2nd Edition

The Legend of the Baal-Shem

By Martin Buber Copyright 2003
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    These twenty captivating stories about the founder of the Hasidic faith Israel ben Eliezer called the Baal-Shem or Master of God's Name, provide a profound and charming account of the genesis of Hasidism, still Judaism's most important religious movement. 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 an ideal introduction to Hasidic religious thought, and to Martin Buber's own influential philosophy of love and mutual human understanding.

    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.

    Biography

    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

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