Simcha Raz

This may be the greatest Musar book of the last hundred years. The book is a collection of stories, organized by category, about the late great Rabbi Aryeh Levine. Rb. Aryeh was a true saint if there ever was one - he was humble and empathetic to the extreme. He looked everyone he ever met in the eye and truly cared about them all. I have heard enough other stories and read enough other things about him to know how true this book is, and how truly unique an individual Rb. Aryeh was.

Rb. show more Aryeh lived in Jerusalem during Israel's pre state years, and was known for being the rabbi to the prisoners. As the Jewish fight against the British (who controlled the land) increased, the prisons began to fill with political prisoners in addition to the run of the mill criminals that are usually found there. He was so well liked, that at a reunion decades later ever the Arab prison guards came over to pay their respects to him.

It's hard to call this book a biography because it doesn't have a narrative or flow to it. It's an anthology of stories, some of them from well known people. However the common thread and personality of the subject are evident from the numerous first hand accounts. If you want to get a glimmer of what a truly righteous person is, I can think of no better book. show less

Hasidism