Another Rave Review

for "Saturday Night, Full Moon"

By Daniel Keren for The Jewish Connection

 

Saturday Night Live with Yerachmiel Tilles in Tzefat

Menorah Books has just come out with the first volume of "Saturday Night, Full Moon: In- triguing Stories of Kabbala Sages, Chassidic Masters and Other Jew- ish Heroes" by that master story- teller from the mystical city of Tzefat - Yerachmiel Michael Tilles. He is one of only two Eng- lish-language Jewish story tellers who come out each week with an inspirational story tied to the par- sha or some major timely event.

Yerachmiel Tilles was born in the United States in 1945 and grew up in a typical assimi- lated non-Orthodox Jewish home. After graduating from SUNY Binghamton with a degree in phi- losophy, Tilles began his Tikun Olam with two years service with the Peace Corp teaching English to villagers in Thailand. Two years later he was in- vited to spend Shabbos with a family and went to a shul for the first time in almost 13 years to the day he was bar mitzvah. Within two years he was a full-fledged Lubavitcher Chassid and married.

By 1978 he and his wife moved to the mystical and holy city of Tzefat in northern Israel where he taught English, managed an art gallery, studied Torah for a few years and with Rabbi Shaul Leiter helped found the Ascent In- stitute of Safed that offers Torah programs and Shabbatons and hostel facilities to thousands of seeking Jews from around the world.

One of the highlights of the Ascent Institute is the weekly Melava Malka featuring Yerach- miel Tilles telling over some of the many delightful and thought- ful stories he has collected over the years. It is a Chassidic tradi- tion that telling over a Baal Shem Tov story on Motzoi Shabbos is a more powerful segulah for solving major problems in one's personal life than even the intervention of the Angel Gabriel or Mi- choel. And furthermore, even if one doesn't know a Baal Shem Tov tale, the segulah still works if one tells on Saturday night a story of another tzaddik.

In 1997 Yerachmiel began weekly emails of his Chassidic and Jewish sto- ries to alumni of the Ascent Institute and to others who learned by word of mouth of his incredibly inspiring tales. Today the number of his subscribers range in the many thousands in Jewish and not-so-Jewish commu- nities around the world. Yerachmiel's stories many original and others adapted with his own special touch from classi- cal and not yet classical tales teach important lessons and there- fore are awaited eagerly each week by his enthusiastic sub- scribers, including this writer. Many of his stories besides being reprinted in English-language publications and Torah emails are also reprinted in translation for other Jewish magazines.

For many years, sub- scribers have strongly begged that Yerachmiel come out with an an- thology of his best stories. And this is the first volume of a planned three-volume opus mag- num that will offer in book format some of his more powerful and in- spiring Chassidic and Jewish sto- ries.

And so even if you haven't had the privilege of listening to his expert story telling on a Mot- zoi Shabbos in Tsefat, this new volume - "Saturday Night, Full Moon" will give you a taste of why the author has a justified rep- utation as one of the greatest and most inspirational Jewish story writer/teller of today.

There are 33 stories from the best of Yerachmiel's emails of the past 17 years and they are di- vided into time zones. Part One deals with 16th and 17th Century Kabbalists from Tzefat and Yerushalayim. Part Two focuses on stories of the Chassidic Mas- ters of the first three generations (1734-1815), while Part Three captures stories celebrating Chas- sidic masters from 1820-1920. The fourth and final part of this first volume offers insights into 20th Century Chassidic masters and other Jewish heroes.

"Saturday Night, Full Moon: Volume 1" by Yerachmiel Tilles is available in Jewish book- stores or from the publisher by clicking www.menorah- books.com or by emailing or- ders@menorah-books.com This book would make a great gift idea for anyone whom you would like to realize the beauty of Jewish life over the centuries up until today.

[From The Jewish Connection (//jewishc.com), May 30, 2014]

OTHER REVIEWS

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Now available for purchase:

through ASCENT-in-Safed

or Menorah Books (the publishers)

or Amazon or your local Jewish bookstore.


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