The Life of the Hasidim

Martin Buber (1878–1965), one of the most prominent 20th century Jewish thinkers and the author of many extensive philosophical and theological works has been cherished among book lovers especially due to his popularisation of the Hasidic legends and stories. Buber wrote the four essays comprised in this thin volume around the year 1907 as a preface to The Legend of the Baal-Shem, a book in which he outlines the rich and profound Hasidic tradition for the first time. The Life of Hasidim is Buber’s theoretical introduction encompassed in four fundamental concepts of the Hasidic mysticism followed by the interpretation of Baal-Shem’s life that appears also in Buber’s later works. He soon abandoned the method which he used in the Legend in the favour of a different mode of expression which reached its peak in the Tales of Hasidim. This edition contains the four original essays of The Legend of Baal-Shem plus a 1917’s additional essay “My way to Hasidism”.