Sam2: You said it perfectly about HaKatan.
I especially like his line that chassidus is “traditional” Judaism. Chassidus was established, as I’m sure most people here know, by the Baal Shem Tov. It’s been written that he began it when he was 36 years old, which was in the year 1734. So Chassidus is about 279 years old. That’s a far cry from the Judaism which was established at Har Sinai! Additionally, the Baal Shem Tov changed Judaism because he felt the common Jew couldn’t relate to Judaism anymore,because they couldn’t learn Torah very well, so he started a movement to try and bring Jews closer to Hashem in other ways.
It seems to me that the Besht was the one who was changing Judaism to try and “modernize” it for the people of his time. His de-emphasizing Talmud Torah was one of the main reasons the Vilna Gaon opposed chassidus.
Chassidus is anything but traditional Judaism.