David H Sterne

This is the Siddur, or Jewish prayer book, with summaries of Chasidic excerpts designed to help the person incorporate Chasidic concepts into his or her prayers. The summaries include a quotation, kaballistic elements of the excerpt, chasidic elements of the excerpt, and a section called "Within the Words" designed to explain how to apply the summary to our prayers. In addition there is a separate commentary demonstrating the correlation of our prayers to the spiritual levels discussed in "Love like Fire and Water (A guide to Jewish Meditation)." The latter is a translation of Kuntres Haavoda of the Rebbe Rashab.

"Meditation like Fire and Water" is a compilation of of Chassidic excerpts on prayer, translated and arranged to correspond with the prayers in the siddur (prayer book). The translated excerpts include virtually everything written about prayer by the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe (the Rebbe Rashab) plus much Chassidut from the other Chabad Rebbeim. This volume also includes a detailed description of the technique of Chassidic prayer and meditation known as Hitbonenut, which was pioneered and developed by Chabad Chassidut and practiced until this very day, in order to reach higher states of spiritual consciousness and awareness of Godliness.

This is a siddur (Jewish prayer book) with the Hebrew on the right side of the page and English translation on the left side of the page. The prayers are accompanied by Chassidic explanations on both sides of the pages. Each Chassidic explanation is a self-contained "meditation," comprised of four components: 1) A quotation from the original 2) A summary of the Kaballah that is part of the meditation 3) A summary of the Chassidut that is part of the explanation, and finally a section called "Within the Words" that directs the reader how to apply the meditation to his or her prayers. Each element is accompanied by an "icon" for identification purposes. The content for the meditations is culled from ALL of the Chassidut of the Rebbe Rashab, as well as from about half of the Chassidut of his father, the Rebbe Maharash. On the page is also a commentary composed by the author, demonstrating the relevance of the prayers to a book that he previously translated - "Love like Fire and Water" (Kuntres Haavoda - an essay on Jewish Meditation).Preceding the text of the siddur is an introduction by the author, and several letters of approbation from significant rabbis: R' Menachem Mendel Glucovsky, R' Levi Wineberg, R' Zalman Dubinsky, R' Shneur Zalman Gafne, (Sh'yichyu) and R' YY Schochet alov hashalom... At the end of the siddur is a glossary to explain technical terms, and an appendix comprised of a translation of notes from the Rebbe Rayatz that is germane to the subject of Chassidic meditation, as well as copious endnotes. citing sources and offering explanations,

This book is in a category of its own. It is the authoritative handbook of Jewish meditation. This invaluable technique was nearly lost in the holocaust of European Jewry, but R' Sterne has brought it back from the edge of extinction by translating this seminal work from the Chasidic master, the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch (1860-1920). Features a full English translation, many diagrams and tables to clarify spiritual levels, a full commentary bringing the esoteric material closer to our modern consciousness, and two appendices with extensive scholarly notes. A must for the serious Jewish English library, now for the first time available in softback format.