Chassidism, The movement within Orthodox Judaism founded in White Russia by R. Yisrael, the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), stressing: emotional involvement in prayer; service of G-d through the material universe; wholehearted earnestness in divine service; the mystical in addition to the legalistic dimension of Judaism; the power of joy, and of music; the love to be shown to every Jew, unconditionally; the mutual physical and moral responsibility of the members of the informal chassidic brotherhood, each chassid having cultivated a spiritual attachment to their saintly and charismatic leader, the Rebbe. The philosophy and literature of this movement; see also Chabad.