Question for Hasidic Jews or orthodox jew?

Question

I am not a jew myself so forgive me if I sound ignorant. If you are a hasidic jew do you learn of Torah and Talmund? How long do you study it? Do you only learn about them? Can you be a true hasid and not wear the tradional dress? What are the importance of the sides curls, why are they curled? Do you have separate dances in weddings? How loyal are you to your rabbi?

Answer 1

I am Hasidic. We learn Torah and the Talmud. It is mandatory even for a man with a hard job to learn TOrah to the best of his ability 1 hour in the morning, and 1 hour at night, at the same time every day. This is mandatory for all Jews. All Orthodox Jews recognize it is mandatory. It is also mandatory to learn from them during one's free time not devoted to making a living. To do other things (like use the internet for pleasure) is cqalled "bittul Torah" and is a grave sin.

The boys begin learning the written TOrah at 3. They should have it more or less memorized by six. They then learn Mishnah, which is a part of the Talmud. They should have it more less memorized by 8 or 9. Then they begin Talmud. SOme schools start Talmud earlier, but it's bad for the kids brains in my opinion. It over works them. (Hungarian Chasidic schools grill the children in the code of Jewish law, Shulchan Aruch at a young age. This gives them an amazing clarity in Jewish law that can be vary impressive.)

Different communities have different standards for clothes. All Orthodox Jews agree a Jew must dress like a Jew. Lithuanian Jews dressed like Chasidim until after WW2, when the clothes were hard to find for various obvious reasons. If you look at pictures of famous Chasidic Rabbis holding court in the late 40's you'll notice their Chasidim also dress like that, but Chasidim made a great effort to go back to the old way, whereas Lithuanians held that the change was made ina permissable fashion, and so there new clothes counted as Jewish clothes now. (They were undoubtably correct, the CHasidim just hate for a custom to be lost to the Jews, so went beyond the minimum requirement to recover the old way.)

One can certainly be a true Chasid and not wear the clothes, but one cannot be a good Chasid (or Jew) and wear fashionable clothes from other cultures. If a Chasid works in a certain field, he can wear a short suit coat in various dark colors instead of the normal long blue or black coat. This is pretty common. That's not a problem, but fancy shirts and jeans would be.

The side curls are called peyos. They are from Leviticus 19:27 in the Bible, "Do not round off the corners of your hair." Various commentators discussed the length they should be. The lowest common denominator is that it has to be possible to bend the hair backwards. The Ari z"l said they have to come to the bottom of the face. Most Hasidim take this to meen the chin, ot equal to the beard.

They are curled out of fashion and neatness, nothing more really. Also convenience. Curls stay together and you don't get whispy thing in your eyes. Some don't curl them, but a person has to be fairly important to get away with that. If a normal person doesn't curl his peyos, he is seen as being messy. The Satmar Rav did not curl his because he was always cleaning them with his fingers, but he was held by all Hasidim except Chabad to be the leader of the generation, so he could get away with it. (Not everyone agreed with everything he said, but nobody thought he was anything less than a world class genious.)

All Orthodox Jews have seperate dancing at weddings. Some "Modern Orthodox" don't, but they know they are going against the Akharonim, they just do it because it's fun.

A Chasid is extremely loyal to the Rebbe, the Grand Rabbi.

Answer 2

Some of these questions sound rather odd to me, but if you want to know about Chasidim, try the links here.. And know that no one page definition is ever going to cover the entire gamut of any group.
Chasidim do study Torah and Talmud these days. Many have careers that are not just based on these things, so of course they would have to learn other things as well. Many orthodox weddings do not have co-ed dancing, and Chasidic weddings will not have this either (there is no "slow dancing" anyway). Loyalty to an individual Rabbi is something that would be earned, and most Rabbis respect the opinion of those more learned than they are. It's not like Loyalty to a mafia boss, or anything like that...

Answer 3

To understand Hassidic Jews you have to understand their origin. Hassidic Jews are a sect of Orthodox Jews. A couple hundred years ago, times were tough and to bring disheartened Jews closer to Judaism a man referred to as the Ba'al Shem Tov ("bearer of a good name") had a method of living with joy. His ways of joy were well recieved by many and this Orthodox sect grew, and in terms of the ultimate views and observance of commandments are the same as other Orthodox Jews.

That being said they have a different way of doing things (but unlike Reform, etc. Jews which is not a different way but more of a break-off) - a very big thing is tradition, largely because of "sub-sect" rabbis. After the Ba'al Shem Tov's death the sect began to have mini sects with minor likings towards different nuances and the followers relation with the leaders of these sects are strongly adhered to, and have different role than regular rabbis. Non-Hassidic Orthodox Jews also have leaders in less or different roles.

They do have seperate dances, like all Orth. Jews and have side burns but noticably long and I'm not sure if specificly curled or because it keeps them long but not hanging long.

The length of their study doesn't differ from Orthodox Jews, except in the choice of material and particular focus on specific books such as the Encyclopediac works of Maimonodies.

Answer 4

I'm not Chassidic but I am Modern Orthodox. Chassidic is a sect of Orthodoxy. So Chassids are Orthodox.

Now. All Jews learn Tanakh and Talmud. The Tanakh is the Jewish Bible. It consists of the Written Torah, Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuv'im (Writings) hence the acronym TaNaKh. Secondly, the Talmud is both the Oral Torah and commentaries on the law. When G-d gave Moses the Torah at Sinai, Moses received both the Oral Torah and Written Torah. The Oral Torah was passed down by word of mouth (very carefully in the manner of Jewish teaching) and eventually written down as a book we call the Mishneh. The Gemara is the other part of the Talmud and is commentaries on the law by rabbis and sages--basically, pages and pages of learned debate.

So to recap:
Jews study both Tanakh and Talmud; both are holy
Tanakh has the Written Torah in it
Talmud has the Oral Torah in it

Now, Jews are to study all their lives. Study, debate, read, learn--all their lives. It is a mitzvah (good deed) and a privledge to study the holy books. Some Jews only learn about them, if they are non observant. Observant Jews learn them, learn about them, immerse in them...or try to, as much as they can. In American Orthodoxy (which is different than Israeli Orthodoxy) one devotes their lives to Torah, but does not spend every hour of every day studying it. Some ultra-Orthodox do--they won't have jobs, their wives support the family, and they learn Torah all day. Not many of those in the U.S. Anyways, onwards.

I'm not Chassidic so I can only answer your next question based on my limited knowledge of Chassidim. No, you can't really be a "true Chassid" and not wear the traditional dress, as the traditional dress is what is outlined in the Torah and is one of the marks of the Chassid. The side curls are called peyas (peyot in Hebrew, for plural) and it comes from the commandment "Do not cut off the hair on the sides of your head..." Vayikra 19:27. To American Modern Orthodox, this generally means do not shave off your sideburns. The Chassidim wear their peyot long because of the commentary in the Talmud, "One has to be exceedingly careful not to remove his Peyot even with a scissors because they are like a razor; therefore the accepted custom has been to leave long peyot on children when they have their first haircut." " (Tosefot) they are curled because that is generally how Jewish hair grows. They don't have to be. If your hair is straight, your peyot are straight as well.

Recap again:
Peyot is the word for the side curls. Chassids keep them long to satisfy the commentary on the law to not cut the hair of the sides of your head.

Yes, Orthodox have separate dances at weddings because we believe in shomer negiah, which means that men and women who are not married or closely related do not touch. At all. Not even a handshake. And certainly not dancing. Think of it this way--if you shake hands with a woman, then you can hold hands with her. If you hold hands with her, you can kiss her hands. If you kiss her hands, you can kiss her lips. If you can kiss her lips...well. Let's not go further. The thought is if we don't touch we basically stop the whole inappropriate mess from spiraling out of control.

As per loyalty to the rabbi, Chassidim are very loyal to their rabbis, called tzadiks.

Again, I am not Chassidic, just Modern Orthodox, but have answered your questions as best as I could. The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a good book (albiet fictional story) giving some insight to Chassidism.

Answer 5

I am jewish, but not hassidic or orthodox, but, from my understanding,
the study is ongoing. theres always more to learn. no matter how much you've studied, there is more to learn.

I'm pretty sure the traditional dress is just that, tradition. beliefs and actions determine whats what.

the curls are derived from the commandment to not cut the sideburns like the heathens, I think the details of it actually being curled and such like that, is just a traditional application of that.

why would anyone be loyal to a rabbi? I think most rabbis worth their salt would PROFOUNDLY object to anyone being "loyal to them" and defer all "loyalty" to God. at absolute most they are nothing more than a messenger.

now purely social "loyalty" like how you might be loyal to an elected official because yo ulike them as a person and socially, is an entirely different thing, but...

Answer 6

Jew is a Jew same book at this time