Description
Book SynopsisThe last hasidic rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto explores many facets of spiritual growth and character development.
Trade ReviewAt last! The great chasidic education guidebook, Chovat HaTalmidim, translated into clear and accessible English. This work, by the famed chasidic master Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, has been called a gateway to the palace of Chasidism. It is filled with practical advice and concrete suggestions on developing one's spiritual potential, impoving one's character, and sensitizing oneself to the holiness present in one's own soul. Reading this book is like being in the presence of a true master, a wise and benevolent spiritual guide who has taken a personal interest in one's spiritual growth and destiny and who reaches out to touch one's soul with joy and sweetness. -- Rabbi Nehemia Polen, author of The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto
This remarkable book, the only of Rabbi Shapira's works to be published during his lifetime, has been required reading among a significant portion of yeshiva students and their parents ever since it was first published in Poland in 1932. It is, on the surface, a book of practical advice given by a rebbe to a serious, motivated student on how to achieve true success in life—how to learn well; how to be a truly decent, God-fearing individual; how to overcome one's weaknesses; and how to build one's strengths. But, more deeply, it is a guidebook to an extraordinary spiritual adventure, aimed at making each and every person who reads it truly aware of their own extraordinary worth and potential in the realm of the transcendent and the sublime. * Wellsprings *
Table of ContentsForeword: Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto by Aharon Sorasky Part I: Revealing the Soul and Training the Student in the Ways of Chasidut Author's Introduction: A Discussion with Teachers and Parents Chapter 1: A Call to the Student Chapter 2: First Steps in the Student's Development Chapter 3: Principal Ills of the Soul and Their Cures Chapter 4: Laziness and Its Cure Chapter 5: Some Specific Advice for the Lazy Chapter 6: The Ill of Egotism Chapter 7: The Ill of False Humility and Its Cure Chapter 8: The Importance of Spiritual and Character Growth Chapter 9: Advice for Growth and Self-Improvement Chapter 10: To Transform Bad Character into Light Chapter 11: Consistent Work, Consistent Searching, and Exalted Attitude Chapter 12: Some Thoughts on Chasidism and How to Connect to Torah through it Chapter 13: Do Not Delay Chapter 14: Instructions and Admonishments Part II: Three Essays for Senior Students and Young Married Scholars Introduction Essay 1: How to Study Chasidic Texts Essay 2: Torah, Prayer, and Singing to God Essay 3: The Holy Shabbat
