Hasidic Dynasties

Gathers the hereditary rebbe-led courts of Hasidic Judaism, the pietist movement that arose in eighteenth century Eastern Europe under the Baal Shem Tov and organized itself into dynasties named for the town of their founding rebbe. Each dynasty traces leadership through a line of descent or discipleship from an earlier court, many tracing back through Peshischa, Ruzhin, or another founding lineage to the movement's own origin in Podolia and Volhynia. A member belongs here for being a living or historical Hasidic court with its own rebbe and following, distinct from the wider Jewish movements that do not organize around a hereditary rebbe.