The Socio-Economic Profile of a Religious Movement: The Case of Hasidism

Abstract

This article revisits the once popular issue of the socio-occupational profile of Hasidism, arguably the most important socio-religious movement of modern Jewry. Well-known anecdotal materials are confronted with much broader archival sources, mainly from central Poland in the first half of the nineteenth century. These are both rich narrative sources (anti-Hasidic denunciations by the kahal elders, official reports on the Hasidic conflicts in the communities, etc.) and, most importantly, quantitative materials, which allow for the analysis of four Jewish communities in central Poland and one in Belarus. These materials provide a unique picture of the occupational and financial profile of the Hasidic groups in these localities (as confronted with the picture of the entire communities) and, by implication, of the whole Hasidic movement. Contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy, these new materials point to Hasidim’s relative affluence, as well as to their tendency to cluster in commercial professions and to avoid the crafts. More broadly, it points to the dynamic character of class–church interdependence and the ideological and cultural factors creating them. It also confirms the correlation between a religious group’s strictness and its strength and attractiveness.