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Judaism

Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav

Intertextuality in the Tales of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav: A Close Reading of Sippurey Ma'asiyot by Marianne Schleicher (Numen Book Series: Brill Academic Publishers) Until 1806, Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (1772-1810) disseminated his thoughts on redemption through homilies. In 1806, however, Nahman chose the genre of tales as an additional and innovative means of religious discourse. An academic close reading of all of the tales, known as Sippurey Ma'asiyot, has not yet been undertaken. As the first comprehensive scholarly work on the whole selection of tales and contrary to previous scholarship, this book does not reduce the tales to biographical expressions of Nahman's tormented soul and messianic aspirations. Instead, it treats them as religious literature where the concept of "intertextuality" is considered essential to explain how Nahman defines his theology of redemption and invites his listeners and readers to appropriate his religious world-view.

All those interested in religion, especially Judaism, mysticism, and religious literature, as well as scholars interested in textual and cultural studies.

Marianne Schleicher, Ph.D. (2003) in Comparative Religion, has published on Jewish mysticism and scripture. In 2004 she was awarded the University of Aarhus Prize for the best Ph.D. dissertation, of which this book is a revised and expanded version. She currently holds a position as Assistant Professor in Jewish Studies at the Department of the Study of Religion, the University of Aarhus, Denmark.

This study is a revised and expanded version of Schleicher's Ph.D. dissertation was completed and carried out at the Department of the Study of Religion, Faculty of Theology, University of Aarhus under the supervision of Peter Steensgaard Paludan and Kirsten Nielsen. Arthur Green discussed the project in its initial stage and Rachel Elior shared her vast knowledge on Hasidism.

Sippurey Ma'asiyot' consists of thirteen tales that have many traits in common with fairy tales. The thirteen tales are replete with fantastic plots in fantastic settings in indefinite time and space. They are replete with heroes and heroines, villains, devils, and demons. Supernatural forces intervene to assist the good characters and punish the evil ones. Nevertheless, these tales refuse to reveal a coherent meaning by themselves, as fairy tales ought to do.' Even if one pays attention to every single textual component, be it sentence, word, and sign, and to plot and structure--if one combines these, and if one tries to use one to understand another, one will still be left pondering without a satisfactory insight into their meaning. The content of these tales only becomes accessible if one accepts that the content derives meaning through the interaction with external sign systems taken from the cultural environment to which it refers. The fact that external sign systems bestow meaning upon the sign system of the tales encourages me to consider this transposition a matter of "intertextuality" as coined and developed by Julia Kristeva.

The tales were told by Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav over a period of four years from 1806 to 1810. Until 1806, Nahman disseminated his religious thoughts through homilies. From 1806 and onward, however, Nahman consciously chose the genre of tales as an additional and most important means of communication. Schleichert employs Hayden White's concept of "tropology" to address Nahman's discursive turn to telling tales.

Nahman grew up in a Hasidic community in the Ukraine. Hasidism at that time was Nahman's historical context. Yet, the tales often portray some of the characters and values known to be Hasidic in a critical way, which evokes the notion that a dialogue, even a tension, exists between the tales and Hasidism. To create this dialogue and tension, Nahman applies imagery from biblical and rabbinical literature, from various mystical trends, and particularly from the Kabbalistic text corpus Sefer haZohar. Schleicher also uses theories on "dialogic language" and the "revolutionary potential of language" as formulated by Mikhail Bakhtin and Kristeva, and furthermore include Paul Ricoeur's interpretation theory and its extension to metaphoric and symbolic expression to benefit from his explanation of what happens to the listener/reader when s/he is exposed to the informative and performative impact of split reference and tension, characteristic of figurative language.

It is known from Nahman's homilies and from biographical texts about him that Nahman, in the preponderant part of his adult life, conceived of himself as the fifth and last Zaddik haDor. A Zaddik haDor is a person who supposedly draws upon his righteousness and divine insights in order to redeem the entire generation of which he is a part. The four other Zaddikey haDor were Moses, Rabbi Akiva, Shimeon bar Yohai, and Nahman's great-grandfather the Ba'al Shem Tov. These were precursors in the process of redemption; yet, they had failed to go far enough. Revisioning their failed achievements, Nahman had to envision a theology and practice of redemption with which to supercede them and accomplish what they had failed to do. To describe Nahman's wrestling with these past heroes, Schleicher draws upon Harold Bloom's theory on the anxiety of influence.

As already mentioned, Nahman orchestrates a transposition of sign systems from the cultural environment into the tales. These sign systems often have their origin in Jewish scriptures whose canonical status transfers legitimizing authority onto the tales. This scripture-based transfer of authority mirrors Nahman's attempt to position the tales as similarly privileged texts by claiming to be the sender of divinely deputized authority similar to that of biblical prophets, cf. his role as Zaddik haDor. Accordingly, he offers the tales as a mystical means to his listeners/readers to access his divinely sanctioned thoughts. To enable an address of Nahman's composite scriptural Schleicher differentiates between two scriptural aspects: the canonical and the mystical.

The work opens summary presentation of the above-mentioned theories that informs Schleicher's methodological strategy, which enables her to trail the primary purpose of this study; that is, to contribute to the ongoing academic discussion about Sippurey Ma'asiyot.

An exegetical consequence drawn from this theoretical platform is the acquirement of knowledge about the context, in which the tales were told, and especially about Nahman's immediate sociohistorical and religious contexts. Schleicher next offers a summary of Nahman as a religious leader within Hasidism and as a theologian who disseminated his thoughts through homilies before he turned to telling tales as a new kind of discourse. This part of the study is primarily derived from the works of other scholars.

Next earlier scholarly commentaries of Nahman and on the tales are reviewed as the groundwork through which Schleicher is inspired to consider or find alternatives. A brief outline of the development in scholarly opinions about the tales begins with the opinions held by Nahman's followers. Nathan Sternhartz, Nahman's close follower and secretary, who recorded the tales and published them in 1815, and Rabbi Nahman of Tsherin, who published his commentary on the tales in 1912, formulated guidelines for interpretation. The guidelines from these two leading Bratslavers suggested a focus on allegory and a more or less automatic translation of these allegories, which would be in accordance with Nahman's theology known from his homilies and with the expectations which these followers had to Nahman as Zaddik haDor. Many of the early academic scholars paid attention to these guidelines. However, the conception of the tales changed within academia when Joseph Weiss and later Mendel Piekarz' argued that everything Nahman said and wrote focused on Nahman and his understanding of himself as Zaddik haDor. Inspired by Weiss and Piekarz', Joseph Dan took their point one step further. Dan argued that the tales should be considered literary creations, dependent on the context in which they were told. Yet, the content of the tales, despite its references to theological concepts and texts prevailing in this context, could not be revealed to contain any didactical message--theological or ethical--unless one succumbed to conjecture. One should therefore, according to Dan, conceive of the tales as literary expres¬sions of Nahman's tormented soul and his attempts to come to terms with his Messianic aspirations to redeem the world according to his identity as Zaddik haDor. Scholarly publications on the tales has ever since have distanced themselves from the purely autobiographical approach. Instead they have argued that the tales have an autobiographical as well as didactical content, while everybody agrees that Nahman's perception of himself as Zaddik haDor is crucial to any attempt of understanding the tales.

Schleicher overall purpose reveals that the didactical wing needs greater attention. Schleicher focuses on the informative and performative function of the tales. Her exegeses of the tales, therefore subordinates the autobiographical aspect of the tales. Not to the extent of calling for "the death of the author" as Roland Barthes did. In fact, Schleicher derives an apt sufficiency by applying Bloom's thoughts on a poet's wrestling with great precursors and their oeuvres. Schleicher figures that the telling of tales is a tool for Nahman as Zaddik haDor to further redemption. Yet, her close reading of the tales reflect a conviction that Nahman did not constantly believe that he was the only one upon whom redemption depended. A clear address to others to engage in the process of redemption is revealed in her exploration the didactical aspects of the tales. Thus, the tales should not be interpreted sole as purely autobiographical, as the autobiographical cadre of scholars has claimed, or as involved with precursor struggles alone.

For Schleicher if one is to take into account the literary characteristics of the tales, then one has to adopt a literary approach, as opposed to a biographical approach. The literary approach gives supremacy to the tales in cases of falsification, whereas a biographical approach reads the tales in consonance with the biographical material about Nahman, where the latter is only a matter of verification. Since references to external sign systems may be overt as well as covert, it is necessary to read the text as closely as possible. Furthermore, since the act of interpreting figurative language involves conjecture, as Dan complains, one must interpret as large a collection of material as possible to allow this material to counter one's guesses if necessary. This is crucial in the academic project of turning conjectures into substantiated hypotheses. Schleicher therefore analyzes all thirteen tales in Sippurey Ma'asiyot. This is the bulk of the book, fresh translations with detailed exegesis.

Other commentaries to all thirteen tales do exist. Arnold J. Band, who focuses on the relationship between texts and historical contexts in Jewish literature within the larger field of comparative literature, has published a translation including a two-to four-page commentary on each tale. Aryeh Kaplan, a Bratslaver, has published a translation, as well with footnotes commenting on details in all thirteen tales. However, only Schleicher offers an academic close reading, which presents an analysis with argumentation for the interpretations of each and all of the tales.

This is book the first comprehensive scholarly work on the whole selection of tales. In conducting her close reading of all thirteen tales, the first priority was make sure that every word of the tales has been touched upon.

Therefore she decided to translate the tales. Schleicher contacted Chaim Kramer, publisher at the Breslov Research Institute, and explained to him that she needed a copy of the pure Ma'asiyot as reflected the original 1815 bilingual Hebrew-Yiddish version. Chaim Kramer sent a copy or the original.

In cases of doubt during the process of translating these tales, Schleicher consulted the translations of Band and Kaplan to be able to include their translation of specific words and phrases in my considerations. Schleicher translation is inserted in the analyses, where their coherence has been the measuring stick for dividing each tale into separate passages.

Based on the analyses, Schleicher concludes by systematizing the informative and performative function of all thirteen tales. She also offers a consideration of the plausibility and the characteristics of the tales of Sippurey Ma'asiyot.

This study  represents the first comprehensive scholarly work on the whole selection of tales in Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav's Sippurey Ma'asiyot. It reflects the recognition that the preponderant part of these tales derives its meaning through the interaction with external sign systems: Accordingly, Schleicher chose an intertextual approach. Markers of this intertextuality often take the form of imagery with implicit references to biblical, rabbinical, and mystical literature, particularly to Sefer haZohar. These references serve a function on multiple levels. By drawing upon the canonical aspect of Jewish scriptures in the tales, the listener/reader is likely to include Nahman, his theology and practical instructions within the boundaries of what Jewish tradition considers proper religious doctrines and forms of practice. In this way the authority of the canonical writings becomes a legitimizing factor in Nahman's attempt to transform Judaism from within. The intertextual references also create a tensive dialogue between various established trends in Judaism and the tales. The effect of the tensive dialogue is similar to the effect of the informative and performative impact of split references in figurative language. Figurative language adds a surplus of meaning and offers a new understanding of reality, which is the informative function of figurative language. Its performative function is to make the listener/ reader appropriate this information and act accordingly. If the tales convince the listener/reader to such appropriation, Nahman succeeds in causing a religious revolution by means of tales. So the tales are both profoundly conservative and innovative at the same time.

By focusing on the informative and performative function of the tales, Schleicher  is closer to the didactical stand within scholarship on Nahman than to the autobiographical stand. The theology of the tales is shown to serve the overt purpose of legitimizing every call imbedded in the tales for a change in the worldview and the behavior of the listener/reader. No listener/reader who has come to accept the theological description of God, the mythical historiography and its consequences, the present state of the world, the possibility of changing it through individual and universal tikkun, and the Messianic expectations, can ignore the overt encouragement to engage in individual tikkun by turning to those who can effect universal tikkun.

The tales address anyone who is prepared to listen to and accept the conveyed understanding of reality. Nahman's followers, Hasidim in general, traditional Jews, gentiles, and seculars are addressed. The universal address is urgent because of the present state of the world and disseminates the following: God is sovereign master of the universe. Man has to recognize his/her dependency on God, convert to Judaism, replace human perception with simplicity of faith, submit the body to the soul, turn to the Zaddik haDor, repent, long for redemption, relate minimally to this world, live according to Torah and the commandments, confront evil, and elevate the divine sparks within oneself.

Attaching hope to the redeeming agents--God, Shekhinah, evil, the Messiah, and the Zaddik haDor and his community--and assisting them in the process of redemption are presented as the sole alternative to loneliness, isolation, dissatisfaction, restlessness, misery, sadness, depression, doubt and social decline, affliction, punishment, death, and universal destruction. Even from the most selfish point of view the tales provide every reason to obey the performative call of the tales.

One can choose to focus on the autobiographical aspect of the tales, which is an absolutely legitimate purpose. Even though Schleicher has not focused on such aspects. By considering Nahman's discursive turn to telling tales as his revolutionary weapon in pursuit of redemption, Schleicher makes a biographical claim, as when she points out when Nahman positions himself as having superseded his precursors, alias the four other Zaddikey haDor, or when she claims that the tales aspire to be Scripture through Nahman's mystical expositions of the primordial Torah. But despite such biographical aspects, one cannot exclude the didactical/performative aspect of the tales as their central characteristic.

The tales provide guidance to anyone who wants to approach God and be a follower of Nahman's theology. The follower's approach to God is described as a dialectical process of listening to Nahman's oscillating recounts of what the world is, according to God, and what reality is, according to the follower, until the follower is convinced that man's perception of reality falls short of protecting the follower and of securing him the benefits that God is prepared to provide. Listening to the tales and acting according to the guidance imbedded in these tales is a prerequisite for individual as well as universal redemption and for crossing the threshold to the Messianic age. Schleicher's study is the most substantial study of the universal significance of Bratslaver Hasidim for world historical studies of redemption. This study deserves a wide and diverse readership.

God's Voice from the Void: Old and New Studies in Bratslav Hasidism edited by Shaul Magid (SUNY Series in Judaica-Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion: State University of New York) Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav was one of the most celebrated masters of late Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, and his writings have become classics. This volume brings together translations of three seminal studies on Rabbi Nahman in German, Hebrew, and Yiddish with six new studies from scholars in various fields of Jewish studies. The presentation of new scholarly work widens the conversation about Hasidism in general and Rabbi Nahman in particular by viewing his ideology from the perspective of contemporary hermeneutic, philosophical, and literary perspectives incorporating the insights of postmodernism, gender theory, and literary criticism. New ground is covered in essays on Rabbi Nahman's attitude toward death, his approach to gender, his interpretation of circumcision, the impact of his tales on Yiddish literature, and his hermeneutic theory. The combination of classic and new studies in God's Voice from the Void offers a window into the trajectory of scholarship on Hasidism, including ways in which contemporary scholars of Hasidism and Hasidic literature both continue and develop the work of their predecessors.