Orot, Inc. together with Ramhal Institute, Jerusalem, just released this new work by Bezalel Naor, Shod Melakhim, a collection of studies in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. 176 pages. Hebrew. Contains tribute to Rabbi Joshua Hoffman zt”l.
Available from Orot, Inc. (USA) or Ramhal Institute (Israel).
Orot, Inc. together with Ramhal Institute, Jerusalem, just released this new work by Bezalel Naor, Shod Melakhim, a collection of studies in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. 176 pages. Hebrew. Contains tribute to Rabbi Joshua Hoffman zt”l.
Available from Orot, Inc. (USA) or Ramhal Institute (Israel).
Mahol la-Tsaddikim/Dance Circle for the Righteous explores the divine design in the creation of the universe. Although Maimonides (Guide of the Perplexed) shied away from this conversation, deeming the question illegitimate, the Kabbalists produced not one, but two responses to the question: a philosophic approach which centers on God’s ultimate goodness (Luzzatto), and a mythic approach which pivots on God’s “self-actualization,” as it were (Zohar, Luria). The departure point of our book is a fundamental mahloket or controversy between Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto (Ramhal), on the one hand, and Rabbi Pinhas Elijah Hurwitz (Sefer ha-Berit) and the great Habad thinker Rabbi Eizik of Homel, on the other.
Exploring the Lost Art of Jewish Dream Interpretation
Joseph
Daniel
Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
Rabbi Hayyim Beliach
Rabbi Elijah Eliezer Dessler
What do all these men have in common? Each participated in an ongoing dialogue concerning the validity of dreams. This book offers the reader rare sources such as Rabbi Hayyim Beliach’s essay Petiha le-Mar’ot ha-Nevu’ah (Introduction to Prophetic Visions). It also makes available for the first time in English translation Rav Kook’s commentary to Perek ha-Ro’eh (The Chapter of the Seer). Finally, familiar Bible stories are given a fresh appraisal. All in all, a valuable contribution to the perennial wisdom of dream analysis.
“Inyanah shel ha-Hasidut” (“The Matter of Hasidism”)
by Rabbi Bezalel Naor
In this groundbreaking essay, the author presents Beshtian or East European Hasidism as an attempt to reintroduce the charismatic or prophetic dimension to Jewish life. The optic is very much that of Rav Kook, although the author’s perspective is also influenced by the historiography of Rav Kook’s fellow kabbalist, Rabbi Pinhas Hakohen Lintop of Birzh, Lithuania. The reader will also note some common ground shared with Rabbi Kalonymos Kalmish Shapira of Piaseczna (known as the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto). The departure point for the entire discussion is a pithy remark by Rabbi Shelomo Zalman Schneerson, Rebbe of Kopyst, at the Simhat Beit ha-Sho’evah, Sukkot of 1890. (Rav Kook’s maternal grandfather was a Kopyster Hasid.)
The endnotes contain fascinating discussions:
Did Hasidism intend prophecy for the masses?
How the Vilna Gaon democratized ru’ah ha-kodesh (divine inspiration).
What was the mystical practice of the Ba‘al Shem Tov?
The clairvoyance of the Mezritcher Maggid.
Hasidism, Romanticism and the Enlightenment.
Rabbi Isaac Hutner’s allusion to the Letters of Rav Kook.
Clarification of Maimonides’ position on Prophecy and Halakhah.
The relation of the Kotzker Rebbe to the Vilna Gaon.
Selected readings from Eyn Ayah, Rav Kook’s commentary to Eyn Yaakov Legends of the Talmud, (1995)
Introduction and Translation by Bezalel Naor 147 pp. Hardcover $17.50
The Perfect Society the ancient ceremony of bringing the first-fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem – pageantry in a utopian key.
The Imperfect Society Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai’s thirteen years hiding in a cave – a reflection of his grappling with Roman rule and with the human condition.
“This work dealing with Rav Kook’s view of the cosmic purpose of the individual Jew and of his general Jewish society, is an outstanding vision of greatness, hope and challenge. Rabbi Naor is to be thanked for exposing the English-reading Jewish public to this masterpiece. No one who reads this book can help but be touched by its nobility and passion.” —Rabbi Berel Wein
“Whoever reads this book will find therein precious pearls”– Rabbi Aharon Soloveichik zt”l