Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters
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Early in the eighteenth century the legendary holy man and teacher Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov launched a spiritual movement in Eastern Europe known as Hasidism. The Hasidic movement thrived on parables and stories promulgating joy, the potential for personal transformation, aspirations of the Divine, and the infusion of daily life with music, dancing, and loving exultation— and there is no Jewish institution today that has not been affected by Hasidism. Since the time of the Ba'al Shem Tov, generations of disciples, holy men, gurus, rabbis, and teachers have spread the Hasidic movement throughout the world. Now this book presents in one volume a collection of profound insights from the greatest Hasidic masters. Wrapped in a Holy Flame offers rare stories, new translations, and an innovative introduction to the meaning and value of these classic tales and teachings. It features the work of Hasidic masters of legendary fame and influence, including the Maggid of Mezritch, Reb Pinchas of Koretz, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, all the way to the twentieth century Rebbe and artist Reb Shlomo Carlebach. The author has studied and taught Hasidic stories and teachings for over fifty years. This book contains a lifetime of experience and will stand for years to come as the basic, definitive work in the field. Publishers Weekly Shalomi sets himself a difficult assignment with this book: to get to the heart of Hasidic inner life and spirituality. While he lauds both Gershom Scholem and Martin Buber for bringing Hasidism to the consciousness of modern readers, he thinks they did not venture far enough because neither participated in the vibrant musical and ritual life of the Hasidim, as he has. Hasidism, he writes, cannot be assessed by reference to texts alone, since it has always valued ecstatic experience over knowledge. The book, which contains lectures Shalomi delivered to audiences at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo., is unevenly successful. The opening essay is dry and academic, but the book picks up steam from there. Shalomi includes stories from many different Hasidic masters, including Reb Nachman, the Ba'al Shem Tov and seven generations of Chabad rebbes (including Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last Lubavitcher rebbe, who died in 1994 and was one of Shalomi's teachers). The book is best when Shalomi personally engages with the texts, using the stories and teachings as catalysts to discuss key issues in Jewish spirituality. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
AcknowledgmentsviiAuthor's PrefaceixEditor's PrefacexiNote to the ReaderxiiiA Renaissance of Piety: The Teachings of Hasidism and the Shifting Paradigm1A Hidden Fire Revealed: The Ba'al Shem Tov27The Teachers of the Aha! The Maggid of Mezritch and Reb Pinchas of Koretz45The Ascetic Saint: Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk55The Passionate Defender: Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev61Heaven Is Here! Reb Moshe Leib of Sassov71Dancing from the Infirmary: The Maggid of Koznitz79A Guide for the Exceptional Average: Seven Generations of Chabad Rebbes89Between Perfection and Evil105Soul Matters117Attributes and Garments of the Soul129The Victory of the Rational Soul143The Duality of Good and Evil149Woman and the Divine Feminine161Fear and Love165Annihilation of Existence and Brokenheartedness171The End of the Journey181The Word That Creates: Sha'ar HaYichud VeHaEmunah and the Rest of the Tanya185Radical Hasidism and the Challenge of Changing Paradigms201Dreamer of Archetypes: Reb Nachman of Bratzlav205Who Walks on the Edge of the Sword: Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotzk245Deployed by God: Reb Mordecai Yosef of Ishbitz251A Latter-Day Saint: Reb Arele Roth263Loving the Land and Its People Is Loving God: Reb Abraham Isaac Kook271Yea, Though I Walk Through the Shadow of Death: Reb Kalonymous Kalmisch of Piasetzna275The Mystic Proletarian: Reb Hillel Zeitlin279The Master of Virtuous Reality: Reb Shlomo Carlebach287Precocious Mystical Feminism: Reb Channah Rochel of Ludmir297Notes307Glossary327Biographies333Index335
