Rebbe Stories: The Tradition of Tales of the Tzaddikim רבי'שע מעשה'לעך: די קייט פון סיפורי צדיקים

A Story Is More Than a Story

Among Chassidim, a maaseh about a tzaddik has always held a special place. Hasidic tales — sippurei tzaddikim — are a genre all their own: stories of the Rebbes, their deeds and their conversations about faith and divine service. The best known are usually short, with a sharp and clear moral ^[1]. These tales were a popular and accessible way of spreading the teachings of Chassidus among the wider public ^[1].

From Mouth to Mouth

For many years the stories were passed down orally, from one Chassid to another, from father to son ^[1]. They are often heard at a tish: according to the sources, seudah shlishis on Shabbos and the melaveh malkah meal on Motzei Shabbos are especially important occasions for song, a festive meal, stories and words of Torah ^[1]. The custom of melaveh malkah itself — a meal after Shabbos to escort the Shabbos Queen — is also called Seudasa d'David Malka Meshicha, the meal of King David the Messiah ^[4].

Shivchei HaBesht — The First Printed Collection

The first collection of Hasidic tales ever printed was Shivchei HaBesht — stories about the life of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidus ^[2]. Its author, Reb Dov Ber ben Shmuel, a shochet and bodek in the town of Linitz, was the son-in-law of Reb Alexander Shochet, who served the Baal Shem Tov for eight years as his scribe and from whom many of the stories originate ^[2]. In his introduction, Reb Dov Ber writes that his entire purpose in life was to record these stories ^[2].

The manuscript was copied several times before it was first printed in 5575 (1814–1815) in Kopust, White Russia, by the Chabad printer Reb Yisroel Jaffe ^[2]. Further editions soon followed, including in Yiddish ^[2].

Rebbe Nachman's Sippurei Maasiyos

An altogether different kind of tale was left by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810), the founder of Breslov Chassidus ^[3]. Rebbe Nachman was known for his inventive parables, which drew on the folk tales of Eastern Europe to bring profound kabbalistic ideas into a form anyone could understand ^[3]. His book Sippurei Maasiyos (1816) contains thirteen tales, written in Yiddish and then translated into Lashon Kodesh; the longest is the celebrated story of the "Seven Beggars" ^[3].

Truth, Tradition and Imagination

How should such stories be read today? The books of Shivchei HaBesht are not a historical chronicle. They were written as shevach — praise — to bring out the holiness and greatness of the tzaddik, out of love for him ^[2]. Historians hold that the stories contain a historical core, but they debate among themselves which parts can be accepted as fact ^[5]. That is why Shuki Pedia marks each story as a tradition, a recorded testimony, or a confirmed historical fact.

Today

The stories live on — at a melaveh malkah, in cheder, in sefarim, and today in videos too. In Shuki Pedia's video series "Rebbe Stories" (Rebbishe Maaselach), these tales are told for a new generation.