Hillel Zeitlin's The Thirst, first published in Hebrew in 1910, is a mystical work of poetic prose, tracing a spiritual odyssey from existential despair and desolation to a renewed sense of the wonder and mystery of being.
Across six chapters, Zeitlin seeks, questions, despairs, and persists, writing from the tension between God-finding and God-losing, divine presence and divine absence.
Drawing together the thought of Nietzsche and Rebbe Naḥman of Bratslav, Zeitlin created a foundational work of modern Neo-Hasidism. His prose is lyrical, richly biblical, and charged with yearning for the nameless One.
Zeitlin (1871-1942) stood at the center of Jewish cultural, intellectual, and spiritual life in prewar Warsaw. A scholar, mystic, journalist, and poet, he wrote widely in Hebrew and Yiddish and helped introduce modern readers to Hasidic thought.
Nathan Wolski translates, annotates, and introduces the work, bringing to it his deep knowledge of Jewish mysticism and the Zohar. This bilingual volume also features artwork by Melbourne artist Tunni Kraus, whose images respond to Zeitlin's highly visual language.