In the past few years Pushkin Press has translated numerous great modern Jewish writers, some famous, such as Joseph Roth, Isaak Babel and Stefan Zweig, others such as Antal Szerb and Itzik Manger, less well known. Now they have published a new translation of the Essential Tales of Rabbi Nachman.
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810) was one of the great Chasidic writers of the early modern period. He was “Chasidic royalty”, writes Adam Kirsch in his superb introduction. His mother was the granddaughter of the Baal Shem Tov, and his uncle Baruch was an important rabbi in his own right.
“The Tales of Rabbi Nachman,” Kirsch continues, “are like nothing else in Chasidic literature. They are full of paradoxes and esoteric symbolism. They even anticipate the dark parables of Franz Kafka.” This collection gathers 13 stories, newly translated, under the title The Podolian Nights.
Why The Podolian Nights? Podolia is an enormous area that includes huge parts of Ukraine and north-east Moldova. It changed hands throughout its history and in the year Rabbi Nachman was born it was annexed by the Austrian and Russian Empires. There are three crucial facts about Podolia. Its terrible rural poverty, its history of appalling violence, including an infamous massacre in 1768 and it was a centre of Chasidic Judaism. Perhaps this terrible history of conquest and violence explains the atmosphere of violence and conflict that run through the book.
