From Tiberias, with Love

Aubrey L. Glazer is Senior rabbi at Beth Abraham Synagogue (Dayton, Ohio) and director of Panui, an incubator for contemplative practice and conscious community building. Aubrey’s most recent books including: Mystical Vertigo (Academic Studies Press, 2013); Tangle of Matter & Ghost: Leonard Cohen’s Post-Secular Songbook of Mysticism(s) Jewish & Beyond (Academic Studies Press, 2017). Nehemia Polen is Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew College, Newton Center, MA. A leading expert in Hasidism and Jewish thought, his books include The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto (Jason Aronson Inc., first ed., 1977)

“Glazer and Polen have given us an important contribution to research in this volume. With masterful translations and meticulous annotations, they unlock the hidden heart of early Hasidism, revealing the poignant intimacy of the Iggrot exchanged between the pioneering Tiberian masters and their far-flung disciples. Imbricated with biblical and mystical verses, these epistles throb with a palpable yearning for connection, weaving an intricate tapestry of contemplation, ethics, and community. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the evolution of Hasidic thought and its formation during the first Hasidic generations, the role of the mystical group, and the complex negotiations between love and authority in the making of modern Jewish spirituality.” — Alexandra Mandelbaum“Scholars have often stumbled in trying to understand a religious movement as complex as Hasidism. This magnificent collection of articles by a new generation of superb scholars offers profound new ways of thinking about the nature of Jewish religiosity and developed by the Hasidic movement centered around Tiberias and the influence their ideas exerted.” — Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College"A truly ground-breaking study of Letters of Love written by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Abraham haCohen of Kalisk— Hasidic masters, who lived and thought boldly. Adventurous enough to lead a group of his followers from Eastern Europe to Palestine in the 18th century, he also modeled a heart-based, ecstatic form of Jewish spirituality. These masters combined intense devotional practice with mystical fellowship, exemplifying their belief that one can discover the divine both deep within oneself and through interpersonal relationship. The wide-ranging, impressive essays in this volume bring this seminal figure to life and enrich our understanding of Jewish mysticism on the cusp of modernity." —Daniel C. Matt, author of the multi-volume annotated translation, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition"Hasidism is often thought of as a product of Eastern European Jewry, embedded in its social, political, and cultural context. While largely true, this depiction ignores the fact that some early proponents of Hasidism immigrated in Palestine and began to teach and write in Safed, Tiberias, and other locales. Drawn simply by the prospect of living in the Holy Land, or by a vision of imminent redemption, these Hasidic circles offered intriguing versions of Hasidic teaching outside of Eastern Europe. This volume is the first dedicated to Erez Israel Hasidism from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Prominent scholars engage in in-depth analysis of this Hasidic literature on the highest scholarly level. This is a must for anyone interested in Hasidism or the development of Jewish spiritual traditions more generally." — Shaul Magid, Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College and Kogod senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America

• Dedicatory Preface: In Memoria: Professor Ada Rappaport-Albert, of Blessed Memory David AssafAcknowledgmentsA. Reader’s GuideLove (Un)interrupted: Imbrications as Interconnectivity in Letters of Love of the Iggrot QodeshAubrey L. GlazerThe Matter of the “Poor Folk” Who Joined the Hasidic Aliyah of 1777 Avraham Avish ShorThe Relationship of Hasidic Masters to the State and the Connection between the Bnei Aliyah to the Holy Land and the Division of Poland Avraham Avish ShorDoctrine of the Distant Tzaddiq—Mysticism, Ethics, and Politics Tsippi Kauffman The Measure of Truth: Hasidic Questions of Love and Integrity between the Diaspora and the Holy Land Eli RubinKarlin Hasidism in Its Diasporic period: 1786–1801 Avraham Avish Shor Love from Afar: Visualization in the Letters of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Avraham KaliskerLawrence FineBooks on Musar and Reverence, and the Ambivalence toward Physical Love: A Letter from Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk to the Holy Community of Beshankovichy Leore Sachs-Shmueli Spiritual Affinity: Mystical Friendships in the Galilee. Between Tiberian Hasidism and Galilеan Sufism Aubrey L. Glazer Afterword: Ethics and Community at the Heart of Jewish Modernity: The Stakes of Tiberian Hasidism Yehudah MirskyB. Letters of LoveTranslators’ Note Aubrey L. Glazer and Nehemia PolenAnnotated Translations Aubrey L. Glazer and Nehemia Polen