The Legend of the Baal-Shem

ISBN-13: 9780415282659 / Angielski / Miękka / 2002 / 224 str.

Martin Buber

Opis

These 20 stories about the founder of the Hasidic faith, Israel ben Eliezer, called the Baal-Shem or Master of God's Name, provide an account of the genesis of Hasidism, still Judaism's most important religious movement. Prefaced by an explanation of the life and principles of the Hasidim, tales such as The Werewolf, and The Heavenly Journey tell of the Baal-Shem's life in early 18th-century Podolia and Wolhynia, and of the birth of his revelatory faith, founded on active love, joy and private longing for God. Initially scorned by the Rabbinical establishment, the Baal-Shem's intense piety and fierce spiritual honesty ultimately made him a figure of devotion amongst commoners, peasants and visionaries. As a delicate and moving portrayal not only of the power of the Baal-Shem's mystical faith, but also of Eastern European Jewish daily life, The Legend of the Baal-Shem is a useful introduction to Hasidic religious thought, and to Martin Buber's own influential philosophy of love and mutual human understanding.

Recenzje

'Like no other living author, Buber has enriched world literature with a genuine treasure.' - Hermann Hesse

Spis treści

Foreword: Introduction: The Life of the Hasidim; The Werewolf; The Prince of Fire; The Revelation; The Martyrs and the Revenge; The Heavenly Journey; Jerusalem; Saul and David; The Prayer-Book; The Judgement; The Forgotten Story; The Soul Which Descended; The Psalm-Singer; The Disturbed Sabbath; The Conversion; The Return; From Strength to Strength; The Threefold Laugh; The Language of the Birds; The Call; The Shepherd; Glossary.

O autorze

Martin Buber (1878-1965) has been described as the greatest religious thinker of the twentieth century, and was as influential to Christian theology as to Jewish philosophy. A prolific commentator on topics as diverse as art, sociology, education and religious philosophy, and was the author of I and Thou, The Way of Man and Good and Evil