Rabbi Lamm Publishes New Book on Hasidism

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, President of Yeshiva University, recently authored a book entitled, "The Religious Thought of Hasidism," which was published in September to high praise in scholarly and literary circles. In eighteen chapters topically arranged and preceded by introductions, "Hasidism" includes almost four hundred selections from works of over thirty hasidic masters.

Among the topics surveyed in the book are G-d, faith, and providence; the love and fear of G-d; clinging to G-d, and worship; the study of Torah; and the place of the righteous in the religious and social world of the hasid. The book also covers the first three generations of hasidic masters, including the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Dov Ber, the Magid of Mezeritch, and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polennoye.

Rabbi Lamm notes in his preface that "This book has had an extraordinarily long period of gestation. It began in my childhood. My paternal grandfather, whom I knew but slightly, had been a follower of the Rebbe of Belz. My maternal grandfather, with whom I studied Talmud and whom I admired endlessly, was a 'hassidischer Rav,' an eminently scholarly rabbi of the classical mode who had profound ties with the hasidic giants of his generation, particularly those of the Sanzer dynasty. The atmosphere of my parents home was observant but not hasidic in practice, yet it was filled with the lore and love of hasidism."

Rabbi Lamm is the author of ten books and numerous magazine and journal articles, and is editor or co-editor of over twenty volumes.