{"id":185903,"date":"2026-01-29T17:04:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=185903"},"modified":"2026-02-11T15:27:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T13:27:40","slug":"the_first_step_zalman_schachter_shalomi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/the_first_step_zalman_schachter_shalomi\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe First Step\u201d: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s Early Hasidic Meditation Tract"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cReb Zalman\u201d (1924-2014), was among many things, a prolific writer, with the NLI catalog<\/a> listing close to fifty books that he authored. All but one were written beginning in the 1970s, when Schachter-Shalomi (he added the name Shalomi later) had given up his affiliation with the Habad Hasidic movement and embarked on a new path of \u201cJewish Renewal\u201d and non-Orthodox neo-Hasidism in America. From Reb Zalman\u2019s early period as a Hasidic rabbi, we have several articles, but only one book, an early handbook on Jewish Meditation (decades before that phrase was popularized by R. Aryeh Kaplan, 1934-1983).<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Aryeh
R. Aryeh Kaplan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In the late 1950s Schachter-Shalomi was serving as the Hillel Rabbi and head of the Judaic Studies Department at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg Canada. There, drawing upon his vast knowledge of Hasidic works (including some that were highly obscure at the time), and his experience as a close devotee of the last two Lubavitcher Rebbes, Schachter-Shalomi began experimenting with a small group of students, not all of them Jewish, with meditative techniques. Later he would also become a passionate advocate of the inclusion of psychoactive substances, especially LSD, in the spiritual quest, but that is for another discussion. He published the results of these meditative experiences in a small booklet in Winnipeg in 1958 (neither the place nor the date appeared), entitled, The First Step: A Primer of a Jew\u2019s Spiritual Life<\/a><\/em>. The title page also included a Hebrew translation of the title: “\u05d4\u05e6\u05e2\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A second title page included Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s Hebrew name \u05de\u05e9\u05dc\u05dd \u05d6\u05dc\u05de\u05df \u05d1\u05df \u05d7\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d2\u05d9\u05d8\u05dc \u05d4\u05db\u05d4\u05df, as well as those of two sponsors and two editorial assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe First Step\u201d in Israel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The booklet, which is quite rare in Israel (no academic libraries other than the NLI hold copies), nonetheless made a serious impression here. Needless to say Gershom Scholem<\/a> acquired a copy (although his copy, which sadly contains no marginalia, was missing several pages and I had to order a scan from the Hebrew Union College library to complete it). The book also made a huge impression on none other than Prof. Shmuel Hugo Bergmann, one time director of the National Library, and first Rector and professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University. Bergmann, who was married to Scholem\u2019s first wife Escha (who also worked at the Jewish National and University Library), was himself a spiritual seeker who throughout his life explored numerous Jewish, world and secular spiritual and mystical traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November of 2021 an academic conference was held in Prague regarding Bergmann and his work. There, Samuel Glauber-Zimra, of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, delivered a fascinating lecture<\/a> entitled, \u201cI Frequently Hold a Telepathic Dialogue with You: The Correspondence of Shmuel Hugo Bergmann and R. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi\u201d. Glauber-Zimra has yet to publish his findings, but he was gracious in sharing them with me. The material is rich and touches on numerous topics, the most titillating one being Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s suggestion that Bergmann experiment with LSD (which Schachter-Shalomi himself famously did with Timothy Leary, 1920-1996).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Timothy Leary<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Returning to Bergmann\u2019s interest in Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s spiritual innovations, Glauber-Zimra stated that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bergmann and Schachter-Shalomi first met on July 3rd<\/sup>, 1958, when Schachter, as he was then known, was visiting Israel with a group of North American Hillel educators and Bergmann was invited to address his group\u2026.the two men, who shared an interest in many of the same esoteric and spiritual movements\u2026met repeatedly over the remainder of Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial encounter\u2026came as both men felt a growing concern over what they saw as the stagnant religious life of their respective Jewish communities. In the late 1950s Schachter-Shalomi began hatching his idea of a Jewish monastic fellowship to be called B\u2019nai Or that would seek to spiritually reinvigorate North American Jewry\u2026forming the nucleus of what became the Jewish Renewal movement. Bergmann in the late 1950s was involved in the founding of several grass-roots organizations that aimed to bring about a religious and spiritual revival in the State of Israel\u2026.the Movement for the Revival of Religious Life, a group with whom Bergmann quickly came to be disillusioned, the Reshafim circle, an Orthodox neo-Hasidic group led by a young R. Adin Steinsalz, and the Amanah Circle, a group of Israeli intellectuals who first came together\u2026for, in the words of their mission statement, \u201cthe study and elucidation of questions concerning the renewal of our religious life in our day\u2026through self-realization\u2026Bergmann invited Schachter-Shalomi to attend Amanah\u2019s seminar held from August 17 to August 19, 1958, immediately prior to his departure from Israel. Schachter-Shalomi gave an address in Yiddish on his retreat method, and, per Bergmann\u2019s testimony, \u201cled a very beautiful Mincha service.”\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schachter-Shalomi wrote to Bergmann in January of 1959 that he had just completed writing a small pamphlet in English on practical approaches to spirituality. This book, The First Step: A Primer of a Jew\u2019s Spiritual Life<\/em>, was a groundbreaking Jewish meditation guide that would become a canonical text of the Jewish Renewal movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schachter-Shalomi sent Bergmann several dozen copies to distribute in Israel and suggested that someone from the Amanah Circle translate it into Hebrew\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bergmann published a glowing review of The First Step<\/em> in Haaretz<\/em> in May 1959. In his review, an English translation of which appeared in The<\/em> Jewish Post<\/em> of Winnipeg,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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Bergmann declared the publication of the little book to be a \u201crevolutionary development in our religious life\u201d and that Schachter-Shalomi \u201cdeserves our congratulations and our appreciation for his daring.\u201d At that summer\u2019s Amanah gathering, Bergmann\u2019s seminar on \u201cPrayer, Contemplation, and Ecstasy as Methods in Our Religious Life\u201d included an entire lecture on Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s meditation method as outlined in the The First Step<\/em>, alongside those of Rudolf Steiner and the Buddha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Bergmann and Joseph Bentwich, a fellow leader of the Amanah Circle, arranged for a Hebrew translation of the book. This translation, by Joseph Manila\u2026and edited by Bergmann himself, was published by the Amanah Circle in 1960 as ha-Tsa\u2019ad ha-Rishon<\/em>. This was arguably the first Hebrew meditation guide published in Israel and vastly expanded Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s range of influence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Bergmann\u2019s lecture to Amanah on The First Step<\/em>, as well as an article that addressed the booklet, were recently reprinted in the Hebrew collection, \u201cThe Sound of the Bell, edited by Enrico Lucca and Micha Danziger (Jerusalem-Berlin 2024), under the titles, Prayer, Intention and Cleaving,<\/em> and Prayer, Contemplation and Cleaving as Methods in our Religious Lives<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew translation<\/a>, by Yosef Emanuel (Manila), edited by Bergmann, was published By Amanah in Jerusalem in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Step \u2013 from Habad Hasidism to Jewish Renewal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The English original was reprinted in an abridged format at the end of The First Jewish Catalog<\/em>, (ed. Richard Siegel, Michael Stassfeld, Sharon Strassfeld, Philadelphia, c.1973).<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Thejewishcatalog\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Schachter-Shalomi was to later rework his \u201cFirst Step\u201d in alignment with his Jewish Renewal ideals. He published The First Step: A Guide for the New Jewish Step<\/a><\/em>, together with Donald Gropman, (Toronto and NY 1983).<\/p>\n\n\n

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In Boulder 2013, he published \u201cGate to the Heart: A Manual of Contemplative Jewish Practice\u201d, edited by Netanel Miles-Yepez and Robert Michael Esformes. There, in the chapter intitled \u201cRetrospect\u201d (pp. xiii-xiv), he wrote,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the late 1950\u2019s, while still a Hillel director at the University of Manitoba, I became heavily involved in showing young people how to daven<\/em>; that is to say, how to pray contemplatively with intention and insight\u2026I began to introduce them to Hasidic contemplative practices\u2026that I had first learned as a Habad-Lubavitcher Hasid\u2026.in 1958, I wrote a small booklet called The First Step: A Primer of a Jew\u2019s Spiritual Life<\/em>\u2026It simply poured through  me, almost as if it were being dictated, and I quickly sent off a draft to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, z\u201dl<\/em>, for his approval. He responded positively (with some suggestions for an appended bibliography), and soon after I printed a small pocket edition with the help of the late David Jackson of Chicago and Melvin Fenson….In 1965 it became a section in The First Jewish Catalog<\/em>, created by some of my students. Over the years, I too went through several editions and changes, and after much God-wrestling, both inside and outside of Judaism, I decided in the early 1990s to update the book to make it more consistent with my current outlook.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the Lubavitcher Rebbe made suggestions for the bibliography is an interesting point, as the \u201cBibliography for Inspirational Reading\u201d includes, in addition to some readings in Habad Hasidism, also several books by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972, then a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary),<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heschel\"
R. Abraham Joshua Heschel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

and even a work by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1903-1950), a Conservative rabbi who was also associated with Rabbi Mordechai M. Kaplan\u2019s (1881-1983) Reconstructionist Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can only wonder if the Rebbe had approved the whole list or not. Of course the inclusion of the prices of each book was a helpful feature!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Schachter-Shalomi also briefly touched upon the background of The First Step<\/em> in his My Life in Jewish Renewal<\/a><\/em>, Lanham, 2012 (p. 103-104).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The First Step\u2019s Covert Hasidic Sources \u2013 a Preliminary Analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The First Step<\/em>, written when Schachter-Shalomi was still a Habad Hasid, close to the then Lubavitcher Rebbe (R. Menachem Mendel), as he had also been to the previous one (R. Yosef Yitzchak).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly the work is highly and openly influenced by Habad theology and practice, and the appendix includes translations of sections from the Tania. The book also mentions the Zohar, Hovot HaLevavot, Mesilat Yesharim, and R. Levi Yitzhak, presumably of Berditchev. I discern as well, the possible influence of the Baal Shem Tov, R. Nahman of Breslov and the work Maor v\u2019Shamesh. <\/em>It is my contention that the work was also highly influenced by two largely unknown (at the time) Hasidic tracts that stress inner work and meditation, Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/a><\/em> of R. Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira of Piaseczna (1889-1943) (first official publication, Tel Aviv 1973) and Tnai HaNefesh l’Hasagat HaHasidut<\/a><\/em>, by R. Menahem Ekstein (1890-1943) (Vienna 1921).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Both authors perished in the Holocaust. Both works, in their later English translations are included in the recommended reading lists in some of Schachter-Shalomi-Shalomi\u2019s later works. We also know for certain that he encouraged his students to study the works of the Piaseczner Rebbe, and that Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em> was translated by one of them. The first translation of Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em> done by Andrea Coehn-Kiener, Conscious Community: A Guide to Inner Work<\/a><\/em> (Northvale and Jerusalem 1996),  who wrote (p. ix), \u201cI am very grateful to Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi-Shalomi for the many teachings he has brought into my life and for bringing the work of Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira to my attention\u201d. More significantly she adds on p. xix, \u201cReb Zalman held up the Hebrew version of the book you are holding and said, \u2018This needs to be translated\u2019\u201d. Similarly, Nehemia Polen, who researched the Piaseczner\u2019s Warsaw Ghetto sermons, and published a work on them as The Holy Fire<\/a><\/em>, (Northvale and London 1994), wrote (p. x), \u201cThe initial suggestion for the topic of this work came from Professor Zalman Schachter-Shalomi-Shalomi, who early on recognized the significance of Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira and Esh Kodesh<\/em>, encouraged me to begin my own research, and provided much helpful guidance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that in the 1983 edition of The First Step<\/em>, Schachter-Shalomi includes the Piaseczner Rebbe in a short list of Hasidic saints who had inspired his work. However, we must ask how Schachter-Shalomi would have known of Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em>, first published 15 years after The First Step<\/em>. The answer is that when the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Schneershon (1880-1950) fled to America from Warsaw in 1940, where he knew the Piaseczner Rebbe, he brought with him one of the few typewritten copies of the booklet that the Rebbe had distributed to his closest disciples in the 1920s. This copy, which remains in the Chabad Library to this day, is one of the only surviving copies from the first edition. It is very reasonable to assume that either R. Yosef Yitzhak, or his successor, R. Menachem Mendel, would have shown the work to Reb Zalman, who was both a member of their inner circle and an early emissary of theirs for campus outreach, and one with mystical and meditative tendencies as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Regarding Ekstein\u2019s work, it was actually published in Vienna in 1921, just a few years before R. Zalman grew up there. Despite its relative obscurity until recently, he certainly could have been familiar with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As later (Haredi) editions were highly edited and censored, the first edition is highly significant, and not easily accessible (a critical edition, based upon the first, is soon to be published, edited by Prof. Daniel Reiser and R. Shalom (Matan) Shalom). When I began working on this volume some 25 years ago, someone sent me a typed version of the first edition, which had reportedly been typed by Schachter-Shalomi or one of his students. In 2001 an English translation appeared under the New Age title, Visions of a Compassionate World: Guided Imagery for Spiritual Growth and Social Transformation<\/em><\/a>, translated by Yehoshua Starrett and with a forward by David Zeller. Zeller, a close disciple of R. Shlomo Carlebach, was also a student of Schachter-Shalomi and collaborated with him on several projects. I would conjecture that Zeller first became aware of Ekstein\u2019s then forgotten volume from Schachter-Shalomi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Parallels with Bnai Mahashava Tova<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As I stated above, it is reasonable to assume that Schachter-Shalomi was familiar with the Piaseczner\u2019s Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em>, from the copy in the Chabad Library in New York. He would also been familiar with Rebbe\u2019s early educational tract, Hovat Hatalmidim<\/a> <\/em>(The Student\u2019s Obligation<\/em>), first published in Warsaw in 1932.<\/p>\n\n\n

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However it is highly unlikely that he would have been aware of the Rebbe\u2019s other works, which began to be published only in the 1960s, after The First Step<\/em> was already in print. Let us examine some of the obvious parallels. I will quote mostly from the first English translation, Conscious Community<\/em>, since that is the translation of Bnei Mahshava Tova <\/em>done under the inspiration of Schachter-Shalomi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 8-9 he writes, \u201cYou will have to be honest with yourself. You cannot do this work alone. You need a trusted friend, with whom you can work together, and with whom you can freely discuss your work\u201d.  This echoes two themes in Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em>, self-honesty and the need to do spiritual work with a partner: \u201cA person who lies and is deceitful is the prisoner of his lies\u2026a person who is habitually deceitful lies to himself along with everyone else\u2026people like that cannot feel remorse and resolve since they deny the truth\u2026even to themselves (p. 7). Regarding the second point the Rebbe writes, \u201cEven though [the spiritual] group is bonded as a whole and every member cares deeply for all the others, it is necessary for each member to select one confidant. This pair reveals, each to the other, the private concerns of his heart, his spiritual concerns, and his practical problems. And the other listens attentively to give comfort and advice\u2026Each one requires this kind of relationship; if there remains one of your fellows with whom no one wishes to consort as a special beloved, the group is responsible to provide one for him\u201d (pp. 96-97).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 9 Schachter-Shalomi exhorts his reader to, \u201cRead this manual time and time again\u201d. On p. 12 he adds, \u201cBefore you put the book away, close it and think back to fasten what you have read in your memory\u201d. Similarly, in Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em> we read, \u201cwhen you read this volume, do not put it down after a single cursory reading…Do not try to read it in one sitting. Let some time pass between one section and the next. Ideally, read a bit of it each day. When you finish reading it, start again and then again\u201d. (p. 37).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 15 of The First Step, <\/em>we read, \u201cThis Nephesh [soul] can become a functioning and active force within you, but it has to be roused. The best way\u2026is meditation\u201d. The idea of arousing (or revealing) one\u2019s soul (with various techniques to do so), is a major aspect of the Piaseczner Rebbe\u2019s spiritual system, and he discusses it in many places. For our purposes it is sufficient to bring one example from Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em>, which could have inspired Schachter-Shalomi. \u201cOur souls are virtually buried and our normal state of consciousness is slumber: moments of peak arousal\u2026do not occur simultaneously!…the spirit is crusted over with these mundane levels\u2026when we experience moments of inspiration and awe, we cannot abandon these openings\u2026any time we feel deeply \u2013 with sadness, joy, or even business concerns \u2013 we are dealing with the soul. She is simply clothed in this mundane situation. When a profound feeling of sadness wells up, we have an important opportunity to align the mundane state of mind to the soul\u2019s perspective\u2026go off to a private setting as soon as possible and pray\u2026recite Psalms that have some bearing on your situation\u2026.If you experience an ordinary sense of relief of gladness, use it in the same way. This is an elevated moment for you, a time to draw out the sparks of your spirit\u2026It is possible to work similarly with stress\u2026The soul is like a flowing source of water that has become blocked. We work to dig and find little openings and cracks. Every small access point can release a huge flow\u2026Deep emotion rouses the soul from sleep and pushes her out of apathy and dormancy\u201d. (pp. 30-34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 23, Schachter-Shalomi writes of the need to feel that one is in the presence of God. \u201cYou want to be able to practice the presence of G-d\u2026This is not too difficult at first, but it does take remembering. You will from time to time remember that you stand before Him\u201d. To this he adds (p. 26), \u201cit is helpful to have a visual image in the Kavvanah [intention]. You picture the will of G-d flowing into your body and soul, becoming united with the limbs, organs, senses, brains and nerves\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parallel passage in Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em> (ch. 7), is so radical that the original manuscript version was censored, and even the censored version aroused much controversy. The English translation unfortunately does not capture the full strength of even the censored text! Therefore, for this passage I bring the later translation of Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em>, Experiencing the Divine<\/em> by Yaacov David Shulman (2017, place of publication not listed, p. 17):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRather, we must know in truth that God has no image, heaven forbid. But we beings scraped of physicality, corporeal people who possess form, visualize such a thing so that our mindfulness will be able to grasp, expand and broaden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, when God helps us and our mind grows stronger so that we can think of Him with a strong and clean mindfulness, and when an image of a spark of prophecy is revealed within us, this physical image will of itself cease to exist. When we pray, we will be able to picture that we are standing before God and His throne of glory\u2014realizing that whatever we imagine is merely the way that our senses\u2014our ears and mind\u2014are capable of interpreting things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, member of this group, if you find yourself in such an extremity, visualize that you are standing before God\u2019s Throne of Glory and that you are praying and begging Him simply, like a son crying and begging before his father, \u201cHave mercy on me, my Father\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This passage, seeming to violate the prohibition of creating a [even mental] physical image of God, is based upon a unique reading of the famous remarks of the Raavad to the Rambam\u2019s Mishna Torah (Laws of Repentance 3:7), and have been widely discussed in scholarship pertaining to the Piaseczner Rebbe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 41 Schachter-Shalomi writes, \u201cspend some time in study. Visualize Him facing you and teaching you through the text\u201d. This idea features prominently in the Piaseczner\u2019s 1932 educational classic, Hovat Hatalmidim<\/em>, which of course would have been known to Schachter-Shalomi. In one passage (ch. 12 s.v. and so) he writes, \u201dwhen you begin to examine and study a [holy] book, imagine that an angel of God has come down from Heaven, and in the name of God is speaking these words to you\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On p. 52 of The First Step<\/em>, we read, in the context of discussing obedience to God writes, \u201cWhile the servant image seems so prosaic, you might much rather see yourself as a Child<\/em>\u2026of G-d\u201d. This dichotomy between servant\/child in relating to God is found in numerous Hasidic tests. However, it is also featured prominently in the introduction to Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em>, where the Rebbe writes; (again, as the Conscious Community<\/em> translation fails to capture this point, I quote from the Schulman translation, p. 3):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not enough to be like a mere slave, the son of a maidservant. It is true that he too serves the King, but he works behind the millstones, far from the King. He does not hear the King\u2019s words, nor does he ever experience any satisfaction or pleasure from the King\u2019s radiance. Instead, he serves the King with a closed mind and a dulled heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But our desire and longing is to be among those who are called \u201cthe children of Hashem your God,\u201d \u2026 We wish to be like the son rejoicing to greet his father after an absence of years and after having suffered in his great yearnings for his father. When we serve God, we should also feel our soul racing to greet its father\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, on p. 57 Schachter-Shalomi writes, \u201cDO NOT VOLUNTEER TO SHOW PEOPLE THE WAY [capitals in original] \u2026only when persistently asked by a person whose motives of wishing to become better you cannot suspect, can you give this manual for a day or two. Even then, don\u2019t talk about yourself except to your friend with whom you began to work\u201d. Regarding the work with a friend, we have seen this above in p. 8-9. Secrecy of the Bnei Mahshava Tova<\/em> pamphlet and group is also paramount. The Rebbe initially printed only a few copies that he distributed to his closest elite Hasidim. On the title page he added a handwritten note prohibiting the showing of the pamphlet to anyone without his permission. Regarding the secrecy of the group we read, \u201cThe members of the community do not advertise or announce the existence of this holy association, its activities, and so on. One does not brag about this work to his colleagues\u2026Any work that involves self-revelation is contradicted by advertisement and public attention. Discretion is appropriate and required\u2026if you know of someone who can benefit from this work and whose presence would enhance the group, you are permitted to speak to him about becoming a member, as long as you have no ulterior motive\u201d (p. 97). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Parallels with Tenai HaNefesh L\u2019Hasagat HaHasdiut<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On P. 9 Schachter-Shalomi writes, \u201cRead this manual time and time again. Do not proceed with one exercise, before you have the first one under full control and can at will <\/em>duplicate it any time you desire. Similarly, Ekstein, in his instructions for visualization meditation, repeats several times how difficult it will be at first, but that with enough practice it will become easy to repeat them. For example, he writes, \u201cMuch practice is needed to visualize so vividly that your emotions are affected. Alternating scenes from one to another will also be difficult at first\u2026.But practice makes perfect, and with the passage of time, you will be able to change your inner picture rapidly\u2026At this point you will make a startling discovery: You can change your emotions whenever you want, just by changing your inner pictures\u201d (Visions of a Compassionate World<\/em>, p. 48).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 13-14 Schachter-Shalomi takes pains to stress that his booklet is based only upon Jewish, Kabbalistic and Hasidic (primarily Habad): \u201cYou might feel that some of the ideas and techniques given here are taken from non-Jewish sources. This is not so\u2026The approach used here is that of classical, Jewish mysticism, as refined by Chassidism, and in particular by the Chabad school\u2026This approach is aware of your existential search <\/em>for the meaning of life, and of the findings of depth psychology. <\/em>In these seemingly apologetical passages, he acknowledges that his text sounds like it is influenced by non-Jewish sources, with subtle nods to both philosophy and psychology. However, he reassures the skeptical reader that its all in fact \u201ckosher Hasidism\u2019. Ekstein\u2019s book as well, which scholarship has revealed was as well clearly influenced by non-Jewish sciences, psychology, philosophy, cinema, and especially by the pseudo-science of Mesmerism, takes pains to cover his tracks: As he wrote in the introduction to the 1937 Yiddish edition, \u201cIn my book I have made a first attempt, to find the appropriate definitions and correct style, that will express the basic principles of Hasidism\u2026All is taken from primary sources and explained in simple language\u201d. The only problem with this is that the book, other than a couple of vague mentions of the Baal Shem Tov, quotes no Hasidic sources whatsoever, and as stated above, was clearly influenced by non-Jewish sources as well. Nonetheless, it is also clear that a traditional Hasidic worldview permeates the volume, despite the lack of direct quotations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On p. 29-30 Schachter-Shalomi offers a guided imagery meditation of a universal (i.e. not particularly Jewish) theme, in the context of spiritual self-examination (Heshbon HaNefesh<\/em>). In this he strikes an in-between position between the visualizations of the Piaseczner Rebbe, which are generally of a Jewish particularistic nature, and those of R. Ekstein\u2019s, which are not only completely universalist, but also feature only emotional themes, not religious ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s first book, The First Step<\/em>, had an unusual trajectory. It was first published in 1958 as (the presumably first) Hasidic handbook for meditation in English. Two years later it had made such an impression on Shmuel Hugo Begmann and his \u201cAmana\u201d circle in Jerusalem, that it was translated and published in Hebrew. It would later be partially incorporated into the new age First Jewish Catalog<\/em>, and would continue to inform Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s later writing after leaving orthodox Hasidism and becoming the leader of \u201cJewish Renewal\u201d in America. So central was it to his spiritual world that he would eventually republish it in a completely new version, consistent with his new universalistic neo-Hasidic spirituality and agenda. In this sense there is also a parallel with another major American Jewish mystical influencer of the 20th<\/sup> century. Rabbi Philip Berg (1927-2013), initially an Orthodox Kabbalist affiliated with the Ashlag school of Kabbalah, transitioned in the late 20th<\/sup> century to a universalist teacher of Jewish Mysticism, via his organization, \u201cThe Kabbalah Centre\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berg as well, republished some of his early writings, reediting them to render their teachings from orthodox Jewish particularism to a universalistic self-help message. That, however, is for another discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we have demonstrated here, is the covert influence of two relatively unknown (at the time) Hasidic authors on Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s early tract. R. Menachem Ekstein\u2019s work had been published but was completely obscure. The Piaseczner Rebbe\u2019s Bnai Mahshava<\/em> Tova<\/em>, had not even been published, but Schachter-Shalomi had apparently seen one of the very few copies that existed in the world, that in the Chabad Library in Brooklyn. Thus, from the perspective of the intellectual history of Hasidism, and particularly its mystical-meditative branch, Schachter-Shalomi also served as a conduit by which \u201cauthentic\u201d Hasidic mystical techniques seeped into both American and Israeli spiritual discourse long before the original texts were widely known to the public. And that in and of itself is of note to the spiritual inheritors of all the above traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author wishes to thank Sam Glober-Zimra for his help.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R. Menachem Ekstein, Visions of a Compassionate World<\/a><\/em>, (tr. Yehoshua Starrett), New York and Jerusalem, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zvi Leshem, \u201cHasidic Mystical Fraternities from Tiberias to Warsaw: Goals, Structures and Methods<\/a>\u201d, in (Mayes, Seeman, Reiser, editors, \u201cHasidism, Suffering, and Renewal: The Prewar and Holocaust Legacy of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira\u201d, Albany, 2021, pp. 107-130.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Reiser, \u201cMesmerism, Hypnosis and Jewish Mystics in Vienna in the Early Twentieth Century<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R. Zalman Schachter (Shalomi), The First Step<\/em>, Winnipeg 1958.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, The First Step<\/em>, Toronto 1983.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Conscious Community<\/em>, (tr. Andrea Coehn-Keiner), Northvale and Jerusalem 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Experiencing the Divine<\/em>, (tr. Yaacov David Shulman), 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05e6\u05d1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05e9\u05dd, “\u05ea\u05e8\u05d2\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d3\u05de\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e6\u05dc \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 \u05de\u05e4\u05d9\u05d0\u05e1\u05e6\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e8\u05d1 \u05de\u05e0\u05d7\u05dd \u05d0\u05e7\u05e9\u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05df<\/a>“, “\u05d0\u05e1\u05d9\u05e3 \u05d5’ (\u05ea\u05e9\u05e2”\u05d8), \u05e2\u05de’ 600-627.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05d7\u05df \u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05dc, “\u05d4\u05d7\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05d9\u05e1\u05d8\u05d9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05dc\u05de\u05d3\u05ea \u05d0\u05d9\u05da \u05e0\u05d7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e0\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4<\/a>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05e8’ \u05de\u05e0\u05d7\u05dd \u05e2\u05e7\u05e9\u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05df, \u05ea\u05e0\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e0\u05e4\u05e9 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05d2\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea,<\/em> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e8\u05e4”\u05d0. (\u05de\u05d4\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea\u05d9\u05ea, \u05e0\u05e2\u05e8\u05da \u05e2”\u05d9 \u05d3\u05e0\u05d9\u05d0\u05dc \u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05d6\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd (\u05de\u05ea\u05df) \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd, \u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d5, \u05d1\u05d3\u05e4\u05d5\u05e1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd (\u05de\u05ea\u05df) \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd, \u05d1\u05e1\u05ea\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d4: \u05de\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 \u05dc\u05e7\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e8\u05e1 \u05d4”\u05e1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9” ‘\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4’<\/a> \u05e9\u05dc \u05db”\u05e7 \u05d0\u05d3\u05de\u05d5”\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d4”\u05e7 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e7\u05dc\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05e1 \u05e7\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05e4\u05d9\u05d0\u05e1\u05e6\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d9”\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d9”\u05d3 (\u05d0), \u05d4\u05d9\u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d1\u05e2\u05e9”\u05d8, \u05de\u05d4 (\u05e7\u05d9\u05e5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d4), \u05e2\u05de’ \u05e7\u05dc\u05d0-\u05e7\u05e1\u05d0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05e8’ \u05e7\u05dc\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05e1 \u05e7\u05dc\u05de\u05df \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0, \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4<\/em>, \u05ea\u05dc-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05dc”\u05d2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How a rare 1958 booklet helped carry Hasidic contemplative practice from Chabad into Israeli mystical circles and the “Jewish Renewal” movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":185955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[1680,224,1532],"tags2":[3067,2785,2665,2723],"class_list":["post-185903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judaism","tag-jewish-mysticism","tag-judaism","tag-rare-jewish-books"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cThe First Step\u201d: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi\u2019s Early Hasidic Meditation Tract<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How a rare 1958 booklet helped carry Hasidic contemplative practice from Chabad into Israeli mystical circles and the "Jewish Renewal" movement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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