Monday, August 15, 2005

I will tell you how our people were once joyous

From the prologue to Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav's Seven Beggars:

I will tell you how our people were once joyous.

Once there was a king who had an only son. The king wanted to transfer the royal power to his son during his own lifetime. So he gave a grand ball. Now whenever the king gave a ball, it was surely a very joyous affair. But when he transferred the royal power to his son during his own lifetime, there was surely a great celebration. And at the ball were all the ministers, all the dukes, and all the nobles. And they were all very joyous at the ball. And the people, too, were greatly pleased that the king handed his royal power over to his son during his lifetime, because this was a great honor for the king, and indeed there was a great celebration. There were all sorts of things for the celebration -- musical bands and comedies and the like -- all things used for a celebration were present at the ball.


This is a barely-veiled allegory for the Lurianic concept of tzimtzum, contraction. God withdraws God's self, in order to make possible the creation of the world. Withdrawing, limiting one's reach, is thus a divine attribute, and by the principle of v'halachta bidrachav (imitatio dei), it is an attribute that we should emulate.

Y'hi ratzon mil'fanecha sheta'aleinu b'simchah l'artzeinu V'TITA'EINU BIGVULEINU. And indeed there was a great celebration.

6 comments:

  1. BZ,

    I don't understand - why would G-ds contraction be a joyous occassion?

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  2. There are thirteen middot of divine mercy or compassion (Exodus 34). I am ashamed to say I don't know how many the middot of divine justice are, or whether they are wholly distinct from and don't interpenetrate with the middot of mercy. But I know we are forbidden to add to the praises or epithets, hence the attributes, of G-d. An attribute of tzimtzum, then, would have to be subsumed under one of the attribute already acknowledged. If this has been done, it would have been already by the Zohar or Ari.

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  3. I´d like to know where I can find the tale "The seven beggars".Is it a book?
    Thanks
    Maria

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  4. It can be found in any collection of Rebbe Nachman's tales, such as here or here.

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  5. Thank you bz!
    Maria

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do anybody know the meaning of each group of letters of this Kabalist Angel: IMAMAIAH ?

    I mean: IMAMI: means ...
    IAH : means...
    ,etc...

    Thanks
    Maria

    ReplyDelete