kehillah-or-ahayim: Novos Desafios - see link for full story from Haaretz

kehillah-or-ahayim: Novos Desafios: "'Damen explains that although it is very difficult to gain acceptance into a Hasidic group, once a family has been accepted, the children will always have a place to learn, 'without any `quotas' or `selections,' and without religious class distortions.' The reason for the equality is that everyone is humbled by the rebbe - the leader of each Hasidic sect.Is the situation really so much better among the Hasidim?Rabbi Shmuel Wind of the Tsohar outreach organization told Mishpacha that the newly religious will not find it easy to fit into a Hasidic framework that is not Chabad or Bratslav.'The offer to `join Chabad' is not a realistic option for me,' said Meizlik. 'We want to worship God in a way that suits us and to choose how to worship God according to what is taught to the children in school.'One of the fascinating aspects of this debate is the central position held by women - perhaps because the issues are education and family, and perhaps because the ultra-Orthodox public is changing."