Hasidic

 Hasidic Judaism arose in the 18th Century in Eastern Europe, with Israel Ben Eliezer held as its founding father. Originally quite radical, the movement falls today under the umbrella of Orthodox or Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Hasidic Judaism is noted for its conservatism and ties to the history, culture, and dress of Eastern European Jews. A key tenet of Hasidic thought is God’s immanence, wherein He is manifest in the material world, as opposed to transcendence, where the divine is seen as separate and beyond the material. As such, Hasidic Judaism stresses closeness to God in matters material and spiritual. Hasidic Jews are known as Hasidim, and the basic organization of Hasidism consists of dynasties or courts headed by a rebbe or ADMOR (“ADoneinu MOreinu veRabeinu, or,  “our master, our teacher, and our rabbi”). Hasidic Jewish communities suffered terrible losses during the Holocaust due to the Second World War’s devastation of Eastern Europe and their distinctive, easily-identifiable modes of dress and lifestyles.