Vien (Hasidic community)

Vien (וויען) is a hasidic group originating in present-day Vienna .¹ The name of their congragaion is "Kehal Adas Yereim Vien" (translation: Congregation of the Reverent, Vienna) (קהל עדת יראים וויען).² Vien is unique in the respect that they are the only Chasidus that follows the Ashkenaz nusach (liturgy) in Davening (prayer).³ Khal Adas Yereim Vien had its origins in a congregation of devout Oberlander non-hasidic Jews who had moved from Slovakia and Hungary ('The Oberland') to Vienna and then on to Williamsburg under the leadership of Rabbi Yonasan Steif .⁴ During the past 30 years there has been a gradual "hasidishization" of Viener practices among the younger members of the group due to the proximity and political dominance of "mainstream" hasidim in their neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn , New York . It has been remarked by very old members of the group that hasidic dress was not at all the norm for members of their group in Vienna before the war, and that it was considered foreign to their practice. Some of the most notable differences of the pre-hasidic Vien were: Oberlander style of dress, with men wearing homburg hats or fedoras on weekdays. Married women generally wear wigs without kerchiefs . The usual style of dress is more yeshivish than hasidic in general. Stronger attention to secular studies in the Viener schools. Vieners train for professions such as law and medicine without the qualms that hasidim in general would feel. English speech is fluent among the vast majority of Vieners, although it is almost always an acquired second language (after Yiddish ). This is in distinction to hasidic groups in general, where it may be as much as a point of pride that one is not fluent in English. Vieners generally follow the centuries-old customs of the Viennese community in preference to those of the hasidim. The head of the Viener community is termed the " Rov " (rabbi) rather than as the " Rebbe ". This is a differentiation that was common in the European Jewish communities, where the Rov was the legal leader of a community, usually with outstanding educational credentials, and the Rebbe was the leader of the hasidim of the community, who usually acknowledged the Rov as his scholastic and legal superior. There is no "real" Viener rabbinical dynasty, and rabbinical veneration is much more subdued than in hasidic communities in general. Rabbi Steif was succeeded by Rabbi Ezriel Yehuda Lebowitz (Hudhazer Rov) who was succeeded by the current Viener Rov is R' Asher Anshel Katz , who prior to his appointment was the Rov of the Szombathely shul in Williamsburg. Which was established by his late father R' Yeshoua Katz who came after the war from Szombathely, Hungary. After R' Asher Anshel Katz was appointed as Viener Rov his son in law R' Aaron Yeshaye Rosner assumed his Position as the Szombathely Rov. Today, while there are still a few members left who follow the old viener way, the vast majority is like any other hasidic sect in every way. Other Hungarian hasidic sects that underwent very similar transitions include Nitra , Kashaw , Tzehlim , Krasna and Pupa .⁵