Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer (A Jewish Lights Classic Reprint) [Paperback]

Arthur Green (Editor), Barry W. Holtz (Editor)

Book Description

Series: A Jewish Lights Classic Reprint | Publication Date: November 1993

The power of prayer for spiritual renewal and personal transformation is at the core of all religious traditions. Through the advice, parables, and explanations presented in this book, the Hasidic masters of the past speak to our own attempts to find meaning in prayer, and pierce to the heart of the modern reader s search for God.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Opens up some of the more accessible realms of the Jewish inner life.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (November 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879045257
• ISBN-13: 978-1879045255
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Hasidism
  • #22 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Prayerbooks

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hasidic Devotional Prayer for the Masses, May 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer (A Jewish Lights Classic Reprint) (Paperback)

I first read this volume in college, well over 20 years ago, and I was pleased to see it back in print, and in an attractive new format with a useful introduction. Most people think of Hasidim as ultra-Orthodox, incredibly strict people who wear funny old fashioned clothes and have bushy beards. This volume reveals to the general reader the ecstatic and contemplative nature of the devotional practices of the early Hasidic masters. The content of the book is gleaned from a number of volumes of "theoretical Hasidism" (to use Gershom Scholem's phrase), all of which are highly inaccessible to anyone not well versed in Hebrew and Yiddish, Bible, Midrash, Talmud and Kabbalah. While perhaps a deep understanding is not available to we other folk, this volume is a portal into a powerful world of mystical attachment to a very personal Lord of the Universe.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the Mystery of Prayer, November 16, 2002

By 

benjamin (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer (A Jewish Lights Classic Reprint) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful, wonderful reader in Hasidic perspectives on prayer. The book blossoms with deep insights into the spiritual dynamic between God and humans. Please consider the following:

"A father has a young child whom he greatly loves. Even though the child has hardly learned to speak, his father takes pleasure in listening to his words." (p. 102)

There is something both bold and humbling about and such a perspective on prayer. God is not only King, but Father as well. The Infinite One is both large and small, far and near.

Many of the different dynamics of prayer are explored in this work, each in its own section, and everything is referenced at the end of the book. The book opens with an academic essay that provides a good context for the Hasidic exploration of the vast sea of prayer, the experience of union with the Divine Presence (p. 80). As with most readers, any background knowledge of Hasidism is helpful, but at the same time not necessary to have in order to be touched by the wisdom of these mystics.

I think, though, that this book needs to be approached as an open door to the myster of prayer. Rather than just being read, it should be tested: to approach God as a child who is unable to speak is a humbling thing. To persist, nonetheless, and draw close to God as God draws us and pulls us close is to experience God's love. The reader of this book will have some far reaching light as s/he travels and progresses down the path of such prayer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Your Word is Fire - Is A Spiritural Retreat, November 15, 2003

By 

Ron Rogers (New York City, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer (Paperback)

The authors have managed to create in this small volume a source book of meditation. The words of the Hasidic Masters have carefully been selected in such a way that each page is a meditation.

I have had this book in my library for many years,and return to it over an over again for comfort and wisdom.