In the mid-18th century, in what is now Ukraine, the movement known as Hasidism was born. Centered around the charismatic figure of Reb Israel Baal Shem Tov, Hasidism began with the foundational belief that divinity permeates all aspects of existence. This insight sparked a spiritual revolution that quickly spread across Eastern Europe, profoundly transforming the social, cultural, and religious landscape of European Jewry.

           Despite historical divisions among its various courts, Hasidism’s spiritual vitality endured through the devastation of the Holocaust and continues to thrive today across the globe. One reason for its enduring relevance lies in a distinctive feature of Hasidic philosophy: its ability to draw upon the full spectrum of Jewish sources and reinterpret them with a phenomenological sensibility. Especially within the tradition of Chabad thought, the self is viewed as a spark of the divine—a perspective that recasts the individual as a lens through which one can reimagine the relationship between the human, the Divine, and the cosmos. This philosophy not only offers profound conceptual tools but also practical frameworks for integrating such insights into lived experience, reshaping our understanding of selfhood and spiritual purpose.

            The aim of our project is to open the doors of this rich and often overlooked world of Hasidic thought to the modern individual. We seek to create a pathway that invites people to critically examine the foundations of their thinking—offering a sense of unified purpose without dismissing the very questions that give life its meaning.

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