The one called "Shabbos Kodesh" (Holy Sabbath) is four minutes long and is a good example of the niggun type of singing I described above.)
The Modzitzer (MUH-zhits-er) Hasidim, who are especially known for their excellent music, have a site at www.modzitz.org which features history, stories, and samples of music of Modzitz. (Be sure to read the story of the "Homeless Niggun.") However, it's a rather Java-intensive site that may take a while to load if you have an older computer system. Be patient -- the wait is worth it! (Also note: the top of the homepage is in Hebrew but if you scroll down, it continues in English.)
However, the Jewish conception of angels is somewhat different from the idea of angels that is so popular right now. To begin with, The word for "angel" in Hebrew -- malach -- simply means "messenger," and can refer to either an ordinary physical messenger here on earth, or a heavenly one. In this Q & A, we will discuss the spiritual kind of angel.
From the Jewish POV, angels are not the souls of people who lived before on earth. So, we do not say that somebody died and "became an angel," Yes, we do believe that there is an eternal soul and a life after death. There are many Hasidic stories about the spirits of the dead appearing to people here on earth for various reasons. See, for example The Wisdom of the Martyrs, about how the souls of some Jews who were burned at the stake later appeared to the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, in the 1700's. Without going into detail here, the general rule for these things is that if a spirit appears to us on its own in a dream to warn us of something (as often happpens in the Hasidic stories), then it is OK to heed the warning. But Jews are forbidden by the Torah to use seances or other methods to try to call the dead to us.
Apparitions of the dead are not true angels, they are simply human souls without bodies. True angels are in a totally separate category from human beings, and are created differently from humans in two main ways: 1) angels do not, as a rule, enter physical bodies to incarnate on earth; and 2) angels have no free will. Angels exist only to carry out the will of God, and cannot make free-will decisions on their own the way humans can.
Therefore, Jews do not "ask their angels" to do such and such, because an angel, on its own, has no power or authority to do anything unless God commands it to. So, it makes more sense to pray directly to God and not to the angels. In addition, the Torah forbids praying to anything or anyone except God the Creator. So, praying to angels would be a form of idolatry, heaven forbid. Jewish prayers are always directed to God alone, never to angels. God might choose to send an angel or not, as God sees fit, but we do not pray to the angels directly.
Also, there are times when prayers and good deeds (mitzvot) can "become angels," in the sense that they become a sort of "energy" that ascends to the spiritual worlds. If you are interested in reading further about this, and the Jewish understanding of how angels relate to different levels of existence, etc., etc., I highly recommend the book, The Thirteen-petaled Rose by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
The majority of Hasidim are meat eaters, based on the fact that eating meat is permitted in the Torah (Bible), as well as on traditional recipes, Sabbath and holiday traditions, etc. However, a growing number of Hasidim and other Orthodox Jews are beginning to limit their meat intake, many for health reasons, others for philosophical reasons. Still others, including myself, have serious concerns about the treatment of animals in today's highly-mechanized "factory farms," feedlots, and slaughterhouses. These are not the flocks of our ancestors.
Even PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) admits that the kosher slaughter process itself, if done correctly, is kinder than the standard practices in non-kosher USA slaughterhouses. But what about the way the animals are raised and treated before the final moment? These are serious questions that all Jews should look into. Keeping kosher is not only about how the animal is killed. The law of tzaar baalei chayim (no cruelty to animals) teaches us that we must not be the cause of pain to other living things.
Some rabbis have declared veal non-kosher because of the cruel way in which the veal calves are raised -- kept in tiny pens where they cannot even lie down. Similar objections have been raised concerning the force-feeding of geese to produce pate fois de gras (a type of gourmet goose liver.) This cruel process is now banned in Israel -- read more about the August 2003 Israeli Supreme Court decision on that...
Some Hasidim object to vegetarianism on the grounds that there are serious mystical aspects connected with eating meat, such as "raising the sparks" of holy energy in the animal back to higher spiritual levels. Vegetarian Hasidim, on the other hand, question whether "holy sparks" can really be elevated under the conditions of today's meat industry. If you are interested in this aspect of meat-eating and how it relates to vegetarianism, there is an excellent discussion of this Hasidic teaching on the Jewish Vegetarian FAQ, written by Dr. Richard Schwartz, a Modern Orthodox (non-Hasidic) vegan and current president of the Jewish Vegetarian Society. (I helped Dr. Schwartz write this answer.) While you are there, take time to explore the rest of their website. They cover just about anything you would want to know about Jewish vegetarianism.
In addition, I highly recommend Dr. Schwartz's excellent book, Judaism and Vegetarianism. He not only covers the dietary aspects, but also the social issues such as world hunger, treatment of animlas, etc. from a Torah perspective. You can read more about this book (including my review) and order it on Amazon.com.
More Jewish books on ecology and vegetarianism
![[Blessing Hands gesture]](trekjews/hands3.jpg)
Briefly here: The Vulcan Salute is based
on the Blessing Hands gesture
used by the kohanim
(descendants of the Temple priesthood) when
they bless the congregation on certain Jewish holy days. In Jewish
ritual, both hands are held out horizontally, side-by-side. Nimoy
adapted this to one hand held upright, to make it more like a salute.
I suppose this is also the place to say that, although Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock) drew a lot of his inspiration for the Vulcan culture from Judaism, he is not himself an Orthodox Jew. His grandfather was Orthodox and took him to the synagogue when he was young. That's where he saw the Blessing Hands gesture that later inspired the Vulcan Salute. Nimoy has a strong connection with his Jewish identity and has done a lot of Jewish theater projects. However, his own lifestyle is not Orthodox, even though quite a few Star Trek sites mis-identify him as such. The Leonard Nimoy page on The free encyclopedia site, wikipedia.org, says that he is "an adherant of Reform Judaism."
Be that as it may, his recent
photography exhibit, featuring
semi-nude photos of women wearing Jewish ritual objects, is not
something that I or any other Hasid would have in our homes. Orthodox
Jews (and many others) were deeply offended by this misuse of sacred
objects in what, in my opinion, is a form of pornography.
A far cry from the very modest Vulcan culture that he helped create on
Star Trek (sad sigh).
![[Hasidic smiley face]](hasidfaq/smiley.gif)
If you missed a section or need to review:
PART 1-A covers some basic background about the origins of Hasidism, some of the different Hasidic groups today, Rebbe Nachman's Breslov movement (and why Breslov is not Bratzlav), etc.
Part 1-B discusses how Hasidim are portrayed in the media, Potok's The Chosen, recommendations & criticisms of books and movies, explanations of some bloopers and misrepresentations, etc.
PART 2 covers some common questions (and misunderstandings) about Hasidic garb, customs, mannerisms, roles of men and women, etc.
PART 3 of the Hasidism FAQ has questions about Hasidic beliefs, how one becomes a Hasid, observing the Sabbath, some medical issues, Hasidic music, occupations, belief in angels, etc.
©
copyright 1997, 2020 (I'm living in the future!) by Yonassan Gershom.
May be reproduced for educational purposes only.