A New Hasidism

Neo-Hasidism applies the Hasidic masters' spiritual insights--of God's presence everywhere of seeking the magnificent within the everyday in doing all things with love and joy uplifting all of life to become a vehicle of God's service--to contemporary Judaism as practiced by men and women who do not live within the strictly bounded world of the Hasidic community. <p/> This first-ever anthology of Neo-Hasidic philosophy brings together the writings of its progenitors: five great twentieth-century European and American Jewish thinkers--Hillel Zeitlin Martin Buber Abraham Joshua Heschel Shlomo Carlebach and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi--plus a young Arthur Green. The thinkers reflect on the inner life of the individual and their dreams of creating a Neo-Hasidic spiritual community. The editors' introductions and notes analyze each thinker's contributions to Neo-Hasidic thought and influence on the movement. Zeitlin and Buber initiated a renewal of Hasidism for the modern world; Heschel's work is quietly infused with Neo-Hasidic thought; Carlebach and Schachter-Shalomi re-created Neo-Hasidism for American Jews in the 1960s; and Green is the first American-born Jewish thinker fully identified with the movement. <p/> Previously unpublished materials by Carlebach and Schachter-Shalomi include an interview with Schachter-Shalomi about his decision to leave Chabad-Lubavitch and embark on his own Neo-Hasidic path.