Four Hasidic Masters and their Struggle against Melancholy

by Elie Wiesel, Theodore M. Hesburgh (Foreword)

Portrays four charismatic leaders of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Hasidic movement in Eastern Europe.

Genres: Judaism, Religion

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
In his political activities Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He also advocated for many other causes like the state of Israel and against Hamas and victims of oppression including Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian genocide, Sudan, the Kurds and the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos or Nicaragua's Miskito people.
He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel was awarded various prestigious awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.

Reviews

[Frieda Vizel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book of legends of Hasidic rebbes without basis in reality and lots of reinterpreting to fit the author’s objective to inspire through these stories. Had Wiesel not taken these legends so literally perhaps we could have taken them in gist of Hasidic stories (maisos). As it is, the result is a pretty silly book.

[Jan Frans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nederlands: vuur in de duisternis. Prachtige portretten uit de chassidische wereld

[Daniel Berman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of these stories is my favorite short story or fable of all time.