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Rabbi Nachman of Breslav's Stories

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muman613:
Rabbi Nachman of Breslav is considered one of the great Chassidic Rabbis who started a school of Chassidus which is living and thriving today. Rabbi Nachman wrote a lot of books during his short life. One of the most famous works of Rabbi Nachmans is his book of 13 Stories. I actually have a hard-cover edition of Rabbi Nachmans stories on my bookshelf (which I read from time to time during my travels).

The stories of Rabbi Nachman contained very deep secrets of Torah, and through the technique of parable he is capable of teaching the most simple Jew the deepest secrets.

Rabbi Steinsaltz, a great Talmudic scholar, has nothing but good things to say about Rabbi Nachmans stories:


--- Quote ---http://www.steinsaltz.org/content.php?pg=Understanding%20Rabbi%20Nachman&ID=67

Q: Rabbi Steinsaltz, you have written that "Nachman's stories include highly compressed and clearly defined Torah teachings - expressed in literary form." What is the advantage of this approach? Why doesn't Rabbi Nachman just state his ideas? Doesn't the "story" approach run a greater risk of misinterpretation?

A: Rabbi Nachman himself explained why he chose this particular format of storytelling, rather than direct statements of Torah teaching. In order to absorb knowledge and a message from well-constructed and direct Torah teaching, one has first of all to be knowledgeable to a certain extent. More than that, one has to make a conscious effort to learn while one hears any direct statements. At the same time, one has to have a willingness to accept what one hears. Rabbi Nachman stated in his symbolic form that the stories he was telling were even for people who had been sleeping, in a way, for seventy years, meaning that the message in the stories somehow gets to them, even when they are not consciously thinking about it as a teaching. Rabbi Nachman avoids the possibility of evoking antagonism from the reader who might react to or be unable to accept direct statements. His stories seep in and later on do the work. Because of that, even though the stories can be misunderstood, somehow the inner content does not get lost, and afterward, in one way or another, it has some impact on the reader.


Q: What do you mean when you write that Rabbi Nachman's stories contain "layer upon layer of unrevealed symbolic meaning?" Can't one say that all stories have these layers, or was Rabbi Nachman conscious of these layers as he was constructing his tales?

A: When I say that Rabbi Nachman's stories contain layers of symbolic meaning, I mean that these layers are conscious layers of the creator of the tales, rather than the unconscious work that people do with symbols somehow embedded in their minds. In many cases, the symbolic meaning that one may attach to a story is rather an illusion of the reader, the interpreter. In the case of Rabbi Nachman stories, the several layers of meaning are consciously put in by the author, and therefore they are not just literary interpretations, but rather a way of understanding what the stories are all about.

--- End quote ---


Here is a great video of a Rebbetzin Silver doing a brief introduct and reading several of the stories... The video is over 1 hour...

muman613:
Each of Rabbi Nachmans stories are available to listen to, or download, from this great site:

http://www.breslovtorah.com/section/rabbi-nachmans-stories/

muman613:
This is the book which I have:



Translated and annotated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

Our Sages told stories to convey the deepest secrets about God and His relationship to the world. Rebbe Nachman expertly plied this ancient art to create some of the most intriguing stories and parables ever told. More elaborate than any previous teachings, the Rebbe's allegorical stories are fast-moving, richly-structured and deeply insightful, while containing all the ingredients of a marvelously entertaining read. Rabbi Kaplan's running commentary, drawn from the writings of Rebbe Nachman's students, gives English-speaking readers access to authentic interpretations of these stories for the first time.

Hardcover. 552 pages. Bibliography and Index.

Size: 6" x 9" 

http://www.breslov.org/bookstore/rebbe-nachman-39-s-works/rabbi-nachman-39-s-stories/prod_45.html

Sveta:
Thank you for sharing this treasure, Muman!!!!

muman613:

--- Quote from: IsraeliHeart on August 14, 2013, 01:58:58 AM ---Thank you for sharing this treasure, Muman!!!!

--- End quote ---

Your welcome IsraeliHeart. I hope to post more stories tonight..

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