Satmar

This chapter describes a dynasty with the largest number of Hasidim in America in which conflict has been the dominant element of its succession from the first to the current rebbe. It shows how conflict has helped the group energize itself and how even a rebbe’s wife became a contender for the role of leader.

Bobov

A clash of families of a dynasty that only partially survived the Holocaust, this chapter describes how succession was affected by a rebbe’s remarriage, by competing claims from two families, and how an effort to poll the Hasidim was needed to distinguish between two competing rivals for the crown.

ChaBaD Lubavitch

The chapter reviews the complex problems of succession that have troubled this famous dynasty and how it propelled it toward messianism and created an outreach agenda based on a rebbe the followers claim is either immortal or the messiah himself. It is a tale of dispersed charisma and how a group can go on in the absence of a living rebbe.

Boyan and Kopyczynitz

The story of two intertwined dynasties who ran out of successors until they found a youngster whom they could transform into a new leader. The chapter details the fall and rise of two contemporary dynasties.

Munkács

The history of this dynasty, the problem of its succession and the complex transition to an imported leader, the abdication of that new leader and the search for a replacement as well as the role of Zionism, the Holocaust, and migration in the dynasty’s fate are discussed. The dramatic occasion of the transition from father to a son who replaced him closes the chapter.

Succession in Contemporary Hasidism

A discussion of the Zaddik/rebbe concept and description of a Hasidic court, and the history of and issues involved in succession, the role of charisma, branding, and inherited identity as well as the growing conservatism of Hasidism are discussed.