The conflict between Haskalah and hasidism was one of the most important forces in shaping the world of Polish Jewry for almost two centuries, but our understanding of it has long been dominated by theories based on stereotypes rather than detailed analysis. This text challenges the long-established theories about the conflict by contextualizing it, principally in the Kingdom of Poland but also with regard to other parts of eastern Europe. It follows the development of this conflict in its central arena and reconstructs the way the conflict expressed itself. The volume shows that it was primarily informed by non-ideological clashes at the level of local communities.