Customer Reviews

Beggars and Prayers: Adin Steinsaltz Retells the Tales of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav

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This 1979 classic is one of the most readable versions of Rebbe Nachman's Tales available in English. For reading around the Shabbos table, "Beggars and Prayers" is far superior to the Breslov Research Institute's 1983 "Rabbi Nachman's Stories" translated by Aryeh Kaplan. The Kaplan volume is a complete collection of all the Nachman tales, with copious notes and commentaries, but the word-for-word translation is very clumsy to read out loud. "Beggars and Prayers" is subtitled "Adin Steinsaltz retells the tales..." and the keyword here is "retells." He adheres closely to the originals in details and plots, but his prose flows more smoothly. Both are good books. Get Kaplan for the authentic Breslov (Bratzlav) traditions, history, and excellent scholarship. Get Steinsaltz for oral reading and storytelling.

"Beggars and Prayers" is not a complete collection of the Nachman stories. Steinsaltz has chosen six representative tales (the titles vary somewhat from Kaplan's collection, due to the different translations):

(1) The Losing of the King's Daughter
(2) The Merchant and the Pauper
(3) The King's son and the Maid
(4) The Master of Prayer
(5) The Clever Man and the Simple Man
(6) The Seven Beggars

For each of these, he provides an end-of-chapter commentary that explains the inner symbolism, including much of the kabbalistic imagery. This is expecially useful for "The Seven Beggars," which is one of the most complex and difficult of the Nachman tales. When this book first came out, it opened up the meaning of the tales for me in many new ways, and I still enjoy re-reading it after all these years. It's currently out of print but there are used copies around, so do buy it when you see one!

Rabbi Steinsaltz beautifully translates and interprets these seemingly simple stories. Each is a masterpeice-shedding light on Rav Nachman's thoughts, Jewish philosphy and world view.