The Candle of God

Discourses on Chasidic Thought

Like Rabbi Steinsaltz’s other Discourses on Chasidic Thought, The Candle of God offers commentary on the writings of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad movement, and of his grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel.

The Candle of God focuses on certain aspects of Jewish wisdom that have become obscured and have gone underground, so to speak, in the modern world. It focuses on the idea that “the soul of man is the candle of God” (Proverbs 20:27) and endeavors to bring readers closer to an earnest understanding of what comprises the human soul.

Five discourses are included in this volume: Hidden Aspects of Shabbat, The Way of the Soul and Torah, Sanctity and Restraint, The Trials of Life, and Implications of the Menorah. All five demonstrate the fundamental connection between Kabbalah and Jewish ritual, legend, and custom.

Hailed by critics as a “rare and ingenious combination of the traditional and the original?draw[ing] on Biblical texts, Kabbalistic mysteries, and Hasidic parables to probe the depths of spiritual life” (Cross Currents), The Candle of God serves to bridge the gap between ancient Jewish wisdom and the modern world.