Jewish, Hasidic (Israel)

Hasidim are the heirs of the pietist revival founded by Israel Baal Shem Tov in 18th-century Podolia, which spread across Polish, Ukrainian, Galician, Hungarian and Romanian Jewry. They are organised into dynasties, or courts, named after East European towns (Ger, Belz, Vizhnitz, Satmar, Karlin, Slonim, Boyan, Bratslav) and led by hereditary rebbes. A rebbe is the court's spiritual master, a holy man and teacher whose followers bring him their questions on marriage, health, work and faith, and whose title passes from father to son or son-in-law. After the Holocaust destroyed their heartlands, the courts were rebuilt in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, New York, London, Antwerp and Montreal. Hasidim form one of the three main streams of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Judaism beside the Lithuanian yeshiva world and the Sephardi Haredim. Courts differ sharply: some are anti-Zionist and refuse state funding (Satmar, Toldot Aharon, the Edah HaChareidit circle), others take part in politics through Agudat Yisrael, and Chabad-Lubavitch runs a worldwide outreach movement. Many keep Yiddish as their home language. In Israel the group also takes in the Jews listed until 2026 as 'Eastern Yiddish-speaking', since Yiddish there is spoken at home almost only by Hasidim.

Each court has its own dress, customs, synagogues and school network. Men wear beards, side-curls, long black coats and, on the Sabbath, fur shtreimel or spodik hats; married women cover or shave their hair. Families average six to seven children and marriages are arranged by matchmakers around the ages of 18 to 22. The rebbe's tish, a Sabbath or festival meal where thousands sing wordless melodies (nigunim) and watch the rebbe eat, is the high point of court life. Weddings feature separate dancing for men and women and a Yiddish jester (badkhan). Mass pilgrimages to the graves of saints, such as Meron on Lag BaOmer and Uman in Ukraine for Bratslav Hasidim at Rosh Hashanah, are central events. Life is lived in dense neighbourhoods with their own shops, charity funds (gemachim) and filtered media.

Strict observance of Jewish law, three daily prayers, ritual immersion (often daily for men), and lifelong Torah study for men in yeshiva and kollel. Hasidism adds an emphasis on joy, fervent prayer and Kabbalistic ideas, and devotion to the rebbe, whose blessings and counsel are sought for marriage, illness, children and business. Bratslav followers practise hitbodedut, solitary spoken prayer in fields and forests, and visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman in Uman. Smartphones and open internet are banned or filtered by rabbinic decree. Courts differ in their stance towards the State, from voting and taking state funding to the zealots' refusal of elections, state money and army service.

Scripture is available in Hebrew and a Yiddish New Testament exists, along with the JESUS film and audio materials in Hebrew. Hasidim, however, read only rabbinically approved texts and use filtered media, and there are almost no known believers inside the community; the few Hasidic-background Messianic Jews left it first. Leaving means losing family, marriage prospects and community support, so any seeker needs a trusted community outside. Ex-Haredi support networks, practical help and Yiddish or Hebrew media are the main points of contact.

The largest Hasidic courts in Israel, with Joshua Project's estimates of their followers: Ger (77,000; about 15,000 families, seat on Yirmiyahu Street, Jerusalem), Chabad-Lubavitch (56,000, also listed as its own group), Bratslav (37,000), Belz (33,000; Kiryat Belz, Jerusalem, with one of the largest synagogues in the world), Vizhnitz (30,000; Kiryat Vizhnitz, Bnei Brak), Satmar (16,000), Karlin-Stolin (14,000), Boyan (13,000), Slonim (11,000) and Toldot Aharon (9,900; Mea Shearim zealots). Dozens of smaller courts include Sanz, Bobov, Sadigura, Dushinsky, Erlau and Spinka.