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at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Nov 30, 1967
Great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, Rabbi Nachman told absurd tales which can be compared to those of Kafka. But while Kafka’s end with the absurd, Rabbi Nachman’s relate the victory over it. His chief disciple, Rabbi Nosson, did the “unbelievable” in publishing posthumously all his master’s stories and Torah teachings. During his lifetime, Rabbi Nachman seemed to show characteristics contrary to that of a tzadik, for example, pride and egocentricity. Yet Rabbi Nachman’s playing the fool en route to Israel reveals him “scoff[ing] at the tzadik in himself.” “I knew a Breslover Hasid during the war, over there in the kingdom of night. . . . his voice is still sometimes within mine.”
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