The Dispute of Hasidim and Misnagdim – From its onset in the second half of the 18th century the Hasidism movement was rejected by traditional Jews.

The members of the Rabbinic opposition were called Misnagdim – opponents. Misnagdim criticized Hasids for overemphasizing singing and dancing practices, neglecting the study of Torah and Talmud, ignoring the appropriate time for pray, but most of all for treating tzadiks as agents between God and a man, which led to the idolatry of tzadiks. Some historians discern a social aspect of the dispute: supporters of Hasidism would leave their communities and stop using its services.

For instance, they hired their own ritual slaughterer, shechita, which undermined the prosperity of the community. Misnagdim put curses on Hasids and considered them heretics. Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, called the Vilna Gaon, was the spiritual leader of the Misnagdim in Lithuania. He is believed to had curbed the spread of the Hasidism movement in this region.

The dispute between Hasids and Misnagdim was most intense in the 18th century. However, it began to die out in the half of the 19th century because of the great popularity of the Hasidism movement, and because a need to unite has emerged in the face of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, and growing desecularization of Jews.