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

DEINARD, EPHRAIM

n.p.

1927

FIRST EDITION. Limited edition of 300 copies. Two works with two titles

Friedberg, A-732

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