Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was descended from several illustrious Hasidic dynasties, wrote: “The Baal Shem Tov brought heaven to earth. He and his disciples, the Hasidim, banished melancholy from the soul and uncovered the ineffable delight of being a Jew.”

“Yitzhak Buxbaum’s book is the scripture that should have been written about the Baal Shem Tov two-hundred-and-fifty years ago, but wasn’t….No one who wants to draw from the wellsprings of Hasidism should be without this book. If you don’t have enough money to buy it, pawn your shoes and run to the bookstore barefoot.”