Sunday, February 03, 2008

Best (Unintentional) Backhanded Compliment Ever

I found this gem in a passage about Elimelekh of Lezajsk's book, Noam Elimelekh:

[The book] is one of the classics of Hasidic literature...It was instantly acclaimed for its power and profundity, and has since appeared in over forty editions. Rabbi Mendel of Rymanov used to say that only on the eve of Sabbath, after emerging from the ritual bath, was he able to grasp the meaning of Noam Elimelekh. Rabbi Hayim of Kossov went further, declaring that only "a person who is able to revive the dead is able to understand this book."

There's a back matter quote to aspire to.

(From The World of Hasidim, by Tzvi Rabinowicz, back when he still went by Harry).

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