Category Archives: Hasidim

YP: Chassidism ain’t quite what it used to be

Email from rabbizarchi@sfshul.org: “Join us this Shabbat morning, November 13, at 9:30 AM, as we read from the Torah from the Book of Genesis. This week’s reading is about Yaakov’s marriage to Rachel and Leah and the deception of Lavan … Continue reading

Posted in Hasidim | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on YP: Chassidism ain’t quite what it used to be

Reason & Religion

Jeff emails: The Litvaks were not more “rational” than the Chassidim, in fact, the Gra and R. Haim were major league Kabbalists, the Gra wrote more on Kabbala than he did on Talmud, and we have R. Haim Brisker’s kavvanot … Continue reading

Posted in Hasidim | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Reason & Religion

Hasidim Don’t Study Torah On Christmas Eve

In a lecture for Torah in Motion on Christmas Eve, 2009, Professor Marc B. Shapiro says: This has got to be the strangest thing that Hasidim do and they do a lot of strange things. Some of you might have … Continue reading

Posted in Benyamin Cohen, Christianity, Hasidim, Marc B. Shapiro | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Hasidim Don’t Study Torah On Christmas Eve

Making God Look Bad To The World

In his fifth lecture on Rabbi Joseph Elijah Henkin (the leading posek in America during the 1940s and 1950s) for Torah in Motion, Rabbi Marc B. Shapiro says: Rav Henkin says Jews must be careful about how they speak about … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Hasidim, Marc B. Shapiro | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Making God Look Bad To The World

The Hasidim Conquered America

From a Jewish Press interview with Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff: Today we all wear uniforms. What is the concept of wearing a uniform? What is chassidus all about? It’s beautiful. You have a social order, you build a wall around yourself … Continue reading

Posted in Hasidim, R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The Hasidim Conquered America