The Chambers of the Palace

In The Chambers of the Palace, Y. David Shulman has done a difficult thing: collected the sayings of Rebbe Nachman from various sources, divided them into different topics, and then presented them to us.

Like most early Hasidic masters, Rebbe  Nachman did not write his teachings.  His students took notes; there were no definitive collections.  So the sources often vary in authenticity and quality.  But Shulman has picked the best, and arranged them for us.

He also provides an interesting commentary, trying to explain some of Rebbe Nachman’s  statements that are difficult for many to digest, like his attitude toward science and sex.  Shulman makes an excellent effort to explain some of these difficult and at often times embarrassing passages. 

The Rebbe and the Neurotic

Rodger Kamenetz, of The Jew in the Lotus fame, takes on Kafka and Rebbe Nachman in Burnt Books. Kamenetz sets a course to show us the similarities and differences between both men, and most importantly, the points of contact and departure of their respective fiction and stories. Both use parable to advance their own spiritual agendas. Both burned books and manuscripts they felt missed the mark (Kafka) or revealed esoteric secrets (Rebbe Nachman). Both were questioners, doubter, seekers and mercurial.

Kamenetz does a good job plotting these intricate courses, but sometimes gets lost and the narrative get tangled. We go from Kafka to the Rebbe to Kementz’s trip to Uman with no apparent sense. There is a great deal of repetition that could have been eliminated, and in the end, the sheer weight of Kafka’s and Rebbe Nachman’s unbending personalities make us wonder if there really is a connection between these two men worth extended investigation.


With that in mind, Kamenetz has still written a book that raises interesting questions about faith, doubt, and the art of writing. He just takes a while to get us there. 

Dance Removes Harsh Judgements

Again from Rebbe Nachman:

"When there is, heaven forbid, harsh judgement against Israel, the judgement may be sweetened by dancing and by clapping the hands."

There are people who say...

[more from Rebbe Nachman]

There are people who say that when a genuinely righteous man is great in his spiritual level, it is because of his greatness he is not able to pay attention to and consider people in the world, because he is far from the world.  In truth, this is not so.  On the contrary, when a righteous man is very great he is able to pay attention to and consider the world to a greater degree...  For is not God, may He be blessed, highly elevated and completely beyond the  world; nevertheless, he is able to pay attention through divine providence to the world.  For in truth he who is part of mundane reality [yes] is not able to be in every place at the same time.  For a person who has a sense of his own reality when he stands here is not entirely here, for instance when he is serving God.  Thus he is not able to contemplate the world.  But a person who has a deep sense of his own nothingness, there is no place where he is not, since he occupies no place at all.  Therefore, the more that a righteous man is incorporated in nothingness, the more he is able to pay attention to and contemplate the world.  For it cannot be said of him that he occupies an elevated place and is distant from the world.  For he is no place at all.

A person should know

A person should know that 'His glory fills the whole world' and there is no place unoccupied by God.  He fills all worlds and surrounds all worlds.  Even a person who engages in business with heathens cannot excuse himself from saying that he cannot serve God because of the coarseness and corporeailty which continuously affects him.... For our Sages, may their memory be for a blessing, have already revealed to us that in all physical matters and in all Gentile languages, one can find God there.  For without God they would have no life or existence at all.

Likkueti Moharan, Rebbe Nachman - 1:33:2