Zalman Schacter-Shalomi & Netanel Miles-Yepez 
A Heart Afire 
Stories and Teachings of the Early Hasidic Masters

A Heart Afire is an intimate, guided tour of many of the lesser-known and previously unpublished stories and teachings of the first three generations of Hasidism, especially those of the Ba’al Shem Tov, his heirs (male and female) and the students of his successor, the Maggid of Mezritch.

Table of Content

Foreword by Arthur Green

A Note to the Reader

Introduction


Part I. THE HIDDEN TRADITION AND THE BA’AL SHEM TOV

1. The Hidden Light: The Ba’alei Shem and the Hidden Tzaddikim

2. A Heart Afire: The Revelation of the Ba’al Shem Tov

3. The Wheel of Fate and Fortune: Whispers of the Ba’al Shem Tov


Part II. THE CIRCLE OF THE BA’AL SHEM AND THE MAGGID OF MEZRITCH

4. The Knowledge of Fire: Adel Ashkenazi, the Daughter of the Ba’al Shem Tov

5. Awake in the Dark of Night: Pinhas of Koretz, the Silent Sage

6. A Bear in the Forest: Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezritch

7. The Thirteenth Gate: The Great Maggid and the Voice of the Shekinah


Part III. THE CIRCLE OF THE MAGGID AND THE REBBE KING

8. The Heavens of the Angel: The Lonely Path of Avraham the Malakh

9. Beggars and Kings: Elimelekh of Lizhensk and His Brother, Zushya of Anipol

10. The Kind’s Counsel: In the Court of the Rebbe Reb Melekh


Epilogue

Appendix: Tree of Life

Notes:

Glossary

Bibliography

About the Authors

How This Book was Written

Index

About the author

–Zalman Schacter-Shalomi was the founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement and one of the foremost authorities on Kabbalah and Hasidism. Professor emeritus of the psychology of religion and Jewish mysticism at Temple University and the World Wisdom Chair holder at Naropa

— Netanel Miles-Yépez is an artist and religious scholar. Born into a Mexican-American family, in his late teens, Miles-Yépez discovered his family’s hidden Jewish roots and began to explore Judaism and other religions seriously. He teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at Naropa .

–Arthur Green is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidism. He is a professor in the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston. He was president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1987–1993.