Dedication

pp v-vi

Preface to the Paperback Edition

pp vii-viii

Preface to the First Edition

pp ix-x

Contents

pp xi-xi

Note to the Reader

pp xii-xii

Introduction to the Paperback Edition

pp xiii-lxii

Introduction

pp 1-8

PART I - CONTEXT

pp 9-10

1 - Ba'al Shem Tov

pp 11-26

2 - Hasidism before Hasidism

pp 27-41

3 - A Country in Decline?

pp 42-62

4 - Miȩdzybóż: A Place in Time and Space

pp 63-82

5 - The Contentions of Life

pp 83-94

PART II - TEXTS

pp 95-96

6 - The Holy Epistle

pp 97-113

7 - More Besht Correspondence

pp 114-126

8 - Testimonies

pp 127-142

9 - Life Stories

pp 143-158

10 - Light from the Archives

pp 159-170

PART III - IMAGES

pp 171-172

11 - A Person of His Time

pp 173-186

12 - From the Historical Besht to the Usable Besht: The Image of the Ba'al Shem Tov in Early Habad

pp 187-212

Notes

pp 213-278

Bibliography

pp 279-296

Index

pp 297-306