Tract on Ecstasy

 Dobh Bear of Lubavitch (1773-1827) assumed the leadership of the Habad on the death of Schneor Zalman of Liady. The tract is in the form of a letter he sent to his followers, advising them on the role of ecstasy in the religious life. He argues that there is no such thing as a depersonalised state of contemplation. Rather, the power and validity of contemplation is to be observed in the degree of ecstasy it induces. Dobh Baer refutes the charge that because ecstasy involves self-awareness it is a betrayal of Habad teaching, and provides a penetrating analysis of the degrees of true ecstasy.