Nine Gates to the Chassidic Mysteries

by Jiří Langer

A wonderful collection of Chassidic tales from central Europe.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Judaica, History, Religion, Nonfiction

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

Reviews

[nomeacaso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grazie a Calasso per questa gemma; è stato bello prenderne un pezzettino ogni sera, un'esperienza con il mio dio alla mia destra: cosa devi insegnarmi oggi?

[Geoffrey Mandiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jiří Langer prostě není jako ti druzí. Zatímco jeho brácha byl slavnej a oblíbenej a všichni se o něm učili, Jiří Langer se sbalil a jel do Belzu mezi chasidy. A tu židovskou duši pak vdechl do Devíti bran.

[Eva Hnizdo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. I am, like the Langer's family from a secuar Prague Jewish environment . Many mixed marriages, no religion, Jewish identity less strong than being Czech.
But this portrait of that exotic part of Judaism is marvellous and very interesting.

[Bianca 🍥 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Dudu Kadouri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just an unbelievable book. I picked it up by chance from my uncle's house, and I had to beg him to let me keep it.

Jiri Langer, the son of a non-religious family in what was the "enlightened" Kafka-type godless Czech jewry, decided to go on a trip to the great hearts of Hassidus in Eastern Europe.

What followed is a compilation of old Hassidic stories; mainly the masterful feats and parables of certain rabbis and tzadiks from various shtetels throughout what would become occupied Europe. It is not a self-serving or unabashedly positive book - this book is a historiographer's experience traveling through, and the stories that would define, these villages.

If anyone knows any more books like Nine Gates, please message me, as this is, from my experience, one of a kind.

[T J · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like stories, stories, stories, and if you're at all interested in Judaism, Chassidic history, or Kafka, you might like Langer's work. I'm still trying to read a couple of history books about Hasids in the 19th c., but I whipped through Langer's interesting, funny, stories in the meantime. I looked up this book on a whim, as Langer was one of Kafka's buddies in Prague.