What makes hasidic jews different

Yiddish is the default language. Gender roles are traditional, and genders are kept separated almost all of the time in school, synagogue, etc. Marriages are arranged, usually at age 17, 18 or The Hasidic community is very fraternal - men and boys spend a significant amount of time in the synagogue together. The Rebbe is the absolute leader of the sect and he will rule on all religious beliefs and practices.

Physical modesty is paramount - bodies must be covered fully and all clothing is formal. Hasidic Jewish men are known for wearing long black frock coats and hats.

This was the fashion among nobility in Poland, Ukraine etc. The fur hat that is worn on Sabbath Saturday and holidays is called a 'streimel. Hassidic Jewish women follow strict rules of modesty. Skirts hang below the knees and sleeves extend past the elbows. When a woman gets married the rule is that she must always keep her hair covered. Typically she will wear a wig that resembles real hair. Some Hasidic women shave their heads, which are covered when they are out in public.

The reason for this is that they are taking the rules of modesty to the most extreme - if she has no hair, then it won't be possible for a man to see it. Hasidic Jewish people are known for having large families. This is another practice: reproduce as much as possible. It is considered a top rule which was commanded directly from G-d. This is the reason that even though some sects were nearly wiped out in the Holocaust, there are now communities packed with tens of thousands of people!

And this is the reason that Hasidic neighborhoods in the USA are loaded with small children and school buses. School hours are long: male teenagers might be at school am - pm on 5 days per week. The schedule will consist mainly of talmudic studies in the morning and early afternoon, and then in the late afternoon will be secular studies mathematics, history etc.

Saturday is the holy day of the week. The agenda is to relax with family and spend time worshiping. Prayers are always 3 times per day - on Shabbos each prayer session is longer than usual. The defining rule of Sabbos is that 'work' is prohibited.

The interpretation of this extends overwhelmingly over almost every aspect of daily life. Activities that are prohibited include driving, using any electric device, cooking, shopping or handling money. A Jewish person is not even allowed to carry any object outside of their home. All Hasidic ultra orthodox rules apply to Jewish people only - people who are not Jewish are not required to follow these customs or prohibitions. This is the reason that occasionally Hasidic Jewish people will ask a non-Jewish person to perform a basic task for them - such as turning on a light, turning on an air conditioner, etc.

When enlisting a non-Jew to assist, they will try to avoid making a direct request example: "Can you please turn on the light? Rather, they will hint at what they need and hope the non-Jew will understand and help them example: "It's very dark in here, it would be brighter if the light switch was turned on". In space, the Hasidim's daily life is largely bounded by the neighborhood and its institutions.

The landmarks of the Hasidic neighborhood, the prayer house the shtibl , ritual bath mikveh , studyhouse besmedresh , rebbe's residence, and school, are usually all within walking distance of one another. This is not to say that travel itself is uncommon. Hasidim leave their neighborhoods for purposes of worship pilgrimmages to Israel are popular ; or work many Hasidim, especially men, work in Manhattan ; visits to family; or, among the Lubavitch, on proselytizing missions across the country and around the world.

In time, Orthodox life is bounded by daily and seasonal religious cycles of obligations and events, including observance of the Sabbath and holidays, and, for men, ongoing religious study and prayer three times daily. The Orthodox ideal is to live a life in which every moment reflects a consciousness of God. Almost every action of the day is accompanied by a prayer for the occasion: awakening in the morning, washing one's hands, eating, and going to sleep.

The Hasidim differ from other Orthodox Jews in several ways. The core of Hasidism is enthusiasm and mysticism, an interest in inner transformative experience, connection with God and others. Hasidism lays a great stress on the importance of inner intent when carrying out ritual obligations although many Hasidim may not actually achieve these ends in their daily life.

The "true" Hasid attempts to invest even neutral activity with pious intention: You don't just take advantage of that which is permissible; but everything that is permissible should be turned into part of the service of God.

If one has to sleep, one sleeps for the service of God. That the strength which comes from the rest, the clearness of mind is used in the service of God Learning and Torah study is extremely important in Hasidism, but piety is always meant to come first.

In Legends of the Hasidim, Jerome Mintz cites the story of Moshe of Stolin, who, "about to respond to a point of law, caught himself and said, 'I almost forgot. The great historical irony is that the Hasidim, now seen as rigid defenders of ultra-Orthodoxy, were once seen as the revolutionaries of Judaism. When the movement was born in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, it turned the values of then-traditional Judaism on their head: it was a stirring call to mysticism and joy, a rejection of asceticism, a populist movement that promised a direct and authentic relationship to God for everyone, including the poor, humble, and unlearned.

Hasidism said that endless disputation of biblical commentaries by a scholarly elite was dry religious legalism and that what mattered was faith, feeling, and love--of God, and of fellow men. They called for a religion of faith, a personal relationship to God, and a rejection of long-entrenched social and religious structures. Hasidism stresses joy. By them there's such strictness, but with Hasidim, the whole Jewishness comes with a happiness, with dancing and with singing.

Another primary distinction of Hasidism is the social and spiritual role of the rebbe. At once a community leader and a zaddik, or holy man, the rebbe acts as a ladder between man and God, and is thus the center of a Hasidic community. Hasidim expect their rebbes to provide a wide range of services, from blessing a proposed marriage or choosing an occupation to providing spiritual inspiration and moral guidance.

The contemporary Hasidic conception of the rebbe includes elements of the magical. Winger estimates there were about 10 people on set who had left the Hasidic community; a few even discovered they were cousins. To help capture the texture of that experience, early in pre-production, department heads including costume designer Justine Seymour, production designer Silke Fischer and cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler traveled to Williamsburg to absorb the look and feel of the neighborhood.

Costumes were sourced in Brooklyn and at second-hand shops and Turkish modest clothing stores throughout Berlin. Some exteriors were shot on location in Williamsburg, while the cramped family apartments were meticulously constructed on Berlin soundstages. It was filmed over two days at a Palestinian wedding hall in Berlin, during a blistering heat wave when temperatures soared into the 90s. A hundred extras were needed to play wedding guests, and finding enough bearded men was a challenge.

Rosen had to condense the Satmar wedding ceremony, which can last for many hours, into a few minutes of screen time, and weighed in on placement of guests in the wedding hall. The festive garb also had to be accurate, but it was deemed too expensive and inhumane for the production to buy dozens of shtreimels, the traditional mink hats worn by Hasidic men on the sabbath and other religious occasions.

So a theater company produced dozens of them using fake fur wrapped around cardboard. No detail was too minute. Haas recalls overhearing a protracted discussion between Wilbusch and Rosen about the length of their socks.

I would lose sleep over certain scenes and constantly second guess my own decisions. Unlike many who have left the Hasidic tradition, Rosen is still in contact with his family — which may have added to his worry about authentic representation. He says his mother never used to watch television but dabbles in it now that it no longer requires a dedicated appliance in the home.