16 passages1816 CEHebrew / AramaicCC-BY-SA
Individual passages from Sippurei Maasiyot (Rabbi Nachman), indexed for close reading, source verification, and myth source-checking.
The Shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה) is often described as the feminine aspect of God, a divine presence that dwells among us, even within us. It's a concept that's both intimate and awe-insp...
A king had six sons and one daughter. The daughter was his favorite, he cherished her, played with her, kept her close. One day, in a moment of anger, terrible words escaped his mo...
An emperor and a king, both childless, met by chance at an inn. Neither recognized the other at first, but each noticed royal mannerisms in his companion. They confessed their iden...
A wise man lay dying. He called his children together and gave them a strange final instruction: water the trees. You can do other work too, but you must always water the trees. He...
A king decreed forced conversion throughout his country. Every Jew had a choice: convert or leave. Some abandoned everything, their homes, their wealth, their entire lives. And fle...
A king without children decreed that the Jews must pray for him to have an heir, or face consequences. The Jews searched until they found a hidden tzaddik (צדיק), a righteous man s...
A king told his wise man: there exists another king who signs his letters with three claims, that he is mighty, truthful, and humble. "Mighty I can confirm," said the king. "The se...
Rabbi Nachman began this tale with a warning: "it first appears I will tell you everything and that you will be able to understand." He would not. And they would not. A king who ha...
A rabbi had an only son who was brilliant in Torah but felt something was missing. He studied constantly. He prayed with devotion. But there was a hollow space inside him that no a...
Two boys grew up in the same town, studied in the same school, and loved each other deeply. One was a khakham (חכם), clever and sophisticated. The other was a tam (תם), simple and ...
A wealthy burgher and a poor man lived in the same building, the burgher in the upper floors, the pauper in the lower. Neither had children. One night, the burgher dreamed that str...
A queen and her bondmaid gave birth on the same night. The midwife, curious about what would happen, or perhaps driven by something darker she could not name, switched the babies. ...
There was a man called the Ba'al Tefilah (בעל תפילה), the Prayer Leader, who lived outside of civilization and spent every moment in prayer, songs, and praises to God. Periodically...
"I will tell you about being happy," Rabbi Nachman said. And then he told the strangest, most luminous story he ever told. A king had an only son. He decided to transfer his kingdo...
A man dreamed that beneath a bridge in Vienna, there was buried treasure. He traveled all the way to Vienna, found the bridge, and stood there trying to figure out how to dig witho...
Just like the soul of Adam, the very first human, Jewish mystics tell us the soul of the Messiah is all-encompassing. It’s not just one single soul, but a collective – comprised of...
