This brings us to a little story, a fragment really, told by the great Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. You probably know him from his famous Sippurei Ma’asiyot, his collection of thirteen interwoven tales. But he also told many other smaller stories, glimpses of ideas, like sketches in a notebook. "A Garment for the Moon" is one of those.
It begins with the moon complaining to the sun. You see, the sun gets to shine during the warmth of the day, especially in summer. But the moon? The moon only gets to shine during the cool of night. And during the winter, well, the moon was really feeling the chill.
So, the sun, seeing the moon's unhappiness, offers a solution: a garment! A beautiful, warm coat to keep the moon cozy. He summons all the great tailors and commissions them to create this lunar covering.
Now, the simpler, less renowned tailors also wanted to help. But they weren't invited, so they stayed away. The great tailors, after much deliberation, hit a snag. A seemingly insurmountable problem. How could they sew a garment that would fit the moon when the moon itself is constantly changing? Sometimes it's a sliver, a crescent; other times it's a full, radiant orb. What measurements could they possibly use?
And here’s where the little tailors come back into the picture. Hearing of the great tailors' dilemma, they declare, "If the big tailors won't do it, we will!" But the big tailors just scoff. "If we can't do it," they sneer, "how could you?"
And that's where the story abruptly ends.
A frustrating cliffhanger, right? It’s one of those unfinished tales that Rabbi Nachman's scribe, Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov, dutifully recorded. But the fact that the big tailors get the last word suggests it was unfinished, especially since Rabbi Nachman typically sided with the "little" people, the underdogs.
So, what can we make of this little fragment? Well, it resonates with older midrashic traditions, especially the story of "The Quarrel of the Sun and Moon," which is about their competition (as mentioned in Tree of Souls). There’s a similar dialogue in Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, where the sun and moon argue about who’s bigger, leading God to diminish the moon to create peace.
In fact, there's a passage in Genesis Rabbah that adds another layer. Rabbi Levi, quoting Rabbi Jose ben Lai, suggests that “the great should count by the great, and the small by the small. Esau counts time by the sun, which is large, and Jacob by the moon, which is small.” Rabbi Nachman (another Rabbi Nachman!) chimes in, saying this means Esau (often seen as representing the material world) enjoys this world but has nothing in the World to Come, while Jacob (representing the spiritual) has a portion in both.
Could the moon's dependence on the sun echo the Talmudic myth (B. Hullin 60b) about the sun and moon’s rivalry? The one arising from the verse “God made the two great lights” (Genesis 1:16)? The moon essentially asks, "Is it possible for two kings to wear one crown?" And God's response is, "Go then and make yourself smaller." Ouch. The moon's "rebellion," if you can call it that, led to its decrease.
Perhaps, as some suggest, this tale is an allegory. Maybe Israel is the moon, God is the sun, and the garment is the Torah, protecting Israel during times of exile.
Ultimately, "A Garment for the Moon" remains a question mark. Did Rabbi Nachman have a specific ending in mind? We don't know. But it invites us to ponder themes of humility, ambition, divine justice, and the potential for even the smallest among us to accomplish great things. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What would you have the little tailors sew for the moon?