Alatah / Am To’ei Levav [“Darkness” / “A People of Perverse Heart”: Anti-Kabbalistic and Anti-Chassidic Polemics]

In the first work, “Alatah,” Ephraim Deinard, at this time a resident of New Orleans, argues that the Zohar is a forgery, not to be ascribed to R. Shimon bar Yochai, and that Kabbalah is pagan in nature. In the second work, “Am To’ei Levav,” Deinard unleashes his fury against the Chassidic movement founded by Ba’al Shem Tov (whose very existence he doubts), and even against researchers of Chassidism such as S.A. Horodetzky, who portray the movement in a positive light