Ritual and practice in hasidism

Hasidism, one of the most prominent social religious movements in the Jewish world in the last three hundred years, has always demonstrated significant modifications and additions to the Jewish ritual system. Yet the rituals introduced by members of the Hasidic movement did not break the boundaries of the traditional Jewish ritual system; on the contrary, they quite often added a layer of extra pietism to traditional practices. This chapter surveys rituals in Hasidism according to the social contexts of their performance, introduces various ways in which they changed the Jewish ritual system, points to opposition toward the allegedly Hasidic practices, and aims to explain their effect on the Hasidim themselves as well as their contribution to Hasidism’s popularity.