Or Torah

The Maggid of Mezritch · R’ Dov Ber, successor of the Baal Shem Tov

“Precious selections, more desirable than gold and fine pearls” — the recorded teachings of the Maggid of Mezritch, copied from his holy mouth by his closest disciples. The sefer the Rebbe Rashab kept in his desk drawer beside the Tanya — opened in English for the first time, parsha by parsha, with the full vocalized Hebrew and a running elucidation.

The family edition is still available — the name on the cover and title page of every copy — along with full-page and half-page dedications.

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Why it should be brought to light

Sparks of fire from the Maggid’s own mouth. The wellspring from which Kedushas Levi, Me’or Einayim and Ohr HaMe’ir all drew — kept closest by the Rebbeim themselves.

When the Baal Shem Tov ascended to the chamber of Mashiach and asked, “When will the master come?” — the answer was: when your wellsprings spread outward. The wellsprings of the Maggid of Mezritch, the Baal Shem Tov’s successor, are gathered in Or Torah: teachings copied directly from his mouth by disciples such as R’ Tzvi Chassid, who called them zikukin dinur — sparks of fire — and preserved in the manuscripts of R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. R’ Shlomo of Lutzk held the words in such awe that he hesitated to print them, calling them “words standing at the heights of the universe,” hinting to the secrets of the Etz Chaim and the Kitvei Ha’Ari.

The Rebbeim kept this sefer closest of all. The Frierdiker Rebbe revealed that his father, the Rebbe Rashab, kept three seforim in his desk drawer beside the charity funds — Keter Shem Tov, Ohr Torah, and Tanya — and would privately learn from Or Torah before yechidus, before davening, and before krias shema she’al hamitah. On that basis the Frierdiker Rebbe urged chassidim to keep these three books at hand and learn them daily. The Tzemach Tzedek analyzed its discourses and identified teachings inside it transcribed by the Alter Rebbe himself; the Rebbe directed the publication of the corrected Ohr Torah HaShalem, with indexes and an English biography of the Maggid, so the teachings would reach everyone.

Everyone — except, until now, the English reader. Parashas Bereishis is complete and typeset; the edition is designed to run through all fifty-four parshiyos. The wellspring is ready to spread. It waits only for a name.

Precious selections, more desirable than gold and fine pearls — the purest, most treasured insights of Chassidic thought.

From the author’s preface to Or Torah

Words standing at the heights of the universe.

R’ Shlomo of Lutzk, introduction

Sparks of fire, copied directly from the Maggid’s mouth.

R’ Tzvi Chassid, early copyist

The edition

The Maggid, opened phrase by phrase. Parashas Bereishis complete — fourteen sections, every word of the Hebrew accounted for.

Fully vocalized Hebrew

The complete text set from the old printed edition, newly vocalized for this edition — every word of the Maggid stays on the page.

Interlinear translation & elucidation

Bold Hebrew phrase, its faithful English, and a running elucidation that unpacks the Kabbalistic mechanism and traces how the derush reads the verse.

Section summaries

Every section opens with a framed summary — the derush, its Torah basis, the Kabbalistic framework, and the avodah it asks of us.

Sources & textual notes

A compact marei-mekomos apparatus — Zohar, Midrash, and the classic Chassidic parallels — with alternate readings of the early printings noted.

Drawn diagrams

Where the derush is itself visual — the letters of emes, the order of creation — the edition sets it in a drawn diagram, in the book’s own type.

Two indices

A Subject Index and an Index of Sources — Tanach, Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah — close the volume, with a chumash-style parsha structure throughout.

See it inside

Open the sefer. The opening of Bereishis, exactly as it will print.

The sample carries the engraved title plate, the title page, and the opening sections of Parashas Bereishis — “Why the Torah Begins with Creation” and “Yaakov’s Middah Steadies the Tottering World” — with the vocalized Hebrew, translation, and elucidation on every page.

Open the sample PDF