Hasidic Women in the United States – My Jewish Learning
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
Hasidic Judaism – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
Hasidic Judaism is a Jewish religious movement that was started by Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov. It began in Eastern Europe in the middle of the 18th century, and there are now Hasidic communities all over the world. The followers of Hasidism are called Hasidim.
Hasidism teaches about the importance of serving God with happiness and believes in Jewish mysticism. While Hasidim study the same books of Torah as the rest of Judaism, they focus on learning the hidden aspects of the text as well. Hasidic study also includes many of the teachings of Kabbalah.
Hasidism has strict laws about physical contact between the genders, Hasidic men will not even shake hands or make any physical contact with unrelated members of the opposite gender and Hasidic women will not make any physical contact with unrelated members of the opposite gender and also limit conversation.
Each Hasidic group has a leader who is called the Rebbe. The Rebbe is a man who is a Rabbi and is chosen by the hasidim to be their leader. Some of the jobs that he does are giving lectures on Torah and Chassidut and taking part in the different events of his Hasidim, like weddings and bris milahs.
There are hundreds of different Hasidic groups. They all share similar characteristics but they also have individual customs. Some of the larger dynasties are Satmar, Chabad-Lubavitch, Bobov, Viznitz, and Belz.
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Hasidic Judaism - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
YIVO | Hasidism: Everyday Life
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
Hasidic | Williamsburg[h]
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
Hasidic | Latino | Italian | Polish | Conclusions
Video below
History of Hasidic Immigration to Williamsburg:
The trend of Jewish immigration to Williamsburg as compared to the immigration patterns in America is completely different. The percentage of reformed and non-practicing Jews has increased in the United States, while in Williamsburg there has been an enormous influx of orthodox European Jews replacing their more liberal predecessors. Today, almost all of the Jews in Williamsburg are Hasidic.
Many Western European Jews were well established in the United States and Williamsburg by the end of the Civil War. However, the first orthodox Jewish rabbis did not establish themselves in Brooklyn until the 1920s. These rabbis established the religious network that the Satmar and other Hasidic sects would follow after World War II. A large wave of Hasidic Jews came to Williamsburg during WWII to escape the Holocaust. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Hasidic Jews were surrounded by a non-Hasidic community. Today, almost all the Jews in Williamsburg are orthodox. As a result, the Hasidic community has isolated itself from the rest of Williamsburg. The Hasidic Jews in the neighborhood do not particularly interact with other sects of people because their enclave is so powerful and almost no outside intervention is needed.
Small Businesses in the Hasidic Enclave of Williamsburg:
The majority of the Hasidic enclave is located down Lee Avenue. The small businesses in the enclave vary from optical stores to bakeries. The Hasidic enclave is a very isolated region and the small businesses in the enclave are made to serve the Jewish community within. The small business owners in the enclave are not interested in appealing to outsiders. Most shoppers are Hasidic themselves because outsiders are not felt welcome. Hasidic men own a majority of the small businesses in this area while women stay at home and look over their children.
The small businesses in the enclave provide whatever the Hasidic community needs; anything else is not sold there. No major food chains are located in the enclave, such as Subway or Burger King. This makes sense because the food needs to be kosher and for food to become kosher it takes a long and costly process. Other large chains such as Best Buy are also not present. Instead, there are many small stores that sell audio equipment. Other types of small businesses in the enclave include bookstores, bakeries, jewelry stores, and clothing stores.
Optical store in the Hasidic enclave
Bakery in the Hasidic enclave
Wig store in the Hasidic enclave
A hat store in the Hasidic enclave
Bookstores in the Hasidic enclave include only Hasidic literature. This would range from short stories written in Hebrew to religious readings. Hasidic people like to teach their children from the Jewish scriptures and feel that the literature of other culturesis not necessary in the development of their children. This explains why literature outside of the Hasidic influence is not present in any bookstore.
Books in the Hasidic enclave
Most of the bakeries in the Hasidic enclave are owned by women. We observed that women in the Hasidic community stick to gender roles, which would include baking. We interviewed Esther, who is a worker at the Bakery & Ice Cream Shop. The store has been open since 1984 and sells Jewish delicacies such as challah, apple pie, and macaroons. Esther said: Challah is our best seller in this community. Its a sweet type of bread that is consumed in large amounts throughout the year. The children like to stop by here every day after school to pick up cookies and other sweets.
Another striking feature of the Hasidic enclave is the numerous jewelry stores that are dispersed throughout the area. The enclave sells all types of jewelry ranging from necklaces to bracelets. During the early 20th century, and even further back in history, Jews were forced out of a lot of businesses. The only business they were able to perfect was the mercantile business and jewelry was light, valuable, and very easy to sell. This trend continues to this day in the Hasidic enclave of Williamsburg.
Ackerman's Jewelry
In addition to jewelry stores, there are many Jewish clothing stores down Lee Avenue. However, the only clothing that these stores sell is the conservative Hasidic clothing that the Hasidic people wear. These clothes include spodiks (tall fur hats), tichels (headscarves worn by women), suits, and dresses. We interviewed Isaac Goldberg, who is an employee at Waldmans clothing store. He told us: The Hasidic community in Williamsburg is very conservative. All of the clothing that is sold in this community is religious and I know it looks weird to you since you are outsiders. The reason that we only sell religious clothing here is because these people would buy no other clothing. So since we are a business, we have to adapt to our customers needs.
Waldman's
Our experience in the Hasidic enclave was an uncomfortable one. We were instantly spotted by the Hasidic people as outsiders and immediately shunned. The men, women, and children would not want to walk around us and a small number of them would even answer us back when we asked them questions. The Hasidics are conservative people, which would explain why we were avoided because of our non-Hasidic background. The Hasidic enclave has everything that the community needs which explains its seclusion.
Latino
Italian
Polish
Conclusion
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Hasidic | Williamsburg[h]
HASIDIC – AudioEnglish.org
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
Dictionary entry overview: What does Hasidic mean?
HASIDIC (adjective) The adjective HASIDIC has 1 sense:
1. of or relating to the Jewish Hasidim or its members or their beliefs and practices
Familiarity information: HASIDIC used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
HASIDIC (adjective)
Meaning:
Of or relating to the Jewish Hasidim or its members or their beliefs and practices
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Synonyms:
Chasidic; Chassidic; Hasidic; Hassidic
Pertainym:
Hasidim (a sect of Orthodox Jews that arose out of a pietistic movement originating in eastern Europe in the second half of the 18th century; a sect that follows the Mosaic law strictly)
Hasidism (beliefs and practices of a sect of Orthodox Jews)
"Everyone wants to go to heaven but no-one wants to die." (English proverb) "If they don't exchange a few words, father and son will never know one another." (Bhutanese proverb) "Measure seven times, cut once." (Armenian proverb) "Haste and speed are rarely good" (Dutch proverb)
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HASIDIC - AudioEnglish.org
Hasidic Judaism | New York Post
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
Brother sued for leaving family Hasidic clothing company and starting hisown
December 23, 2015 | 2:51pm
A family that runs a small chain of Hasidic clothing shops is in turmoil because one of its founders has launched a competing line of fur hats, black coats and...
December 10, 2015 | 1:39am
A court on Wednesday tossed out two counts of sex abuse against a Brooklyn counselor convicted of child molestation but he will still rot in jail for the rest...
November 24, 2015 | 2:16am
The Hasidic woman who committed suicide four months after her sister also killed herself suffered years of depression following her forced marriage to a first cousin, a family insider told...
November 23, 2015 | 4:46pm
Grief-stricken dad Israel Mayer described the difficulty of losing two daughters to depression on Monday as he eulogized his oldest at a Hasidic chapel in Brooklyn. Both my eyes are...
November 23, 2015 | 4:34am
The sister of a former Hasidic woman who jumped to her death from a Manhattan rooftop bar in July was discovered dead Sunday after an apparent suicide in Brooklyn. Sara...
November 18, 2015 | 9:36am
A man descended from a Hasidic dynasty is transitioning into a woman enraging members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community she left behind. Srully Stein who now goes by...
October 18, 2015 | 2:34am
Cops doled out fewer tickets to bad drivers in Williamsburgs Hasidic neighborhoods because the de Blasio administration covets their votes and needs to keep them happy, a source said. They...
September 1, 2015 | 8:30pm
A dispute over education within the Hasidic community made headlines this month after activists demanded the government force Hasidic schools to teach secular subjects. Now the city Department of Education...
On July 12, Faigy Mayer, a 30-year-old New Yorker who left Hasidic Judaism five years ago, sent one of her last messages to a close friend. She tried to explain...
She broke free from the iron-tight grip of her ultra-conservative Hasidic community only to kill herself after years of struggling with that decision. Tortured soul Faigy Mayer, who leaped...
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Hasidic Judaism | New York Post
Hasidim StyleLikeU.
Posted By richards on January 14, 2016
With all of StyleLikeU, we seek to expose how what one wears on the outside reflects who one is on the inside. With our Uniforms feature, we focus on groups of people whose style is in direct accordance with their beliefs, exploring what its like to blend into your own culture but stand alone from society at large. In the past, weve produced Uniform videos on nuns, monks, and ballerinas. Now, were excited to share with you our latest of the series on the Hasidic community in Brooklyn. From the fringes of the mens tzitzit, to their seminal fur and fedora hats, to the tefillin leather strap that they wrap around their arm in order to hold Torah verse close to their hearts, to the elegant and unostentatious taste of the modest dress of the women, the Hasidic style is wrought with a royal, spiritual depth that screams of a long gone fashion of substance. Read More
In response tothe fact that I go wholeheartedly into everything I do completely motivated by passion and instinct someone said recently to me that I am not naive but pure. And, yes, I guess I am a pseudo-journalist (as someone referred to me when the first Hasid trailer was posted) in the sense that I approach things viscerally and not with an agenda. So be it I am all about the power of intention. And my intention with this piece (as with all StyleLikeU pieces) is to shine the light on what I find to be beautiful and compelling in this all-too-often empty, ordinary, and money-driven world.
After a few heartfelt long phone calls and meetings with the brave souls of this video (who have never done anything like this before), explaining why StyleLikeU would be over the moon to do a feature on their style and whats behind it, Lily, Ramona, and myself were on route to the Catskills for a 12-hour odyssey that would change us forever. Until this moment, I assumed that the Hasidic community had about as much to do with me (a reform and rebellious Jew) as the Pope. But, like the Pope, I am drawn like a bee to honey to a style that is dripping in history and commitment to its underlying, rich traditions. As the day unraveled, not only did I begin to identify with some of my own life values, but I found a new group of the coolest people I had met in a long time, who were about to become my new great friends.
It felt like stepping onto a new planet to be around people who did not have their noses in their phones 24/7 and who were more curious about me than I was about them (if thats possible). Committed to helping their neighbors and free of a preoccupation withsensational, popculture, the Hasidic individuals who I have gotten to know have invited me and my family over and over again to their sabbath dinner, where we will be stuffed with six or seven courses and hang out for hours. The big families, the sense of belonging to an extended community, and the reverence for the female body, mind and soul, were among the eye-opening and thought-provoking revelations, especially as on our way home from the Catskills, we reached the East Village at 2am where drunk, barely-dressed girls were going in for the conquest of recreational sex that night, as if it were a badge of some kind of mindless honor.
By no means do I feel as if the Hasidic community has all of the answers any more than I think any person or group does.All groups (just like the individuals who comprise them) are flawed and have imperfections with which I might disagree, but that does not diminish the beauty and humanity that they also possess and that I see in them. By opening up a dialogue and breaking the chain of demonizing people because theyre different, my perhaps naive but definite hope is that there can be a coming together, healing, and enlightenment for all.
xo,
Elisa
This video was edited by Adaeze Elechi Shot and interviewed by Elisa, Lily, & Mona
Watch the trailer
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Hasidim StyleLikeU.
The Emanuel Synagogue
Posted By richards on January 13, 2016
Our doors open wide to welcome people of all backgrounds. We celebrate Jewish tradition, participation, observance and study, and emphasize Jewish values, personal growth and a genuine sense of community. Our down-to-earth atmosphere is a welcome break from the social pressures of daily life. Learn more about us.
Joint Program of Emanuel Sisterhood and Beth El Womens Network Thursday January 14th 7:30 pm Emanuel Synagogue $5.00 Deadline is January 9th!!Register by sending your check of $5.00 to:Debbie Mehlman 1 Overhill Drive West Hartford Ct 06117 Bunco is a fun and easy to learn dice game Read more
House Party Sunday, January 17, 2016 2:00 pm Presented by Llyn Kaimowitz At the home of Gail & Jeff Adler in Simsbury Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited, RSVP to Kate@emanuelsynagogue.org for addresses
Voices of Hope and the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut most respectfully request your presence, and for Holocaust Survivors the presence of our children and grandchildren, as our guest for the 6th Annual Greater Hartford International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the January, 1945 Liberation of Auschwitz. Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 11:30 am Emanuel Synagogue,160 Mohegan Drive, West Hartford, Connecticut Program includes a dairy brunch, musical selections by Hazzan Sanford Cohn and Hannah Berkowitz, presentation of the 2016 Chesed Award and a keynote address byAgnes Vertes.. RSVP is required by Friday, January 8th, 2016. For more information, please call 860 727-5770 or email voicesofhope@mcmgmt.com. This program is free to Holocaust Survivors and their families and is underwritten by friends of Voices of Hope. Please become a sponsor and lend your support so that we may open this event to more educators and students alike. Your sponsorship is gratefully appreciated and will be listed in the event program. Please consider a tax deductible donation by remitting to Voices of Hope, 40 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT 06105.
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Emanuel Synagogue Sisterhood Presents The Chosen Playhouse on Park Sunday February 14, 2016 2:00 pm Matinee $35.00 Fee includes refreshments before the show and a post-show talk back and meet & greet with the cast. Refreshments will be served 12:30 -1:30 pm Adapted by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok from the novel by Chaim Potok Directed by Dawn Loveland Tickets are limited, be sure to reserve your place no later thanFriday,February 1. Please reply to Marsha Kamins: marsha.kamins@gmail.com; 860-242-2126 Make checks payable to: Emanuel Sisterhood Mail to: Marsha Kamins, 49 Oliver Way, Bloomfield CT 06002 Read more
Sponsored by Emanuel Connections Saturday, February 6, 2016 5:30pm Pasta & meatballs 6:15 movie starts Free popcorn during the movie! BYOB- Bring your own blanket/chair Pjs welcomed!!! ($3 per person/$10 family cap) RSVP is greatly appreciated by Wednesday, February 3rd Click here to Register online now or call: 860-236-1275. Open to the community.
Friday, February 12, 2016 Friday Night Services: 5:15pm 6:15pm Shabbat Dinner: 6:30pm 7:30pm Speaker: 7:30pm 8:30pm Enjoy Shabbat services, Dinner, and an Interesting Lecture by Jeffrey Shoulson, Chair of Judiac Studies at UCONN! $18 per adult $13 per child ***Babysitting will be provided during lecture*** Must RSVP for dinner by February 5th. Clilck here to RSVP online now.orClick here to download a form with RSVP information.
House Party Sunday, February. 28. 2016 2:00 pm Presented by DCL Kate Goldman At the home of Don and Regina Miller in Hartford Light refreshments will be served event. Space is limited, RSVP to Kate@emanuelsynagogue.org for addresses
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The Emanuel Synagogue
Talmud – ReligionFacts
Posted By richards on January 12, 2016
The Talmud is a collection of rabbinical writings that interpret, explain and apply the Torah scriptures.
Many believe that the Talmud was written between the second and fifth century CE, yet Orthodox Jews believe it was revealed to Moses, along with the Torah, and preserved orally until it was written down. The Talmud is thus known as the "Oral Torah," with the first five books of the Tanakh designated the "Written Torah."
In Orthodox Judaism, the Oral Torah is accepted as equally sacred, inspired, and authoritative as the Written Torah. One of the aims of Orthodox Judaism in Israel is to establish Talmudic law as the state law of Israel. Elsewhere in the world, Orthodox Jews submit themselves voluntarily to Talmudic law and the rabbinic court system, especially in matters of dietary and ritual law, marriage and divorce, and social work.
- Compare Jewish denominations
The Talmud also plays an important role in Conservative Judaism, although it is viewed as an evolutionary process that changes with the times. Both professional and lay Talmudic scholarship is dedicated to determining the proper response to modern issues by intensive study of the Talmud. Reform Judaism officially rejects the Talmud as an entirely human invention reflecting medieval thought and values.
In 1923, Polish Rabbi Meir Shapiro organized the Daf Yomi ("the daily page") for a group of students, in which one page of the Talmud is studied each day. This took 2,711 days - about seven and a half years.
The Daf Yomi has since been undertaken by thousands of Jews around the world, and in 1997 a global celebration was held to celebrate the completion of the 10th cycle of readings. Over 70,000 took part in the celebration, which gathered at the locations around the world connected by satellite, including Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, Eugene, Oregon, and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Current Daf Yomi groups, now embarked on the 11th cycle of readings, can be found around the globe and the daily reading is available on the Internet.
There are actually two Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The former was composed circa 500 CE and the latter was completed around 600 CE. By the 11th century, the Babylonian Talmud had established supremacy and today it is the one that is meant by "the Talmud." Thus it is the one on which we will concentrate.
The Talmud consists of two parts: the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is rabbinic commentary on the Torah and the Gemara is rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah.
Mishnah The Mishnah ("a teaching that is repeated") is organized as a law book, and consists of legal rulings and teachings by rabbis of the first through third centuries CE. It was codified by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi around 200 CE and divided into "six orders," or shisha sedarim in Hebrew (the Talmud is known colloquially as "shas" for short), each of which addresses a different aspect of Jewish life:
- Zera'im ("Seeds") - blessings, tithes, temple offerings, agriculture - Mo'ed ("Set Feasts") - Sabbath laws and holiday observances - Nashim ("Women") - marriage and divorce - Nezikin ("Damages") - idolatry, matters of civil law, and the Pirke Avot - Kodashim ("Holy Things") - sacrificial system in the Temple, dietary laws - Tohorot ("Purities") - ritual purity and impurity
Gemara The Gemara ("completion") is primarily a commentary on the Mishnah. Like the Mishnah, it contains matters of Jewish law (halakhah), but it also includes stories, legends, and sermons (aggadah, "discourse").
References
- "Talmud and Midrash." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Premium Service (2004). - Essential Judiasm: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs and Rituals by George Robinson (Pocket Books, 2000). - "Torah, Torah, Torah: The Unfolding of a Tradition." Judaism for Dummies (Hungry Minds, 2001). - Tracey R. Rich, "Torah." Judaism 101 (1995-99).
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Talmud - ReligionFacts
Talmud – Torah.org
Posted By richards on January 12, 2016
by Rabbi Berel Wein
In its simplest form of definition, the Talmud is the record of centuries of discussion expounding the Oral Law of Judaism as it took place in the great Torah academies of the Land of Israel and Babylonia long ago. The Mishna, which is the basis of all talmudic discussions, was completed and edited at the beginning of the third century CE be Rabi Yehuda HaNassi in Tzipori in the Galilee. The Talmud was developed in two separate works: Talmud Yerushalmi (the Talmud of the Land of Israel) and Talmud Bavli (the Talmud of Babylonia.) The Talmud Yerushalmi was completed c.350CE when the Jewish community in the Land of Israel began to suffer genocidal persecution from the newly empowered Byzantine Christians. The demise of a vibrant Jewish community in the Land of Israel forced many of the Torah scholars living there to flee to Babylonia where Christian dominance did not hold sway. The Babylonian Talmud was not completed until the middle/end of the sixth century CE and became the definitive Talmud. Even though the Babylonian Talmud describes itself as being created in darkness (of exile) it remains the definitive Talmud. Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi, the great eleventh century codifier of Jewish law, explained that we follow the opinions of the Babylonian Talmud over those of the Talmud Yerushalmi because the Babylonian Talmud, which was edited two centuries later than the Talmud Yerushalmi, already took into consideration the opinions of the Talmud Yerushalmi when reaching its own stated halachic opinions and conclusions. Thus the Babylonian Talmud became and remains the main source for the definitive tradition of the Oral Law from Sinai.
Throughout Jewish history, the Jewish people in all of their lands of dispersion, basically lived a talmudic way of life, differing little from the way of the lives of their ancestors in Babylonia during the period of the compilation and editing of the Talmud. It was the Talmud, naturally based upon the sanctity and integrity of the Torah, the Written Law, that bound world Jewry together in spite of the enormous distances of space and society that exile imposed upon it. The names of the great men of the Talmud Rabi Yochanan ben Zakai, Rabi Akiva, Rabi Yehuda HaNassi, Rav, Mar Shmuel, Rabah, Abayei, Ravah, Ravina, Rav Ashi, Mar bar Rav Ashi, etc. were all household names and familiar guests in Jewish homes the world over. Even though the vast majority of Jews were hardly talmudic scholars this field was pretty much reserved for the rabbis and judges of Israel almost all Jews were aware of the Talmud, its values, messages, decisions and stories. It was the guiding book in their lives, not only in matters of ritual and law, but also in terms of personal behavior, societal goals and vision of the Jewish future. It was almost as through a process of osmosis that Jews absorbed within themselves an appreciation and respect for the Talmud. Eventually it could be said that the book referred to in the phrase people of the book was the Talmud.
It is no surprise therefore that the Talmud became the target and flash point of opposition to Judaism, its values and practices as well as its practitioners. The burning of the Talmud was a regular part of Christian persecution of Jews throughout Europe from the time of Louis IX in the thirteenth century to Nazi Germany in the twentieth century. Again, all those dissident Jews who rejected the traditions of the Oral Law and sought to create new forms of Jewish life also attacked the Talmud bitterly and discredited its ideas and formulations. From the Karaites in the seventh century to the Yevsektzia (the Jewish section of the Bolshevik party that Stalin would later purge) in the twentieth century, the Talmud was vilified and its pages torn and destroyed by Jews who were bitterly opposed to its teachings and who recognized that no new form of Judaism could ever take hold as long as the Talmud was still studied, respected and loved within the Jewish world. Nevertheless, the Talmud, like the Jewish people that it protects, has weathered all storms. It is the main text and topic of study in all yeshivot throughout the Jewish world. Competence in its study is the first requirement for all rabbis and teachers who maintain and defend the veracity of Jewish tradition from Sinai until our day. The Talmud is old but it remains fresh and vital. Its study is complex, challenging, but it is a labor of love. For understanding the Talmud is the way to understanding the Jewish soul the Jew that is within us all and thus is our true connection to our past and our destiny.
Shabat shalom, Berel Wein
Reprinted with permission from RabbiWein.com
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Talmud - Torah.org
