Identity or spirituality: the resurgence of Habad, Neo Hasidism and Ashlagian Kabbalah in America

This paper concerns the distinction between religion as a social need, the need to belong, and religion as a personal experience of spirituality and yearning. The clarification will help us better understand the driving force behind three spiritual movements in the United States: Ashlagian Kabbalah, Habad Hasidism and neo-Hasidism. Notwithstanding their differences, and they are significant, these modern Jewish spiritual alternatives offer American Jews a way to fulfill their need for spiritual experience and at the same time reinforce their identity as Jews. In situations of conflict, however, the importance of spirituality may be eclipsed by the social need for a religious and ethnic Jewish identity.