Editing Hasidic Judaism (section)

===Routinization===
[[File:Sadigura rebbe's palace.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Palace of the [[Ruzhin (Hasidic dynasty)|Ruzhin dynasty]], known for its "royal" mannerism, in [[Sadhora]]]]
The opening of the 19th century saw the Hasidic sect transformed. Once a rising force outside the establishment, the ''tzaddiqim'' now became an important and often dominant power in most of Eastern Europe. The slow process of encroachment, which mostly begun with forming an independent ''Shtibel'' and culminated in the Righteous becoming an authority figure (either alongside or above the official rabbinate) for the entire community, overwhelmed many towns even in ''Misnagdic'' stronghold of Lithuania, far more so in [[Congress Poland]] and the vast majority in Podolia, Volhynia and Galicia. It began to make inroads into [[Bukovina]], [[Bessarabia]] and the westernmost frontier of autochthonic pre-WWII Hasidism, in [[Unterlander Jews|northeastern Hungary]], where the Seer's disciple [[Moshe Teitelbaum (Ujhel)|Moses Teitelbaum (I)]] was appointed in [[Ujhely]].

Less than three generations after the Besht's death, the sect grew to encompass hundreds of thousands by 1830. As a mass movement, a clear stratification emerged between the court's functionaries and permanent residents (''yoshvim'', "sitters"), the devoted followers who would often visit the Righteous on Sabbath, and the large public which prayed at Sefard Rite synagogues and was minimally affiliated.

All this was followed by a more conservative approach and power bickering among the Righteous. Since the Maggid's death, none could claim the overall leadership. Among the several dozen active, each ruled over his own turf, and local traditions and customs began to emerge in the various courts which developed their own identity. The high mystical tension typical of a new movement subsided, and was soon replaced by more hierarchical, orderly atmosphere.

The most important aspect of the routinization Hasidism underwent was the adoption of dynasticism. The first to claim legitimacy by right of descent from the Besht was his grandson, [[Boruch of Medzhybizh]], appointed 1782. He held a lavish court with [[Hershel of Ostropol]] as jester and demanded the other Righteous acknowledge his supremacy. Upon the death of [[Menachem Nachum Twersky]] of [[Chernobyl]], his son [[Mordechai Twersky]] succeeded him. The principle was conclusively affirmed in the great dispute after Liadi's demise in 1813: his senior acolyte [[Aharon HaLevi of Strashelye]] was defeated by his son, [[Dovber Schneuri]], whose offspring [[Chabad|retained the title for 181 years]].

By the 1860s, virtually all courts were dynastic. Rather than single ''tzaddiqim'' with followings of their own, each sect would command a base of rank-and-file Hasidim attached not just to the individual leader, but to the bloodline and the court's unique attributes. [[Israel Friedman of Ruzhyn]] insisted on royal splendour, resided in a palace and his six sons all inherited some of his followers. With the constraints of maintaining their gains replacing the dynamism of the past, the Righteous or Rebbes/''Admorim'' also silently retreated from the overt, radical mysticism of their predecessors. While populist miracle working for the masses remained a key theme in many dynasties, a new type of "Rebbe-Rabbi" emerged, one who was both a completely traditional ''[[halakhic]]'' authority as well as a spiritualist. The tension with the ''Misnagdim'' subsided significantly.<ref name="RAD">Benjamin Brown, [https://www.academia.edu/4900677/ The Two Faces of Religious Radicalism - Orthodox Zealotry and Holy Sinning in Nineteenth Century Hasidism in Hungary and Galicia].</ref><ref>Stephen Sharot, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1386127 Hasidism and the Routinization of Charisma], Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1980</ref>

But it was an external threat, more than anything else, that mended relations. While traditional Jewish society remained well entrenched in backward Eastern Europe, reports of the rapid acculturation and religious laxity in the West troubled both camps. When the ''[[Haskalah]]'', the Jewish [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], appeared in Galicia and Congress Poland in the 1810s, it was soon perceived as a dire threat. The ''maskilim'' themselves detested Hasidism as an anti-rationalist and barbaric phenomenon, as did Western Jews of all shades, including the most right-wing Orthodox such as Rabbi [[Azriel Hildesheimer]].<ref>[[David Ellenson]], ''Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer and the Creation of a Modern Jewish Orthodoxy''. University of Alabama Press, 1990. p. 44.</ref> In Galicia especially, hostility towards it defined the ''Haskalah'' to a large extent, from the staunchly observant Rabbi [[Zvi Hirsch Chajes]] and [[Joseph Perl]] to the radical anti-Talmudists like [[Osias Schorr]]. The Enlightened, who [[Revival of the Hebrew language|revived Hebrew grammar]], often mocked their rivals' lack of eloquence in the language. While a considerable proportion of the ''Misnagdim'' were not averse to at least some of the ''Haskala'''s goals, the Rebbes were unremittingly hostile.

The most distinguished Hasidic leader in Galicia in the era was [[Chaim Halberstam]], who combined Talmudic erudition and the status of a major [[posek|decisor]] with his function as ''tzaddiq''. He symbolized the new era, brokering peace between the small Hasidic sect in Hungary to its opponents. In that country, where modernization and assimilation were much more prevalent than in the East, the local Righteous joined forces with those now termed [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] against the rising liberals. Rabbi [[Moses Sofer]] of [[Pressburg]], while no friend to Hasidism, tolerated it as he combated the forces which sought modernization of the Jews; a generation later, in the 1860s, the Rebbes and the zealot Haredi rabbi [[Hillel Lichtenstein]] allied closely.

Around the mid-19th century, over a hundred dynastic courts related by marriage were the main religious power in the territory enclosed between Hungary, former Lithuania, Prussia and inner Russia, with considerable presence in the former two. In Central Poland, the pragmatist, rationalist Przysucha school thrived: [[Yitzchak Meir Alter]] founded the [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|court of Ger]] in 1859, and in 1876 [[Jechiel Danziger]] established [[Aleksander (Hasidic dynasty)|Alexander]]. In Galicia and Hungary, apart from Halberstam's House of [[Sanz]], [[Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov]]'s descendants each pursued a mystical approach in the dynasties of [[Zidichov (Hasidic dynasty)|Zidichov]], [[Komarno (Hasidic dynasty)|Komarno]] and so forth. In 1817, [[Sholom Rokeach]] became the first Rebbe of [[Belz (Hasidic dynasty)|Belz]]. At [[Bukovina]], the Hager line of [[Kosov (Hasidic dynasty)|Kosov]]-[[Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty)|Vizhnitz]] was the largest court.

The ''Haskalah'' was always a minor force, but the [[Jewish national movements (disambiguation)|Jewish national movements]] which emerged in the 1880s, as well as Socialism, proved much more appealing to the young. Progressive strata condemned Hasidism as a primitive relic, strong, but doomed to disappear, as Eastern European Jewry underwent slow yet steady secularization. The gravity of the situation was attested to by the foundation of Hasidic [[yeshiva]]s (in the modern, boarding school-equivalent sense) to enculturate the young and preserve their loyalty: The first was established at [[Nowy Wiśnicz]] by Rabbi [[Shlomo Halberstam (I)]] in 1881. These institutions were originally utilized by the ''Misnagdim'' to protect their youth from Hasidic influence, but now, the latter faced a similar crisis. One of the most contentious issues in this respect was [[Zionism]]; the Ruzhin dynasties were quite favourably disposed toward it, while Hungarian and Galician courts reviled it.