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The most powerful Hasidic teachings made accessible—from some of the world's preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality.
"The teachings of Torah, from beginning to end, are read here as a path toward liberation, a way of uplifting your soul and allowing it to journey homeward, back to its Source in the oneness of all being. Or, even better, to discover that oneness right here, in a loving but transformative embrace of both world and self."
—from "To the Reader"
While Hasidic tales have become widely known to modern audiences, the profound spiritual teachings that stand at the very heart of Hasidism have remained a closed book for all except scholars. This fascinating selection—presented in two volumes following the weekly Torah reading and the holiday cycle, and featured in English and Hebrew—makes the teachings accessible in an extraordinary way.
Volume 1 covers Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, and includes a history of early Hasidism and a summary of central religious teachings of the Maggid's school. Volume 2 covers Numbers and Deuteronomy and the holiday cycle, and includes brief biographies of the Hasidic figures. Each teaching is presented with a fresh translation and contemporary commentary that builds a bridge between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. And each teaching concludes with a dynamic round-table discussion between distinguished Jewish scholar Arthur Green and his closest students—the editors of this volume. They highlight the wisdom that is most meaningful for them, thus serving as a contemporary circle's reflections on the original mystical circle of master and disciples who created these teachings.
Volume 2 of a 2-volume set
The Jewish Chronicle—In their streimels and spodiks and long white socks, the Chasidim can seem a world apart. But they have left their mark on the wider Jewish community. The shift away from formal cantorial liturgy to sing-along melodies familiar to many synagogue-goers today owes a good deal to the Chasidic experience.
The early Chasidic masters also bequeathed a profound body of teachings, a way of reading the stories of the Torah as spiritual parables to cultivate inner devotion. This two-volume anthology, compiled by one of the great scholars of our times, Arthur Green, now opens the shutters on largely previously untranslated material.
Arranged according to the weekly Torah cycle, it presents a selection of excerpts from different sources for each sidrah, followed by a short discussion among Professor Green and fellow enthusiasts on how they might appeal to a modern mind; the Hebrew original is printed at the back.
The pioneers of Chasidism were ready to resort to creative wordplay to unlock fresh interpretations from the text. For example, the Ba'al Shem Tov, the movement's founder, gave an alternative explanation to the verse in the Yom Kippur haftarah "Do not turn away from your own flesh"—usually understood as a warning not to shun the poor—to mean that you should not repudiate your own physical needs.
Such bold readings entailed a rejection of asceticism and a belief that God could be worshipped through the body—a radical notion that put the Chasidim at odds with the intellectual elitism of their opponents.
Volume 2
Sefer Be-Midbar—The Book of Numbers 1
Be-Midbar 3
Naso 8
Be-Ha'alotekha 16
Shelah Lekha 23
Korah 32
Hukkat 38
Balak 49
Pinhas 57
Mattot 69
Massa'ey 75
Sefer Devarim—The Book of Deuteronomy 83
Devarim 85
Va-Ethanan 93
'Ekev 99
Re'eh 105
Shoftim 113
Ki Tetse 120
Ki Tavo 128
Nitsavim 132
Va-Yelekh 138
Ha'azinu 143
Ve-Zot ha-Berakhah 150
Shabbat and Holidays 157
Shabbat 159
Rosh Hodesh 168
Rosh Hashanah 171
Yom Kippur 179
Sukkot 185
Shemini ‘Atseret—Simhat Torah 190
Hanukkah 193
Shabbat Zakhor 200
Purim 203
Pesah 208
Shavu‘ot 215
Tish‘ah be-Av 224
Sources and Authors 229
Afterword 239
Hebrew Texts 422