Hasidic Spirituality for a New Era

Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) was the leading neo-Hasidic thinker in interwar Poland. He retooled classic concepts of the Jewish mystical tradition to shape a Judaism that would appeal to a new generation of Jews in the early twentieth century, liberated from the bonds of traditional society but seeking a profound, open-minded, and universalistic version of Jewish teachings. His work complements that of his contemporary, Martin Buber. While Buber looked primarily to the Hasidic tales for inspiration, Zeitlin offered a version of Hasidic theology addressed to seekers who lived outside the Hasidic community. Largely neglected in the postwar era, Zeitlin's writings will have much to say both to contemporary Jews in search of ways to reembrace mystical teachings as a part of their tradition and to Christians interested in modern expressions of classic mystic truths that reach across all conventional borders. Zeitlin was martyred in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. This is the first time his works have been translated into English.