Re: Off topicamawahibikiJanuary 14 2009, 04:21:15 UTC
I think the topic of this post answers your question. I do often daven with Chassidim, and have often spent Shabbes as their guests and vice versa. I do wish that they were more tolerant of our viewpoint, but many of them are... I have though on occasion been told by a Chassid than a misnaged practice or prayer text is "wrong", or been asked to do something a Chassidic way. But this is the exception rather than the norm. I have also heard the stories about misnagdim 200 years ago from Chassidim, and I think that spreading them constitutes trying to sow division in the Jewish people. There were such cases, which is bad. There were, unfortunately, many opposite cases as well. I don't know which side was nastier to the other at that time. The nastiest stories I heard were the way that during the holocaust, the Chassidim in my grandfather's town in Lithuania celebrated when the Misnagdim's synagogue was burnt and many of them were killed- and then the same thing happened to them a few weeks later. Baseless, stupid infighting. Fortunately it seems to have (mostly) disappeared. There are other Orthodox Jews besides Chassidim and misnagdim of course- Sephardic Jews of all sorts, and Jews from other parts of the world. The Chassidic-Misnaged divide only really applies to a certain segment of European Ashkenazi Jewry. Within that segment I would say that, yes, we are simply "mainstream" "old-fashioned" Jews as opposed to Chassidim. This is why most Misnagdim on LJ would not put it as an interest I think- it's not sufficiently worthy of mention. The only reason I did was because I have so much contact with Chassidim in Japan and am so sick of hearing Chabad stories about how Misnagdim did such awful things to Chassidim 200 years ago.
Re: Off topicmagicmirrorJanuary 14 2009, 11:26:50 UTC
Thanks a lot! This really answers my question. I happen to live in a chassidic environment, and am sick of the tone they speak about misnagdim. I hope personal relationships between chassidim and misnagdim will become better, with Hashem's help.
I have also heard the stories about misnagdim 200 years ago from Chassidim, and I think that spreading them constitutes trying to sow division in the Jewish people. There were such cases, which is bad. There were, unfortunately, many opposite cases as well. I don't know which side was nastier to the other at that time. The nastiest stories I heard were the way that during the holocaust, the Chassidim in my grandfather's town in Lithuania celebrated when the Misnagdim's synagogue was burnt and many of them were killed- and then the same thing happened to them a few weeks later. Baseless, stupid infighting. Fortunately it seems to have (mostly) disappeared.
There are other Orthodox Jews besides Chassidim and misnagdim of course- Sephardic Jews of all sorts, and Jews from other parts of the world. The Chassidic-Misnaged divide only really applies to a certain segment of European Ashkenazi Jewry. Within that segment I would say that, yes, we are simply "mainstream" "old-fashioned" Jews as opposed to Chassidim. This is why most Misnagdim on LJ would not put it as an interest I think- it's not sufficiently worthy of mention. The only reason I did was because I have so much contact with Chassidim in Japan and am so sick of hearing Chabad stories about how Misnagdim did such awful things to Chassidim 200 years ago.
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All the best to you.
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