Written for both the traditional and the non-observant Jew, this book serves as an excellent introduction to the theology of chasidism.

The epic story of Hasidic Williamsburg, from the decline of New York to the gentrification of Brooklyn "A rich chronicle of the Satmar Hasidic community in Williamsburg. . . . This expert account enlightens."—Publishers Weekly “One of the most creative and iconoclastic works to have been written about Jews in the United States.”—Eliyahu Stern, Yale University The Hasidic community in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is famously one of the most separatist, intensely religious, and politically savvy groups of people in the entire United States. Less known is how the community survived in one of the toughest parts of New York City during an era of steep decline, only to later resist and also participate in the unprecedented gentrification of the neighborhood. Nathaniel Deutsch and Michael Casper unravel the fascinating history of how a group of determined Holocaust survivors encountered, shaped, and sometimes fiercely opposed the urban processes that transformed their gritty neighborhood, from white flight and the construction of public housing to rising crime, divestment of city services, and, ultimately, extreme gentrification. By showing how Williamsburg’s Hasidim rejected assimilation while still undergoing distinctive forms of Americanization and racialization, Deutsch and Casper present both a provocative counter-history of American Jewry and a novel look at how race, real estate, and religion intersected in the creation of a quintessential, and yet deeply misunderstood, New York neighborhood.

A beloved contemporary classic, Holy Days is a personal account of New York's Hasidic community, its beliefs, its mysteries, and its encounter with secularism in the present age. Combining a historical understanding of the Hasidic movement with a journalist's discerning eye, Harris captures in rich detail the day-to-day life of this traditional and often misunderstood community. Harris chronicles the personal transformation she experienced as she grew closer to the largely hidden men and women of the Hasidic world.

As the population of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States increases to astonishing proportions, veteran New York Times journalist Joseph Berger takes us inside the notoriously insular world of the Hasidim to explore their origins, beliefs, and struggles—and the social and political implications of their expanding presence in America. Though the Hasidic way of life was nearly extinguished in the Holocaust, today the Hasidim—“the pious ones”—have become one of the most prominent religious subcultures in America. In The Pious Ones, New York Times journalist Joseph Berger traces their origins in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, illuminating their dynamics and core beliefs that remain so enigmatic to outsiders. He analyzes the Hasidim’s codified lifestyle, revealing its fascinating secrets, complexities, and paradoxes, and provides a nuanced and insightful portrayal of how their all-encompassing faith dictates nearly every aspect of life—including work, education, food, sex, clothing, and social relations—sustaining a sense of connection and purpose in a changing world. From the intense sectarian politics to the conflicts that arise over housing, transportation, schooling, and gender roles, The Pious Ones also chronicles the ways in which the fabric of Hasidic daily life is threatened by exposure to the wider world and also by internal fissures within its growing population.

Within the vast and varied body of chasidic literature, rarely does one find a chasidic rebbe writing about himself. Those rebbes who did choose to put pen to paper tended to write expositions on biblical or rabbinical texts, and in many cases it was their students and followers who copied down their teachings. Thus the modern reader is left with works that tend to be impersonal, esoteric, and often complex. The journal of Rabbi Shapira is unique in its use of first-person narrative to relay the inner thoughts, fears, and struggles of this bold leader as he responds to the pains of life. It offers guidelines for spiritual progress and several meditations based on an active imagination. Rabbi Shapira tells us that the purpose of this work is to bequeath a journal of his personal struggles and triumphs to posterity. Some entries are indeed very revealing; the Rebbe is not afraid to disclose his moments of self-doubt, his anger, his fears, and his fervent hope that his soul will remain strong as his body grows old. The more one reads of Rabbi Shapira's journal, the more insight and inspiration one will glean from its message. Young and old will find personal, spiritual guidance in these pages and be able to reap from the maternal fulfillment.

The story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures on all of them to pursue the religion they share in the way that is best suited to each. And as the boys grow into young men, they discover in the other a lost spiritual brother, and a link to an unexplored world that neither had ever considered before. In effect, they exchange places, and find the peace that neither will ever retreat from again.

Collected in this volume are over one thousand of the most popular and trenchant aphorisms of the past several centuries of hasidic teaching that have captured the heart and soul of world Jewry since the birth of hasidism. Most remarkable about these pithy hasidic sayings is how they combine the wisdom of Jewish tradition with sound modern psychological and spiritual insight.

The book talks of the Hasidic movement, what it stands for, and what it includes.

Examines responses to the Holocaust of hasidic leaders and their followers during the war years in Europe. Discovers a correlation between these responses and fundamental hasidic tenets dealing with God's relationship to man and to the Jewish people, redemption and the messianic era, Kiddush Hashem and Kiddush ha-Hayyim, the hasidic fraternal bond, and the relationship between the hasid and the zadik or rebbe. Hasidism offered a system of concepts that could be used to interpret the Holocaust, and provided a social framework and leadership to articulate these concepts. These may have served as shock absorbers for the hasidim facing the trauma of Holocaust events.

This book goes farther than any previous work in uncovering the historical Israel ben Eliezer--known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, or the Besht--the eighteenth-century Polish-Jewish mystic who profoundly influenced the shape of modern Judaism. As the progenitor of Hasidism, the Ba'al Shem Tov is one of the key figures in Jewish history; to understand him is to understand an essential element of modern Jewish life and religion. Because evidence about his life is scanty and equivocal, the Besht has long eluded historians and biographers. Much of what is believed about him is based on stories compiled more than a generation after his death, many of which serve to mythologize rather than describe their subject. Rosman's study casts a bright new light on the traditional stories about the Besht, confirming and augmenting some, challenging others. By concentrating on accounts attributable directly to the Besht or to contemporary eyewitnesses, Rosman provides a portrait drawn from life rather than myth. In addition, documents in Polish and Hebrew discovered by Rosman during the research for this book enable him to give the first detailed description of the cultural, social, economic, and political context of the Ba'al Shem Tov's life. This book goes farther than any previous work in uncovering the historical Israel ben Eliezer--known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, or the Besht--the eighteenth-century Polish-Jewish mystic who profoundly influenced the shape of modern Judaism. As the progenitor of