'My Visit to Tolstoy': Five Discourses

In this work, Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf talks about his experience in meeting the great Leo Tolstoy and being visibly impacted by his selfless motives. Krauskopf chances upon Tolstoy in a lucky encounter which was on a visit to Russia to present to the Czar a plan intending to alleviate, reduce, and eventually eradicate the horrible persecution of Jews. The experience leaves him affected beyond measure. It can be noticed in his own words, 'From the moment I first gazed upon him he held me captive, and by a strange psychic power, he has held me enthralled since.' Tolstoy's infallible fight to procure parity for the labor class and his tireless enthusiasm to rid them of their physical and mental anguish is the subject of most of this small book. The book also provides a quick peek into the thought processes that converted Tolstoy from a libertarian and world-famous author into an avowed reformer.