Spiritual Intimacya Study of

by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Book Overview

How does one become a rebbe (hasidic master) or a hasid (his disciple)? What is the nature of the relationship between them? What happens during the private interview (known as yehidut) between rebbe and hasid? How does the yehidut compare to other forms of psychological counseling and in what ways is it distinctive? In Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi provides a thorough exploration of these issues...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0876687729
• ISBN13: 9780876687727
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Jason Aronson
• Length: 405 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Exception view of infrastructure and guidance practices of ChaBaD, useful for contemporary psychothe

I've read this volume, including the fascinating footnotes at least four times through over the years. A fascinating report of the inner world of the rebbe's preparation to serve, of how to work spiritually with constituents, and of how psycho-spiritual professionals including clergy might think about our own work. Fascinating, learned a lot!

Good sources for Hasidic material, but skip the psychobabble

This book is essentially a re-working of Schachter's doctoral thesis (which I also have). The original thesis was an academic study of the dynamics of the "Yehidut" (yechidus in Yiddish), which is the intimate one-to-one spiritual encounter between a Hasid and his Rebbe. It's not exactly "counseling" in the modern sense, because the Rebbe is regarded as a saint, not a therapist.Most of the modern psychobabble in this book was added later, apparently as an attempt to make the book more marketable in the therapy and New Age communities. The problem is, a "yechidus" is not a therapy session. It's more like a darshan between a guru and his disciple. By trying to "secularize" our understanding of this dynamic, the book cheapens the Yechidus, while failing to give a comprehensive model for psychological counseling. For this I am docking it a star -- but, if you are interested in the dynamics of pre-Holocaust Hasidic counseling, the book is still a treasure trove of first-hand source material.Although another reviewer here has objected to Schachter's heavy reliance on personal experiences and oral traditions that he heard in the Hasidic community, one must keep in mind that the thesis was done shortly after the Holocaust. As such, it was a major ground-breaking work, written long before the current revival of Hasidism. In many cases, this book is the ONLY source of Hasidic anecdotes that would have otherwise been lost forever. (Schachter himself is a Holocaust survivor.) I therefore do not fault Schachter for drawing upon his own memory rather than personal interviews. In many cases, such interviews would have been impossible, because the people in question were already murdered by the Nazis by the time Schachter got into his doctoral studies.