(CHASSIDISM).
Chachmei Yisrael Besh”t.

Chachmei Yisrael Besh”t. FIRST EDITION.pp. 124. New York, Ner Tamid Press, 1924. * Bound with: Schneerson, Shalom Dov Ber. HaKethav VehaMichtav [condemnation of Zionism]. pp. 32. New York, A. H. Rosenberg, 1917.
Two works bound in one volume. Contemporary boards, loose. 8vo. Goldman, Hebrew Printing in America 561 and 979.

New York : v.d.

The first work was issued by the American branch of the Agudath HaChassidim Kollel Chabad in order to raise funds for thirteen Lubavitcher Yeshivoth whose membership is recorded on f. 2. Reproduces letters from the Baal Shem Tov down to contemporary letters by R. Shalom Dov Ber Schneerson, R. Yoseph Yitzchak Schneerson and R. Shlomo Zalman Havlin (recounting events just prior to the death of the Rasha”b in Rostov, 1920). Included is a communication by R. Yoseph Yitzchak Schneerson that opposes the Agudath Israel organization, and questioning why the Gerrer Rebbe would align himself alongside German activists whose path, the Raya”tz felt, would eventually spiral down to the low standards of Moses Mendelssohn and followers (see pp. 74-5 and pp. 111-2). These portions of the letters were later censored and not included in the Igroth Kodesh (see Vol I no. 140, p. 297 and no. 165, p. 352). A third letter (pp. 68-72) that concerns the Agudah and Chabad organizations in Eretz Israel does not appear in the Igroth Kodesh at all. In addition to the anti-Zionist material, the second work contains two letters concerning the proper pedagogic methods of education for Yeshiva students.
The first publication of Chabad literature of this type in America.