Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: חסידות, romanized: Ḥăsīdut, [χasiˈdut]; originally, "piety"), is a subgroup of Haredi Judaism that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe.
Today, most affiliates reside in Israel and the United States.
Israel Ben Eliezer, the "Baal Shem Tov", is regarded as its founding father, and his disciples developed and disseminated it. Hasidism is noted for its religious and social conservatism and social seclusion. Its members adhere closely both to Orthodox Jewish practice, with the movement's own unique emphases, and the traditions of Eastern European Jews. Many of the latter, including various special styles of dress and the use of the Yiddish language, are nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hasidism.
Hasidic thought draws heavily on Lurianic Kabbalah, and, to an extent, is a popularization of it. Teachings emphasize God's immanence in the universe, the need to cleave and be one with him at all times, the devotional aspect of religious practice, and the spiritual dimension of corporeality and mundane acts. Hasidim, the adherents of Hasidism, are organized in independent sects known as "courts" or dynasties, each headed by its own hereditary leader, a Rebbe. Reverence and submission to the Rebbe are key tenets, as he is considered a spiritual authority with whom the follower must bond to gain closeness to God.
The various "courts" share basic convictions, but operate apart and possess unique traits and customs. Affiliation is often retained in families for generations, and being Hasidic is as much a sociological factor – entailing, as it does, birth into a specific community and allegiance to a dynasty of Rebbes – as it is a purely religious one. There are several "courts" with many thousands of member households each, and hundreds of smaller ones.
As of 2016, there were over 130,000 Hasidic households worldwide, about 5% of the global Jewish population.
Claim
85% of Americans approved of U.S. President Joe Biden's first speech before a joint session of Congress.
Rating
False
False
About this rating
Context
This stat refers to the approval rating among Americans who watched the speech, not the country as a whole. While 85% of viewers did approve of the speech, according to CBS News, the majority of those viewers were Democrats.
Origin
On April 29, 2021, the day after U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his first speech to a joint session of congress, a message started to circulate on social media claiming that 85% of Americans had approved of the president’s remarks:
We don’t know what percentage of Americans approved of Biden’s speech yet, but it likely wasn’t 85%.
This stat comes from a report by CBS News who reported that 85% of viewers, not Americans, approved of the speech. As the audience for Biden’s speech last night likely skewed to the left, this statistic does not represent “all Americans.” CBS News reported that 54% of the people who watched the speech were Democrats, 25% were independents, and 18% were Republicans. Of those people, 85% approved of the speech.
CBS News director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto specifically mentioned that the audience last night was made up mostly of Democrats when he talked about this statistic. Here’s a transcript from the CBSN show “Red & Blue”:
“[…] We have some new polling. What we did was we talked to a representative sample of the audience nationwide who watched the speech and they liked what they heard. We got 85% approving of the speech. Now, I’ve got to add right off the bat here, that as is typical with presidential speeches, a lot of his own partisans made up the bulk of the audience.
So this audience was majority Democrats watching it. And for context back when President Trump was giving speeches a lot of Republicans watched those. So you’ve got to know that behind these numbers. But that said, the audience said that they liked what they heard.
For comparison’s sake, CBS News found that 76% of people who watched former President Donald Trump’s first speech before a joint session of congress in 2017 approved of the message.
Dan Evon
Published 29 April 2021