Following the death of R. Dov Ber, the Maggid of Międzyrzecz, in 1772, the late eighteenth century witnessed the differentiation of the growing hasidic com - munity into a variety of geographically based schools and branches in which its teachings were adapted to new social settings. During this period, central Poland was transformed into a major centre of hasidic life and creativity. In their introduction,the editors of Tsadikim ve'anshei ma'aseh: Meḥkarim beḥasidut Polin (Hasidism in Poland) note that from its onset Polish hasidism developed its own distinctive characteristics. Brought to Poland by the students of the Maggid, within a generation hasidism was transformed from an extended circle of elite contemplatives into a broadly based spiritual and social movement, gathering within its purview adherents from all strata of society and educational backgrounds. This expansion necessitated the creation of new modalities of religious leadership and forms of interaction between the master and his followers. Where Shneur Zalman of Lyady formulated an ethico-contemplative discipline accessible to the majority of his adherents, the Galician–Polish model developed by Elimelekh of Leżajsk and Jacob Halevi Horowitz, the Seer of Lublin, propounded the centrality of the tsadik, or charismatic spiritual master. The tsadik was conceived as the terrestrial locus of divine–human interaction, a living conduit of celestial energy binding the hasid to God through his very being. As the group of tsadikim coalesced into a powerful socio-political institution, its members cultivated intricate relationships with the indigenous noble families who retained considerable influence in post-partition Poland and developed the intricate inter - cessionary skills requisite to dealing with its varied governments. Furthermore, the continuing urbanization of Polish society and its Jewish community in the nineteenth century brought tsadikim as a group into increasing confrontation with such forces of Jewish modernization as the Haskalah and then Zionism (pp. 9‒10).

While rigorous scholarly analysis has been devoted to the issue of hasidism's origins and the mystical theology of its creators, the history and unique spiritual milieu of Polish hasidism has been largely neglected. In Hasidism in Poland Israel Bartal, Rachel Elior, and Chone Shmeruk have begun to fill this gap, providing the reader with an extensive anthology of fifteen essays tracing selected aspects of the history, religious thought, and literary dimensions of Polish hasidism from its beginnings until the period between the two world wars.