Farbrengen

Over the years, Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz held farbrengens – gatherings held for the purpose of spiritual elevation – that marked special occasions in the calendar. Such gatherings were opportunities to eat together, drink lehayim together, sing together, and talk about serving God. In this book, we find a collection of ideas that Rabbi Steinsaltz discussed at these gatherings with his students and others who came to be elevated by the experience. Through the texts presented here, the reader is invited to participate vicariously in a hasidic gathering with Rabbi Steinsaltz: to encounter his teachings in a direct and personal manner and to allow them to resonate, influencing one’s inner life and daily conduct. Employing a style at once lucid, evocative, and graceful, Rabbi Steinsaltz accurately depicts hasidic masters who are both celebrated and commemorated, bringing to the fore their struggles and achievements and, more importantly, their life lessons. Through the lens of these teachings, he strips away layers of indifference and reawakens the hasidic demand for a life of truth, devotion, and attachment to the Divine. Among the farbrengens collected here, a subtle and often narrow path emerges – one along which the contemporary Jew may ascend, eschewing complacency with what has been attained, continually striving for spiritual growth and ascent.