A collection of teachings by Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov on the weekly Torah portion from a collection authored by his students and translated from Sefer Baal Shem Tov.
About the Author: Rabbi Eliezer Shore was born in New York City in 1959, in a secular, Jewish home. He attended Sarah Lawrence College from 1977 until 1982 and majored in religious studies, particularly focusing on the religions of the Far East, and minored in music and the performing arts. In 1980, he began an intense spiritual search, which took him to England and Scotland, into Zen monasteries, and eventually, to a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. His desire for spirituality continued as he finished college and afterward practiced meditation, martial arts and wilderness survival. In 1982, he met Rabbi Dovid Din, a Kabbalist, hasidic master, and an early pioneer in the teshuvah movement. Eliezer became one of Rabbi Din's closest students for the next four years, and learned from him a unique approach to Torah and serving G-d. In 1986, he moved to Jerusalem to study Torah, and has remained there ever since - aside from a two year stay in New York, during which he received an M.A. in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University, graduating with honors. In 1996, he received Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, a member of the Jerusalem Beit Din, and in 2005, he received a Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy from Bar Ilan University. His doctoral thesis is on the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and the nexus of language, mystical experience and eros found in the writings of this great hasidic master. He has taught at numerous institutions around Israel. Most notably, Bat Ayin Yeshiva, in Gush Etzion, the Rothberg School at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, the Overseas Program at Bar Ilan University, Michlalah Jerusalem, and the David Cardozo Academy. He writes on topics of Jewish spirituality, and his articles have appeared in Parabola Magazine, Sh'ma, HaModia, and other publications. From 1991 until 2000, he edited and published Bas Ayin: A Journal of Jewish Spirituality, which was distributed free worldwide. From 1998 until 2001, he edited the Orthodox Union's popular Pardes Project, under the direction of R. Yaacov Haber. Reb Eliezer is also a dynamic storyteller, whose original tales and retellings have appeared in anthologies and have been read over international radio. In 1997, he founded the Jerusalem Storytelling Circle, as well as delivered weekly stories on a local, Jerusalem radio station. Rabbi Eliezer lives in the Ramat Eshkol neighbourhood of Jerusalem with his wife and children. For more information go to ww.eliezershore.com.