Mitnagged

[ English, Ashkenazic Hebrew mis-nah-gid; Sephardic Hebrew meet-nah-ged ]

noun

, Judaism.

, plural Mit·nag·ge·dim [mis-, nahg, -dim, meet-nahg-, deem].

1. a member of an Orthodox Jewish movement in central or eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries that advocated an intellectual, legalistic approach to Judaism and opposed the emotional, mystical approach of the Hasidim. Compare Hasid ( def 1 ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mitnagged¹

1900–05; < Medieval Hebrew mithnaggēdh, Yiddish misnaged < Hebrew mithnaggēdh opposing, opponent

Example Sentences

Rabbi Isaac, the rabid Mitnagged, could find but little to admire in the proposals of Rabbi Menahem Mendel, the ardent Hasid, and both were bitterly opposed to the view preached by Doctor Lilienthal, that the salvation of the Jews and Judaism would be brought about by a system of education adopted in accordance with an ukase by Nicholas.

From Project Gutenberg