Ha·sid

or Has·sid also Chas·sid (KHä′sĭd, KHô′-, hä′-)

n. pl. Ha·si·dim or Has·si·dim also Chas·si·dim (KHä-sē′dĭm, KHô-, hä-)

A member of a Jewish mystic movement founded in the 18th century in eastern Europe by Baal Shem Tov that reacted against Talmudic learning and maintained that God's presence was in all of one's surroundings and that one should serve God in one's every deed and word.

[From Hebrew ḥāsîd, pious, from ḥāsad, to be kind; see ḥsd in Semitic roots.]

Ha·si′dic adj.

Ha·si′dism n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Hasidism, Chasidism

1. the beliefs and practices of a mystical Jewish sect, founded in Poland about 1750, characterized by an emphasis on prayer, religious zeal, and joy.
2. the beliefs and practices of a pious sect founded in the 3rd century B.C. to resist Hellenizing tendencies and to promote strict observance of Jewish laws and rituals. Also Assideanism. — Hasidic, adj. — Hasidim, n. pi.

See also: Judaism

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Hasidism - 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 Chasidim, Chassidim, Hasidim, Hassidim Jewish Orthodoxy, Orthodox Judaism - Jews who strictly observe the Mosaic law as interpreted in the Talmud Chasid, Chassid, Hasid, Hassid - a member of a Jewish sect that observes a form of strict Orthodox Judaism
	2.	Hasidism - beliefs and practices of a sect of Orthodox Jews Chasidism, Chassidism, Hassidism Orthodox Judaism - beliefs and practices of a Judaic sect that strictly observes Mosaic law Chabad Hasidism, Chabad - a form of Hasidism practiced by Lithuanian and Russian Jews under communist rule; the beliefs and practices of the Lubavitch movement

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References in periodicals archive

25, 1969, one of the world's most promising scholars of Hasidism took his own life.

Half a Century After His Suicide, We Remember a Jewish Mystical Master

Zvi Leshem, head of the Gershom Scholem Collection for Research in Kabbalah and Hasidism at the National Library of Israel.

Wedding Invitation of Lubavitcher Rebbe Discovered at National Library of Israel

Magid collects 10 essays, most previously published, on early and later Hasidism. Among his topics are the case of Jewish Arianism: the pre-existence of the zaddik in early Hasidism, the intolerance of tolerance: mahaloket (controversy) and redemption in early Hasidism, the introvertive piety of faith in R.

Piety and Rebellion: Essays in Hasidism

"The Kabbalah Master" by Perle Besserman is set in Coney Island, where Sharon's efforts at making a life for herself and her children take readers on a journey though Hasidism as it exists today including its schools for children and the fundamentalist characters that run them.

The Kabbalah Master

From childhood, Shalom received a traditional Jewish education in the spirit of Hasidism that included Kabbalah teaching and its mystical customs and rites.

Let the Other be Me--The Theo-Political Predicament and the -Arab in Shin Shalom's Early Writings

There were opponents to rabbinic authority like the Karaites; messianic movements such as as Shabbtai Tzvi, which shook up the Jewish world by promising radical change; and rifts among different kinds of rabbinic Judaism, such as the bitter struggle that developed in the 18th century between Hasidism and its more scholarly opponents, the mitnagdim.

Is Judaism One Religion?

It allowed them to integrate their particular understanding of Hasidism into the ideal of Judaism they advocated for postwar American Jews.

FURTHER FORWARD THROUGH THE PAST: POSTWAR AMERICAN JEWS RECONFIGURE THE EAST EUROPEAN TRADITION IN CULTURAL TERMS

"A Nigun is not only a melody-it is a melody of yourself," the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Habad Hasidism, is reported to have said to his grandson, the Temach Zedek (1789-1866) (trans.

Experiencing Devekut: The Contemplative Niggun of Habad in Israel

More problematic, however, is Wood's treatment of Hasidism and Yiddishism in Chapter 5: "Encountering the Yiddish Other: Hasidic Music in Today's Yiddish Canon." Here, the conflict between religious and ethical practice arises.

And We're All Brothers: Singing in Yiddish in Contemporary North America

To take a minor, but representative, example: the author writes that, according to Gershom Scholem, the internalism of Hasidism is a response to Sabbateanism.

Seeskin, Kenneth. Jewish Messianic Thought in an Age of Despair

A lifelong student of Talmud and halakhah, Professor Gold started his immersion into Habad Hasidism only in 1979, when he spent a year in Boston as a visiting scientist at MIT.

A few observations on epigenetics