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Title: Tales of the Hasidim: Book One : The Early Masters and Book Two : The Later Masters/Two Books in One by Martin Buber ISBN: 0-8052-0995-6 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Khasiduth as metaphor
Comment: Martin Buber was one of the great humanists of the modern era and his extraction and retelling of a small part of the Hasidic corpus is a great poetic and ethical achievement. Readers should keep in mind, though, that in this book Buber was using traditional Ashkenazic pietism to represent a more cosmopolitan and higher reality. When he composed this book, there was every reason to believe that the Hasidim who survived the genocide perpetrated by National Socialism would fall prey to Communism or, more slowly, to secular education and one or another form of democracy. Hence sentimentality led Buber to transfigure Khasiduth into something as etherialized as Platonism or his ally Paul Tillich's Protestantism.
History has astonished us. Hasidic courts of one kind or another are common in America and Israel and may even be encountered in Europe. It is a reality, not just a historical memory.
This reality in its folkloric aspect may be found, at least for the Hebrewless reader, in Jerome Mintz' "Legends of the Hasidim : an introduction to Hasidic culture and oral tradition in the New World", published by the University of Chicago Press. Unlike Buber, Mintz is a professional folklorist and not only presents the tales in their veritable form but fully contextualizes them by informant, court, place and time, with other cultural information supplied as appropriate.
Readers of Mintz' book will experience Hasidic folklore in its present variety and become acquainted with the bigotry, ignorance, viciousness and pomposity found among the Hasidim just as they are in most living religions. Folklore, like religion, is not just a vehicle for a particular individual's view of the universe but an intimate part of some real sociology, lived by some real people in some real context. Mintz gives us a picture of Khasiduth which the great Buber in his goodness and humanity could not.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Classic that can be appreciated by both Jews and Non-Jews
Comment: Buber was one of the great religious thinkers of the 20th century. As for the historical accuracy of the work, I will leave it up to those better versed in such matters than myself to judge. However, it is an absolutely delightful and thought-provoking look at Buber's view of Hasids and their history. Students of mysticism, Judaiasm, or simply those looking for a variety of tales steeped in profound meaning, though often delivered with a light touch, will enjoy this work. It is one I often return to for contemplation and inspiration
Rating: 4
Summary: Surprisingly good.
Comment: I used to own this book over 20 years ago, and because I have been doing some work on chassidic stories based on those I have heard and read in primary sources, I purchased this work. I was surprised at how accurate the stories were, and how they have been close to the original. The only problem is that because of the age of the book, he translates many words that today are just transliterated with a glossary. For example, he uses 'son of the commandments' for 'bar mitzvah'. There are a number of cases where this problem of translation does effect the understanding of the story. However in general it is a good work.
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Title: The Legend of the Baal-Shem by Martin Buber ISBN: 0691043892 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 17 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Way of Man: According to the Teaching of Hasidism by Martin Buber ISBN: 0806500247 Publisher: Citadel Trade Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: I And Thou by Martin Buber ISBN: 0684717255 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1970 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Yiddish Folktales (Library of Yiddish Classics) by Beatrice Silverman Weinreich, Leonard Wolf, Yivo Institute for Jewish Research ISBN: 0805210903 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: SOULS ON FIRE by Elie Wiesel ISBN: 067144171X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 November, 1982 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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