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This is a volume of religious philosophy written by an apostate. He stayed for a while with some Lubavitchers and in this book discusses the foundations of faith “according to an approach which has been forgotten,” but which has resurfaced in the writings of R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady (the founder of Habad Hassidism), who is the author of the Tanya, as well as many other writings. This is the third printing, with additions and corrections and the title page indicates that the approbations which appeared in the first edition were not reprinted as the book’s reputation is already well known.
Jehiel Zevi Hermann Hirschensohn-Lichtenstein (1827–1912)was an apostate and missionary. Born in Russia, he converted to Christianity in 1855 at Jassy, Rumania, but keeping this secret he spent some time among the Hasidim of Lubavich and worked on his Derekh ha-Kodesh ("The Way of Holiness," 1872), which deals with the fundamentals of the Jewish faith, but betrays the author's Christianizing tendencies. From 1868 to 1878 he worked, under the name of Hermann Lichtenstein, for the Protestant mission in Berlin. He then returned to Russia where, disguised as a hasidic rabbi, he distributed his book. He married in Kishinev, Moldavia, a sister of Joseph Rabinovich who later, probably under Hirschensohn's influence, founded the sect called Community of Evangelian Jews. His true character discovered, he had to leave Russia, and became lecturer at Franz Delitzsch's Institutum Judaicum at Leipzig. He also wrote Hizzuk Emunat ha-Emet ("Support of the True Faith"), directed against the Hizzuk Emunah of the Karaite Isaac Troki; Sheva Hokhmot (1883), an anthology of rabbinic statements on science (geography in particular), with annotations; Toledot Yeshu'a ("The Life of Jesus," 1883); and Yeshu'a ve-Hillel ("Jesus and Hillel," 1894), based on Delitzsch's work under the same title. |
