Why did Martin Buber begin studying Hasidism?

Martin Buber began his study of Hasidism following his marriage in 1901 to Paula Winckler.1

He viewed this 18th-century eastern European pietistic movement as a source of healing for the malaise affecting both Judaism and humanity during an age of alienation. Buber believed that modern society had severely damaged three vital human relationships: those between man and God, man and man, and man and nature. He maintained that early Hasidism successfully restored these connections through the "encounter"—a mutual, responsive relationship—and he argued that Zionism should follow this example to address the spiritual crises of his time.1