Customer Reviews

A Heart Afire: Stories and Teachings of the Early Hasidic Masters

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This long book (400+ pages) by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Netanel Miles-Yepez contains teachings from the first three generations of the Hasidic movement; especially the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezritch, and Elimelekh of Lizhensk.

But the book is much more than this as these teachings serve as a platform for the authors, especially Reb Zalman, to offer their own teachings from a modern Hasidic perspective, that of Jewish Renewal.

Although the book contains technical language from the early Hasidic literature and the Kaballah, the concepts are explained clearly and should be accessible to anyone with even a minimal background in Judaism. But there are also teachings of profound depth for those with an extensive background in these matters.

Early Hasidic masters were known for their ability to teach so that each student thought the rabbi was talking exclusively to him. This book achieves the more difficult task of doing this in a written form. I had the strange sense that certain sections of the book were written entirely for my benefit as they spoke exactly to my current concerns and problems.

An accessible and amazing book that should be in all Jewish libraries and read by anyone interested in Hasidism. Highly recommended.

The Hasidic tradition within Judaism is a rich and complex one. In "A Heart Afire: Stories And Teachings Of The Early Hasidic Masters", Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (Reb Zalman, the father of the neo-Hasidic Jewish Renewal movement) and Netanel Miles-Yepez (co-founder of the Sufi-Hasidic Inayati-Maimuni Tariqat, which is the only Jewish order of Sufis in the world) present a 406-page compendium of teachings, stories, and commentaries by early Hasidic masters which they have translated and enhanced with additional commentary. Accessibly organized into three major sections (The Hidden Tradition and the Ba'al Shem Tov; The Circle of the Ba'al Shem and the Maggid of Mezritch; and The Circle of the Maggid and The Rebbe King). Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "A Heart Afire" is enriched w3ith an appendix, extensive notes, a glossary, a bibliography, an index, background information on the authors, and an explanation of how this book was written. "A Heart Afire" is a welcome and very highly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Judaic Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.