In 1913, at the age of nineteen, Jiri Langer, a Czech Jew from a Europeanized Jewish household, journeyed to the region of Eastern Europe once known as Galicia, deciding to immerse himself in the timeless spiritual world of Chasidism. 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...