THE PILLAR OF PRAYER
Menachem Kallus
Fons Vitae Publisher, 2011
Menachem Kallus has provided us with some of the most important teachings of the founder of Hasidism in this book, which he describes as “Guidance in Contemplative Prayer, Sacred Study, and the Spiritual Life from the Baal Shem Tov and His Circle.” Kallus is himself both a scholar and a practicing rabbi who, in the words of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, “brings his sensitivity to the nuances of contemplative and ecstatic prayer and offers the spiritually inclined reader an entrance into the encounter with the Divine.” The teachings reveal the wisdom of Hasidism, which is not only an ecstatic mystical path but also a compelling rethinking of Judaism — a rethinking that gave birth to the current Jewish Renewal movement.