Asher Zebi of Ostrowo

Asher Zebi ben David of Ostrowo was a 19th-century hasidic rabbi who served as Av Beit Din of Korets, Volhynia, and later as "maggid" (preacher) of Ostrowo, in the government of Lomza in Russian Poland. He was a pupil of Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch.^[1][2]

Ma'ayn haḤokmah

Asher is the author of "Ma'ayn haḤokmah" (Spring of Wisdom), Korets, 1817, containing kabbalistic homilies on the Torah and other books of the Hebrew Bible.^[1][3] Eliezer Zweifel in his work in defense of Hasidism ("Shalom al-Yisrael," pp. 81, 82) quotes aphorisms from this work; one of which shows Asher's contempt for those who study the laws of nature or secular science.^[2]

References

1. Samuel Joseph Fuenn (1886). הר"ר אשר צבי ב"ר דוד [Rabbi Asher Zebi ben David]. כנסת ישראל (in Hebrew). Warsaw. p. 20. Retrieved Sep 14, 2023.
2.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Louis Ginzberg and Peter Wiernik (1901–1906). "ASHER ẒEBI BEN DAVID". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
   Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography:
   • Sefer Seder ha-Dorot mi-Talmide ha-Besht, p. 30b.
3. Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob. "Ma'ayn haḤokmah" מעין החכמה. אוצר הספרים (in Hebrew). Vilnius. p. 535. Retrieved Sep 14, 2023.