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A Hasidic rabbi on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Rabbi Haskel Besser is a powerful and unique presence: a deeply religious man who is at home in the secular world. With an easy smile, Rabbi Besser spreads joy wherever he goes, enriching the lives of his many friends and congregants with his profound understanding of both Orthodox Judaism and human nature. Journalist Warren Kozak befriended Rabbi Besserin 1988 and writes with warmth and admiration about the rabbi's extraordinary life. Growing up in a Poland rich with Hasidic culture and the music, art, and literature of a vibrant Europe, Haskel Besser and his family lived a charmed life. With the first hints of the growing wave of anti-Semitism that would destroy their world, the rabbi and his family miraculously escaped to Palestine.