Horowitz, Aaron Halevi, of Starosselje. Sha'ar ha-Tephilah [The Gate of Prayer: Chabad Chassidism]

(CHASSIDISM).

Beni Friedman

Miskolc [Hungary]

1940

Habermann, Sha'arei Chabad (in Alei Ayin: S.Z. Schocken Festschrift), no. 270; Friedberg S-2055 (misattributes work to R. Dov Baer b. Shneur Zalman); J. Landau, Oroth me-Ophel: Bibliography of Jewish Religious Books Published in Europe 1933-1945 (1957), p. 84 (also misattrributed to R. Dov Baer)

R. Aaron Halevi Horowitz of Starosselje (1766-1829), eighth generation descendant of the Shela"h (R. Isaiah Halevi Horowitz), studied under the founder of Chabad Chassidism, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, for thirty years. Upon the death of the founder, a schism developed over the question of succession, some Chassidim pledging their allegiance to the son R. Dov Baer Shneuri of Lubavitch, others to the disciple R. Aaron Halevi Horowitz of Starosselje. In time, the Starosselje line declined, while the Lubavitch line became dominant. Nonetheless, a renewed interest in the teachings of Starosselje developed in the 20th-century due to the influence of the charismatic teacher, R. Abraham Dov Baer Hakohen Levine, known to his followers as "the Malach". See L. Jacobs, Seeker of Unity: The Life and Works of Aaron of Starosselje (1966); N.Z. Friedmann, Otzar Harabanim 1541