Nine Gates The Chassidic Mysteries

In 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War, a19-year-old Czech Jew named Jiri Langer left his assimilated family to live inthe remote village of Belz, Galicia (now Ukraine). He had gone to live underthe Chassidic (or Hasidic) Rokeach dynasty, a line of Rabbis that survives tothis day. Nine Gates is the record of Langer''s time amongst theseisolated Chassidic mystics of Eastern Galicia, and a window into their world.Langer tells of their enthusiasm, their simple faith, their ecstasies, theirausterities, their feasts, their wonder-working Holy Rabbis and their esotericwisdom. Most of all, he recounts a collection of shrewd and earthy folk talestold by the holy men who ruled these little spiritual kingdoms for generationafter generation.Over 80 years since its original publication in Czech, thistranslation by Stephen Jolly remains the definitive English version of thistowering work of Jewish introspection. Nine Gates is a document fromanother time and place, and yet it captures the same spirit of religiouslonging and exploration that attracts a growing number of seekers today.