Word: hasidism
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Rabbi Schneersohn is head of a Hasidic sect (150,000 in the U. S.) called the Habad. Hasidism is the faith which Baal Shem Tob, Polish mystic and healer of the 18th Century, offered to downtrodden Jews who had turned away from the dogmatic formalism of their rabbis. The Hasid sang, danced, took joy in his faith, felt himself close to God. At his worst a dreamy, soft-handed, mystical fellow, the Hasid became the butt of many an Eastern European joke. After the time of Baal Shem Tob there arose a Habad ("rational") Hasidism, which urged...