Is a 'Hasidic' Jew a common or special type of Jew?

Much of what, in America, is thought of as Jewish — bagels, Yiddish, black hats — are actually specific to Ashkenazi culture. Jews from Spain, the Iberian ... In the United States, the major religious streams of Judaism are Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist. read more

Hasidic Jews are maybe 5% of all Jews worldwide, so you are far more likely to get a garden variety non-Hasidic Jew. So they aren't very common. They might be considered 'special' because they are pretty recognizable because they dress like someone from 1800 Poland, pretty much. read more

Answer: Hasidic (or Chasidic) Judaism is a conservative branch of Haredi Judaism, which is itself a branch of Orthodox Judaism. Thus, Hasidic Jews are Orthodox, although they differ from Orthodox Jews in some respects. read more

My wife was a Hasidic Jew, and when I married her, so was I. But that was no longer the case. I was a 22-year-old man with a long beard and side curls (payes) and all the other markings of a Hasid, but I was an atheist. read more

Its members adhere closely both to Orthodox Jewish practice – with the movement's own unique emphases – and the traditions of Eastern European Jews, so much so that many of the latter, including various special styles of dress and the use of the Yiddish language, are nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hasidism. read more