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, he would venture into the settled world and seek out individuals—usually poor, overlooked people on the margins of society—and speak to them, heart to heart, about the purpose of existence.
His message was simple and unyielding: the only real purpose of life is serving God. Everything else—wealth, status, power, comfort—is distraction, noise, the rustling of empty shells. When he found someone whose heart was open to this message, he would take them back to his dwelling in the wilderness. There they would live together in prayer, sustained by fruit from the trees and water from a nearby river. They cared nothing for clothing or comfort. The world had nothing they wanted.
Over time, the Prayer Leader built a community of seekers. Some of his followers became capable of going into towns themselves to recruit others. The movement grew, person by person, soul by soul. But the world they were trying to save was heading in the opposite direction at full speed.
In one country, the people had become so obsessed with money that wealth itself had become their god. They ranked every citizen by net worth. Those below a certain threshold were classified as subhuman—literally, as animals. Those wealthy enough were declared divine beings, gods walking among men. The entire society reorganized itself around a single principle: money is the only measure of value. Everything—love, justice, truth, beauty—was priced, weighed, and sold.
The Prayer Leader entered this country and tried to convince them that their worship was misplaced, that money was worthless, that only God deserved their devotion. They laughed at him. A man without a single coin to his name, dressed in rags, eating berries, telling them that their entire civilization was built on a lie? They found it hilarious. Some pitied him. Others wanted to lock him up.
Rabbi Nachman's twelfth tale is his longest and most ambitious story—a sprawling epic that introduces a cast of archetypal figures, each representing a different divine attribute. There is a Mighty Warrior, a Wise Man, a Master of Prayer, a King, a Bard, a Faithful Friend, and others. These figures were once united in a single royal court, serving a King who held the world in harmony. But a great storm scattered them across the earth, and each one forgot the others.
The Prayer Leader's mission is not just to save individuals from the worship of money. It is to reunite these scattered forces—to find the Warrior, the Sage, the King, and the others, and to bring them back together so the original harmony can be restored. The country of money-worshippers is the world in its fallen state, and the Prayer Leader is the tzaddik (a righteous person) who remembers what the world was supposed to look like before the storm tore everything apart. He is the one who still hears the music that everyone else has forgotten.