How Modern Jews Benefit From Chassidic Tales

Let’s say you’re not a Chassid. Of what interest is a new collection of Chassidic tales?

 

The Blind Angel: New Old Chassidic Tales is a collection of 37 stories, ranging from chilling to heartwarming. Each of these stories recalls 18^th and 19^th century life, when Jews lived in Eastern Europe under the oppressive thumb of anti-Semitic Christian rulers.

 

Each story features an all too familiar human dilemma – an abusive husband, a poverty-stricken merchant, a childless couple, a lonely orphan, a thieving business partner. And each story has a Chassidic rebbe, a pious sage, who sees what others cannot see and knows what others do not know. In each story, the faithful turn to their rebbe for advice about the predicament that plagues them. And in every case, the Chassidic rebbe’s advice turns the situation around, often in surprising, unpredictable ways.

 

The 37 stories are divided by theme. The first group of stories “Heavenly Matters” concerns the connections between events that happen in heaven and events that occur in this world. The second section is titled “Life Lessons” and discusses how, with the help of their rebbes, people learn important lessons. The next section “The Rebbe’s Insight” and the section after that, called “The Rebbe’s Foresight” emphasize how great the spiritual vision of Chassidic rebbes was and how they solved problems for their Chassidim with insight and sensitivity. The final section of stories is called Character and Compassion and these stories focus on the stellar character traits of individuals.The book concludes with a section of explanatory notes about each story, including a biographical sketch of the rebbe who figures prominently in the tale.

 

These stories were originally broadcast in Yiddish on New York radio by Rabbi Tovia Halberstam, a descendent of Chassidic dynasties. In The Blind Angel, they’ve been translated into expressive English by his son Joshua Halberstam.

 

Anyone can read and enjoy this book on the level of pure storytelling. At the end of some stories, you’ll likely exclaim, “Wow. That was a cool story!” And you'll find yourself wanting to retell the story to others.

 

Yet, there is so much more packed into them. Halberstam captures the culture of shtetl life in 18^th century Easter Europe and presents it to the modern reader in the form of stories, rather than academic lectures. There’s a good bit of information woven into the stories about Jewish customs, vocabulary, holidays and more which can enrich the reader’s familiarity with Jewish culture. Beyond that, the mystically inclined reader will likely be moved by the spiritual capacities of the various rebbes whose stories appear in this volume.

 

The Blind Angel: New Old Chassidic Tales is a charming read that can also be appreciated on these deeper levels. It’s available from The Toby Press, an imprint of Koren.