Black Judaism
Black Judaism is the collective term used to describe sects of Judaism predominantly practiced by the members of the African communities, both within the African Continent and outside Africa (such as North America). It is theologically characterized by the selective acceptance of the Judaic faith (in some cases such selective acceptance has historical circumstances), and that the belief system of Black Judaism is significantly different from the mainstream sects of Judaism. In addition, although Black Judaic communities adopt Judaic practices such as Jewish holidays and Jewish prayers, they are generally not recognized by the mainstream Jewish societies as legitimately Jewish.
Hasideans
Scholars have until recently started with the assumption that Hellenism "took root only in the upper classes of society, the main body of the [Jewish] nation being wholly untouched by it" and distinguished between the pious, law-abiding majority of the people and the Hasideans as a society of "extra-pious" Jews. However, the sources mentioned do not justify such a view. The συναγωγ σιδαίων of the books of the Maccabees, upon which so much emphasis is laid, corresponds, as has already long been known, to the קהל חסידים of the Psalms, which means neither "sect" nor "society", but only "congregation", with no idea of party. The piety attributed to Ḥasidim in the Talmudic sources is not in any way suggestive of a sect (Lehmann, in "R. E. J." xxx. 182 et seq.). The supposition that they were a sect closely associated with the scribes, and related to them, rests only on the fact that the two classes are mentioned together in I Macc. vii. 12, 13; the genuineness of verse 13, however, has been questioned by Hitzig ("Gesch. des Volkes Israel," p. 417).