What is the Chasidic movement?
חסידישYiddishחסידיHebrewalso spelled Hasidic, Chassidish Pronunciation: Jewish English Lexicon (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A Jewish religious movement that began in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe. Its followers, Chasidim, stress joyful worship and devotion to a rebbe, and their singing is what this site calls Chasidic music.
Chasidism is a Jewish religious movement. Its followers, called Chasidim, stress joy in worship, prayer said with intention, and a living bond with a rebbe, the leader of a court, rather than study alone.
It began in the eighteenth century in Podolia, now Ukraine, around Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov. It spread through Eastern Europe in many courts. Rabbinic opponents, the Mitnagdim, resisted it. The Holocaust destroyed most of those courts. Communities such as Chabad and Satmar rebuilt afterward, mainly in the United States and Israel. The nigunim (ניגון) and holiday songs they still sing are what this site files as Chasidic music.