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Hasidic discourse on prayer and repentence by the son of the founder of the Habad Hasidim. R. Dov Ber Schneerson (1773–1827), the eldest son of R. Shneur Zalman, became after his father's death in 1813 the leader of the majority of his father's Hasidim. He settled in the little town of Lubavich, which became the center of Habad. Under R. Dov Ber's leadership, the Habad approach was strengthened and deepened. His blend of intellect and mysticism is expressed in his clear and profound commentaries on his father's works. He was a prolific writer and wrote many works, the majority being explanations of diverse subjects, among them Kunteres ha-Hitpa'alut (1876; Tractate on Ecstasy, 1963), according to his systematized Habad Hasidism. At the same time he supported the idea of productivization in Jewish economy, and encouraged his Hasidim to take up manual occupations. He also persuaded all the Habad Hasidim in Erez Israel to settle in Hebron (1820) which became the Habad center there. Dov Baer was imprisoned for a time because of accusations against him by an informer, but was released on the 10th of Kislev, which is celebrated as a holiday among Habad Hasidim. He passed on in Nezhin in Ukraine.
In 1847 the Shapira printing press was established by the three brothers Hanina Lipa, Aryeh Leib, and Joshua Heschel Shapira, sons of Samuel Abraham Abba Shapira, the printer in Slavuta. Until 1862 this was one of the only two Hebrew presses the Russian government permitted to operate in the whole of Russia, the other being in Vilna. This press had 18 hand presses and four additional large presses. In 1851 Aryeh Leib broke away and established his own printing press in Zhitomir. In these two establishments only sacred books of every kind were printed. During the years 1858–64 the press of the two brothers printed a beautiful edition of the Babylonian Talmud together with the Halakhot of R. Isaac Alfasi, and a beautiful edition of the Jerusalem Talmud. |
