Links: Hollywood - Neo Chasidism

I thank my beloved friend R' Noam Mishkoff for sending.....

A great article from a Hollywood screenwriter here.

On Neo-Chasidus here.

A note on the second article. What is great about the new movement is that people are coming closer to Hashem and His Torah. People are more bi-simcha. People are tasting the sweetness of Yiddishkeit which prevents them from looking for it in the world of chullin.

One caveat is that I often sense that it is for many like a quick fix. A boost of spirituality and then back to their Modern-Orthodox-Consumerist-Fancy-Homes-And-Cars-Hanging-Out-With-Girls-Watching-The-Ball-Game-Going-Out-For-Pizza-Constantly-Texting-Tweeting-Iphoning-Surfing lifestyle. But it's OK because they did a Carlebach Kabolos Shabbos... Many of the practitioners and followers are NOT like that [like my friends who were interviewed and photographed for the article] but it is a danger that I believe exists.

There is no substitute for the real thing. Namely, a real Rebbe, with real chasidim whose lives are totally infused with the teachings of the Light of The Seven Days Of Creation the Baal Shem Tov Hakadosh. I have experienced much of both the Neo-Chasidic world and the traditional Chasidic world and whenever I find myself among the former group I find it wanting in comparison - for me [I am sure that the followers don't feel that way and I of course respect that].

But all in all - may this movement continue and may people find more and more of the אור אין סוף that Hashem put in the world and becomes accessible after years of hard work and bitul ha-yesh.