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216 Chapter 5 16. Liqqutim 7:1. 17. lfayyey4:13; YemeyMaHaRNaTp.31; lfayyey II 2:34. Later editions of lfayyey based on that of Frampol, 1913, give the date for the wedding as 5502, an obvious misprint, since Nathan speaks of his presence there; cf. Yemey MaHaRNaT, p.13. 18. Liqqutim 11, end. 19. Liqqutim 16, based on Baba Batra 74a. 20. lfayyey 1:6; emphases mine. This passage is repeated, with no significant addition, in Parpera'ot le-lfokhmah, a commentary on the Liqqutim by Nahman of Cheryn, 15a. From there it is quoted by Weiss, op. cit., p.279. The reference to the two messiahs, in the same phrase used by Nahman, is found in Sha'ar ha-Gilgulim chapter 13, a chapter which seems to exercise a major influence here. 21. Sources dealing with Messiah ben Joseph may be found in the collection Midreshey Ge'ulah, edited by Y. Ibn-Shmu'el (Kaufmann), as well as in Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, index, s.v. Messiah of Joseph. The serious differences between Sabbatianism and Nahman's messianic longings should not be minimized. In Nahman's case the concept seems to have been largely of his own making; his Nathan did not have nearly so central a role in forging the image of messiah as did the Sabbatian prophet Nathan of Gaza. Sabbatai Sevi was seen as Messiah ben David, a more radical claim than that which we are attributing to Nahman. Most significantly, there did not develop in Bratslav a myth of the messiah who transgresses the law in order to bring about the redemption . Nahman's movement thus remained within the pale of Jewish orthodoxy , and did not create around its central figure a mythology ofdemonic fascination . 22. D. Tamar, "Ha-ARI weha-RaJ:IaV ke-Mashi'al;t ben Yosef," in Sefunot 7 (1963) 167ft., has collected the relevant sources. On this particular matter, cf. p.170. 23. ct. 'Emeq ha-Melekh 33b as quoted by Tamar, op. cit. For the penetration of this sort of thinking into the consciousness of Jews who stood far from Kabbalah or Hasidism cf. the note by Aryeh Lieb Lipkin in H. Medini's Sedey lfemed, v.1, p.193. The same notion of a messianic figure in each generation is found in Nahman 's writings in Liqqutim 79 and lfayyey 1:36. The description quoted is from Hayyim ha-Kohen's Tarat lfakham, also cited by Tamar, p.171. For Weiss on Nahman as a type of the suffering messiah cf. Studies in Mysticism, pp.106f., 111. 24. Liqqutim II 32,80; lfayyey, addenda. 25. Megalleh 'Amuqot, 'ofan 252, Lemberg, 1858, 50a, and not in 'ofan 150, as stated by Tishby, lac. cit. A comparison of Liqqutim 16, the text which speaks of the ~addiq who contains both messiahs, with the opening lines of this same chapter in Megalleh 'Amuqot, which tells us that Moses contained both messiahs, leaves no doubt that Nahman knew this chapter and was influenced by it. 26. Sippurim Nifla'im, p.109. 27. Ibid., p.123f. Emphasis mine. 28. Neweh ?addiqim, p.79. 29. ct. also lfayyey 3:10; lfayyey II 2:3; Yemey MaHaRNaT, p.32. 30. It is noteworthy that Yizhak Eisik Safrin of Komamo, a later Hasidic master with messianic dreams, bases his own claim to be Messiah ben Joseph on the fact that he was born in precisely this year-556&-numerically equivalent to that figure. See his mystical diary Megillat Setarim (composed in 1845) 2a. Messianic Strivings 217 31. I am not at all convinced by Joseph Weiss' suggestion that the figure of Jeroboam in Nahman's writings is a cipher for Jacob Frank. Weiss says this (Meh; qarim, 25ft., 245ft.> without any evidence at all other than his own rather romantic reading of Nahman as one who was ever attracted and fascinated by any and all sorts of heretical literature and desires. It is at this point that the careful scholar in Weiss was overtaken, perhaps by his own projections onto the figure of Nahman. The identification of holy books and heretical books that he attributes to Nahman (p.245ft.) is the result of a similar wishful reading on his part. 32. See SilJot 198, the first introduction to the Sippurey Ma'asiyot, and the various sources quoted and discussed by Piekarz, p.140ft. To these may be added the Shir Yedidut, a poem in Nahman's honor written by Yehiel Mendel, a nineteenth-century TJasid, and first...

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