Hasidism
Writings on Devotion, Community, and Life in the Modern World
Distributed for Brandeis University Press
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Emergence, Challenge, and Renewal (1736-1815)
1. The Ba‘al Shem Tov: Disciples and Descendants
2. Yiddish Supplications (Tkhines)
3. Dov Ber of Mezritsh
4. The Brody Proclamation of 1772
5. The Maggid’s Family
6. Chernobil and Zhitomir
7. Shmuel and Pinhas Horowitz, Levi Yitshak of Barditshev, and ’Uziel Meizels
8. Hasidism in Lithuania, White Russia and Tiberias
9. Nahman of Bratslav
10. Beyond the Maggid’s Circle
11. Early Hasidism in Poland
II. Ascendancy and Dominance (1815-1881)
12. Avraham Yehoshu‘a Heshel of Apt
13. The Dynasties of Ruzhin and Talna
14. Menahem Mendel Schneersohn
15. Kalonymous Kalman Epstein of Krakow
16. Hayim Halberstam and Sandz Hasidism
17. Malka Rokeah of Belz and Eydel Rubin of Brody
18. The Dynasties of Dinov, Zhidachov, and Komarno
19. The Dynasties of Pshiskhe, Kotsk, Izhbits, Warka and Ger
III. Decline, Renaissance, and Destruction (1881-1945)
20. Ger in Warsaw: Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter
21. Sokhachev and Ger
22. Tsadok ha-Kohen of Lublin
23. Munkatsh Hasidism
24. Toledot Aharon
25. Sholom Dov Ber Schneersohn
26. The Hasidic Yeshivah
27. Sarah Schenirer
28. Three Hasidic Memoirs: Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, Yitshak Nahum Twersky and Malka Shapiro
29. The Belzer Rebbe’s Sermon and Holocaust Testimonies
30. The Rebbe of Piaseczno
IV. Renewal and Reconstruction (1945–present)
31. Hasidic Theology and the Holocaust
32. Zionist Hasidism
33. Satmar Hasidism
34. The Seventh Rebbe of Habad
35. Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky
36. Slonim Hasidism in Jerusalem
37. Voices of Contemporary Hasidic Women
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Emergence, Challenge, and Renewal (1736-1815)
1. The Ba‘al Shem Tov: Disciples and Descendants
2. Yiddish Supplications (Tkhines)
3. Dov Ber of Mezritsh
4. The Brody Proclamation of 1772
5. The Maggid’s Family
6. Chernobil and Zhitomir
7. Shmuel and Pinhas Horowitz, Levi Yitshak of Barditshev, and ’Uziel Meizels
8. Hasidism in Lithuania, White Russia and Tiberias
9. Nahman of Bratslav
10. Beyond the Maggid’s Circle
11. Early Hasidism in Poland
II. Ascendancy and Dominance (1815-1881)
12. Avraham Yehoshu‘a Heshel of Apt
13. The Dynasties of Ruzhin and Talna
14. Menahem Mendel Schneersohn
15. Kalonymous Kalman Epstein of Krakow
16. Hayim Halberstam and Sandz Hasidism
17. Malka Rokeah of Belz and Eydel Rubin of Brody
18. The Dynasties of Dinov, Zhidachov, and Komarno
19. The Dynasties of Pshiskhe, Kotsk, Izhbits, Warka and Ger
III. Decline, Renaissance, and Destruction (1881-1945)
20. Ger in Warsaw: Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter
21. Sokhachev and Ger
22. Tsadok ha-Kohen of Lublin
23. Munkatsh Hasidism
24. Toledot Aharon
25. Sholom Dov Ber Schneersohn
26. The Hasidic Yeshivah
27. Sarah Schenirer
28. Three Hasidic Memoirs: Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, Yitshak Nahum Twersky and Malka Shapiro
29. The Belzer Rebbe’s Sermon and Holocaust Testimonies
30. The Rebbe of Piaseczno
IV. Renewal and Reconstruction (1945–present)
31. Hasidic Theology and the Holocaust
32. Zionist Hasidism
33. Satmar Hasidism
34. The Seventh Rebbe of Habad
35. Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky
36. Slonim Hasidism in Jerusalem
37. Voices of Contemporary Hasidic Women
Index
Review Quotes
Don Seeman, Emory University
“The editors have done an extraordinary thing. Succinctly framed by recent scholarship, they have nevertheless allowed some of the most consequential thinkers in the history of Hasidism to speak for themselves. Their selection is impressive, the translations are always lucid and sometimes strikingly beautiful. Mayse and Shonkoff have demonstrated the sheer phenomenological range of this movement and, significantly, made more space for Hasidic women’s voices than any previous collection. This will be the indispensable volume for teaching and research at every level. It deserves all the praise I can heap on it.”
Naomi Seidman, author of Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement
“In this latest addition to the beloved Brandeis Library of Modern Jewish Thought, Mayse and Shonkoff address the distinctive modernity of Hasidic thought. In their inclusive vision, letters, memoirs, and responsa speak alongside homilies and works of theology. So, too, do they open the field of Hasidism to a strikingly diverse set of voices: women, neo-Hasidic thinkers, and ordinary Hasidim.”
Daniel Matt, author of the multi-volume, annotated translation, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition
“This dazzling collection will stimulate and enlighten its readers. In addition to displaying gems of famous Hasidic masters, the editors include women’s voices, memoirs, anti-Hasidic polemics, and theological responses to the Holocaust and the State of Israel. A superb resource for intellectual and spiritual exploration.”
TraditionOnline
"This source anthology spans Hasidic literature from the earliest generation of the mass spiritual movement through present-day writers, all occupied with a set of central questions. Principally: What is the relationship between God and the world and between God and humanity and the human individual? The final section is to be noted for its inclusion of more recent Hasidic women writers."
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