Reb Moshe to teach a weekly series on Neo-Hasidism beginning Tuesday, October 22nd
Progressive Jews are accustomed to seeing Hasidism as a fundamentalist, socially conservative, and strictly hierarchical ideology. Today’s Hasidic communities are led by exclusively male religious authorities, and exclude women from communal leadership.
Yet Hasidic Judaism was, at its inception, a radically democratic movement. The students of a charismatic 18th-century Ukrainian mystic, known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, hoped to leave behind the rabbinic elitism of their time. They sought to create a populist culture of piety and devotion in which every Jew, regardless of their education, could access the deepest secrets of the mystical tradition, and find an immediate experience of God in even the most mundane moments of their lives.
This approach to Jewish spirituality has profound relevance in our day and in our local community. Find out why in Reb Moshe’s upcoming series.
Stay tuned for details