In 1967, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach established the House of Love and Prayer, an outreach center for Jewish spiritual seekers located in San Francisco. One of its activities was the publication of The Holy Beggars' Gazette, a gathering of Jewish wisdom authored by Reb Shlomo and others. This book brings together the contents of The Holy Beggars' Gazette, and is presented chronologically from its beginnings in 1972 until it ceased publication in 1979.

The Holy Beggars' Gazette was "60s casual," writes Kalman Serkez, the editor of this volume. "It was an informal publication filled with spot drawings and designs that reflected the freewheeling mood of the time." As Elie Wiesel has written, "With his unique combination of talents, genius, charisma, warmth, idealism, sensitivity, and unconditional love, Shlomo Carlebach was a man made for his mission. Few in recent Jewish history have sacrificed and achieved so much for the Jewish people. He died almost penniless, a Holy Beggar who gave all the money he had to tzadakkah (charity)."