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There is a matter well known and widely publicized among all those who have come through the gates of our city, Constantinople [Istanbul], may God preserve it. . . . [I]t occurred about two years…
Upon you, great ones, the rebbes of the Hasidim, who follow the path of the Ba‘al Shem Tov, and of whose glorious name they boast and by…
And after the rabbi [Joseph Karo] went to Safed he studied in the study house of the rabbi, our master, Jacob Berab, and became a disciple of our master R. Berab, as is written in several places. The…
The Birth of the Ba‘al Shem Tov
One of the greatest phenomena, running like a thread throughout the spiritual history of the Jewish people, is mysticism, a remnant of ancient mythology, which could…
The yearning to modernize the yeshiva and give it the appearance of a seminary grew considerably in the hearts of our scholars; but, regretfully, they used whatever filth…
When the heads of the holy nation were assembled together—the holy communities here in the village of Magnesia—and they saw that the power of the testimony was dissipated and there was none remaining…
I stayed a long time in Hanau because of the heavy burden laid upon me from teaching youth. Although this is a labor performed for the sake of Heaven, it is nonetheless the case that whoever pleases…
The new Rabbi pleased everybody, because he was beyond all doubt a righteous man. I was then a boy of twelve. My father received two letters from Rabbi Yukel on the subject of a good match for me in…
Besides these, there are students of outstanding ability in their Torah study seated constantly in his presence—they are swifter than eagles and mightier than lions, each…
In 1735, Eleazar ben Samuel arrived in Amsterdam to take up the post of chief rabbi of the Ashkenazic community. To mark the occasion, Joel ben Lippman Levi minted a medal. On the front of the medal…
