-----Original Message-----
From: R [mailto:ruthien@concentric.net]
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 5:18 AM
To: JewishGen Discussion Group
Subject: Re: Chassidic dress
Bernard Rosinsky wrote:

I have pictures of family members at the turn of the 20th century (some
end of 19th century). I know that it is possible to categorize a
tradiional jew by his clothing: Is he a Chassid or a Mitnaged and if a
Chassid, what group he belonged to. Is there a reference book that can
help me determine where I should categorize my ancestor?
Can I deduce more facts >from just a picture?

In general, you can deduce little >from such a picture. Traditional dress
in Russia, for instance, was virtually identical among both chasidim and
misnagdim. And in Lithuania, the dress was somewhat different >from in
Russia, but there again, chassidim and traditional misnagdim dressed
nearly alike. Ditto for Poland, and for Galicia, Hungary, etc. So while
the manner of dress in the picture might indicate the country of origin,
and that the person wore what was in those days traditional Jewish
garb in that country, it will indicate little else about the person.
Certainly not what "kind" of chassid the person might be.

One exception might be Vizhnitz Chassidim. As far as I know, they were and
are the only ones to wear their hat backwards, with the bow on the band
tied on the right side instead of the left.

Moshe Siechmach