I grew up in a conservative Jewish neighbourhood in suburban Toronto. Throughout my primary schooling career, I was enrolled in a full-time private Hebrew school where the religious, linguistic and cultural Jewish values were taught and emphasized. Although I now consider myself a secular Jew, I have an enduring fascination with those committed to the Hassidic practice and lifestyle. Orthodox Judaism typically constitutes two types of practitioners- those who have deep familial ties to the community through birth, and those who have made a conscious adulthood decision to further their observance to an Orthodox form of Judaism (called baal teshuvah- lit. one who has done repentance). The Hassid Project is therefore also about agency- the extent to which a decision making process may or may not be involved in committing oneself to such a rigorous religious practice.