Talmud Torah, Musar, Kabbalah and Hasidut.

[Anonymous]

#11598

The wonderful translations and books on Jewish mysticism and the Jewish practices of meditation and contemplation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan have paved the way for this renewed interest in Jewish mysticism. This has drawn Jews and Judaism even closer towards Catholicism which is also experiencing a renewed interest in mysticism and meditative and contemplative prayer. Rebbe Nachman’s mystical teachings on Hitbodedut (the Jewish Holy Hour of Prayer) are finding resonance outside the bounds of the Breslov movement.

Orthodox Judaism is not uniform and monolithic but has a rich diversity of groups and organisations which combine the different strands of Jewish thought in interesting mixes. When I lived in Israel I studied at Aish ha Torah Yeshivah (which faces the Western or Wailing Wall (the Kotel)), that mixes aspects of the Litvisher world with aspects of Hasidism. Rabbi Noah Weinberg the founder of Aish ha Torah (Fire of Torah) was himself the product of the Lithuanian academies (Litvak Yeshivot) and a grandson of the Black Slonimer Hasidic Rebbe Avraham Weinberg. Here and elsewhere I studied Kabbalah with Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser an Aish ha Torah trained Rabbi who became a Karliner Hasid. Rabbi Glaser is also into extreme sports and surfing.[11] Recently Menachem Herman a Breslov Hasid who is a famous Jewish rock musician joined the seminarians from Aish ha Torah to produce a song for Rosh ha Shana.[12]

Many people side-line Haredi and Hasidic forms of Judaism by dismissing them as ultra-orthodox. However, these groups are growing and they are reaching out to the younger generations in a way that Catholics could learn much from them. Their use of contemporary music forms and dancing united to Hasidic style music and dancing is attractive to many. The simplicity and joy of the Breslov Hasidim as shown in the Israeli movie “Ushpizin” was also attractive to many people both Jewish and non-Jewish. The mixture of learning and life is intoxicating to many of the young today.

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