Later compilation · Essential works
Tsava'at ha-Rivash (The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem)
צוואת הריב״ש
Some hundred and forty short paragraphs on the inner life: equanimity before praise and contempt (*hishtavut*), constant cleaving to God (*devekut*), prayer in joy rather than in tears, the raising of stray thoughts, distrust of sadness and scruples, and moderate asceticism. It was one of the books the *mitnagdim* cited as proof of Hasidic heterodoxy, and at the same time one of the movement's most read manuals of piety. Jacob Immanuel Schochet's annotated edition (Kehot) traces the sources of each paragraph.
Authorship note
Despite its title, it is neither the Besht's testament nor his work: it is an anonymous anthology of maxims for religious conduct printed in 1793, mixing teachings attributed to the Besht with others (probably most of them) from the Maggid Dov Ber of Mezeritch and his circle. Some paragraphs carry the explicit mark "the Rivash said".
Editions and translations
Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.
English
Tzava'at Harivash: The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
Kehot Publication Society, 1998
Translation: Jacob Immanuel Schochet
ISBN 9780826603999
Traducción anotada con introducción sobre la controversia que suscitó.
Hebreo
Baal Shem Tov
Tsava'at ha-Rivash
The Conscious LibraryTsava'at ha-Rivash
1793
Primera impresión (1793).
Baal Shem Tov
Tsava'at ha-Rivash
The Conscious LibraryTsava'at ha-Rivash
Varsovia, 1913
Edición de dominio público digitalizada en Sefaria.
Other works by Baal Shem Tov
- Igeret ha-Kodesh (Letter to Abraham Gershon of Kuty) · 1750
- Keter Shem Tov (Crown of the Good Name) · 1794
- Shivhei ha-Besht (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov) · 1815
- Toledot Ya'akov Yosef · 1780
- Ben Porat Yosef · 1781
- Tsafnat Pa'neah · 1782
- Ketonet Passim · 1866
- Likkutim Yekarim (Precious Gleanings) · 1792
- Degel Mahaneh Efrayim · 1810
- Sefer Baal Shem Tov (The Book of the Baal Shem Tov) · 1938
- Kabbalistic commentary on Psalm 107 (attributed) · 1804
- Letters of the "Kherson genizah" (spurious) · 1918
- Founder of Hasidism (Moshe Rosman) · 1996
- The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader (Immanuel Etkes) · 2000
- The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov (Abraham J. Heschel) · 1985
Sources
- Tsava'at ha-Rivash (primera impresión 1793); texto hebreo de la edición de Varsovia, 1913, en Sefaria (dominio público).
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