Towards a New Definition of Hasidism

Marcin Wodziński

Towards a New Definition of Hasidism

Publication date: 06.04.2018

Studia Judaica, 2017, Nr 2 (40), pp. 307-332

https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.17.014.8249

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Titles

Towards a New Definition of Hasidism

Abstract

The author of the article poses the question what Hasidism really is, and whether the belief, still widely-held today, that it was a sect, or a movement similar to a sect, is accurate. Although there are dozens of definitions of Hasidism, all of them are built on doctrinal categories. As the author argues, these kinds of ideological definitions are inadequate, given that they turn Hasidism into an abstract doctrine, disconnected from its believers and their daily practices. Instead, he offers a behavioral, or performative, definition of Hasidism as it was practiced in everyday life. This definition, based on low-profile, often folk testimonies, shows what rank-and-file followers understood by being a Hasid and how they defined their own distinctive features.

Keywords

Hasidism, Eastern Europe, behavioral definition, sect, confraternity

Information

Information: Studia Judaica, 2017, Nr 2 (40), pp. 307-332

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.17.014.8249

Article type: Original article

Authors

Marcin Wodziński

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0281-6391

University of Wrocław, plac Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland

Published at: 06.04.2018

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Marcin Wodziński (Author) - 100%

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Publication languages:

English

View count: 1956

Number of downloads: 1445

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