Defender of the Faithful – The Life and Thought of Rabbi Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv

Arthur Green was founding dean and is recently retired as rector of the Rabbinical School and the Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Religion at Hebrew College. He is professor emeritus at Brandeis University, where he occupied the distinguished Philip W. Lown Professorship of Jewish Thought. His books include Tormented Master: A Life of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav; The Heart of the Matter: Studies in Jewish Mysticism and Theology; A New Hasidism: Branches; and Judaism for the World: Reflections on God, Life, and Love, for which he was awarded a National Jewish Book Award.

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Levi Yits?ak as Hasidic Leader1. The Life and Times of an Eighteenth-Century Rabbi2. Levi Yits?ak in the Maggid’s Circle: The Challenge of Leadership3. First Steps: The Evidence of Shemu‘ah Tovah4. The Hasidic Tsaddik and the Quest for Models5. The Mezritch Circle: A Later LookPart II: Mystic Disciple and Teacher6. Translating the Transcendent7. The Mystic and the Religious Revival8. The Question of Miracles9. An Emerging Religious Personality10. Power and Pleasure in Serving God11. Defending the Commandments12. Interpreting Torah13. Looking into the Future?Abbreviations Used in NotesBibliography

“Arthur Green, a modern master of Jewish thought, explores the life and thought of Rabbi Levi Yitsḥak, one of the towering, formative figures in early Hasidism. In Green’s lucid presentation, Levi Yitsḥak emerges as a mystic, but also a realist who faces the fact that we live in a world seemingly not guided by divine will. Boldly, Levi Yitshak claims that a righteous individual can actually implant a new will within God. A fascinating, profound book.”