Over the next two years the magazine ran all 15 of the original stories that were eventually published in 1937 as The Education of Hyman Kaplan.

    They aim at the elucidation of the Text and the exposition of the spiritual and ethical teachings of the Torah. A vast literature has been sifted, apart from the standard Jewish and non-Jewish commentaries and illuminating extracts which are included in the notes.While reproducing all the advantages that made the original edition successful, the Soncino edition incorporates two new and interesting features which greatly enhance its value and utility. In place of the Revised Version which was originally adopted as the Translation, the American Jewish Version has been substituted. This translation has been universally accepted as conforming more faithfully to traditional Jewish interpretation. Secondly, the work has been carefully planned so as to occupy a single volume only in place of the original five.This copyright Edition, published under the authority of the Trustees of the late Dr J H Hertz, accordingly presents in one light and compact volume over 1,000 comprehensive pages of Hebrew Text, English Translation and Illuminating Notes".

    His destination was Belz, one of the many small villages, towns, hamlets, and cities where Chasidism lived almost untouched by the modern world. After a time, he returned to the city of Prague and to his assimilated family, yet continued to wear traditional chasidic garb and lead a religiously observant life. As his older brother, the playwright Frantisek Langer, writes, "My brother had not come back from Belz, to home and civilization; he had brought Belz with him." Part autobiography, part anthology of tales and anecdotes, Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries is Jiri Langer's lyrical, exquisitely written memoir and exploration of the world of mystical faith that he encountered during his experiences among the chasidim of eastern Galicia. A remarkable piece of self-revelation and self-analysis, Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries was almost instantly praised as a literary masterpiece upon its publication in 1937. Eighteen months after it was published, it was banned by the Nazis, who had occupied the region and labeled the book a monstrosity of art, copies being confiscated as a result of house-to-house searches. Yet, this exceptional example of spiritual autobiography continues to live, having since been translated into several languages, including Italian and German. Part of the special quality of Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries is that despite its being deeply rooted in the world of mystical Judaism, the sketches of chasidic life and the folktales that Langer learned during his life among the chasidim are written for the reader who is not familiar with the esoteric theology of Kabbalah. As the author's brother remarks in his insightful and revealing foreword to the book, "Their purpose was to tell . . . something differe