4. Rabbi Nachman's Stories of Ancient Times: Tale 4 - The King Who Decreed Apostasy

Tale 4

of

A King Who Decreed Apostasy

--- A story of miracles ---

Once, there was a king who decreed apostasy under pain of banishment: that is, whoever wanted to remain in the country had to convert, otherwise he would be expelled from the country. There were some who abandoned all their possessions and wealth, and left in poverty in order to remain in the faith, to be Jews. But some had pity on their possessions and wealth, and remained there; they became anuesim [crypto-Jews. lit. forced, compelled]: discreetly, they practiced the Jewish religion, but openly, they were not allowed.

The King died and his son became king. And he began to rule the country very boldly, and conquered many countries; and he was very wise. And because he held the royal ministers with a tight grip, they schemed against him and banded together to attack him and kill him off with all his offspring. And among the ministers was one of the anuesim. He decided, "Why did I become an anues? Because I had pity on my possessions and my wealth. Now if the king will be killed and the country be left without a king, everyone will swallow his fellow alive, for a country cannot exist without a king." Therefore he decided to go and inform the king, without them knowing. And he went and told the king that they had conspired against him, as mentioned. The king went and investigated whether it was true, and he saw it was true, and he stationed guards. On the night they fell upon him they were caught and judged, each one according to his sentence.

The king called and said to the minister who was an anues, "What honor shall I give you for saving me and my offspring? Shall I make you a minister (i.e., a herr)? You are already a minister! Give you money? You have money! Say what honor you want; I will surely do it for you." The anues answered, "But will you really do what I say?" The king said, "Yes, I will certainly do what you wish." The anues said, "Swear to me by your crown and your kingdom." The king swore to him. The anues replied, "My main honor is to be permitted to be a Jew in public - to put on tallis (prayer shawl) and tefillin (phylacteries) in public." The king was extremely disturbed, because in his entire country there were not allowed to be any Jews. But he had no choice because of the oath he had sworn, that whatever he wished he would do for him. In the morning the anoos went and put on tallis and tefilin in public.

Later the king died and his son became king. The son began to rule gently, because he saw they had wanted to eliminate his father, as mentioned. And he conquered many countries and was extremely wise. The new king ordered a convening of all astrologers to tell him what sort of thing could cause his offspring to be cut off, so that he could guard against it. The astrologers told him that his offspring would not be cut off, but only, he should guard himself from a bull and a ram (i.e. from an ox and a lamb); this was written down in the record book. The king ordered his children to also rule the country as he did, gently. Later he died. His son became king, and he began to rule the country stringently, like his grandfather, and conquered many countries. And he fell upon a wisdom, and ordered to announce that no ox or sheep should be found in his country, so that his offspring could not be cut off. So he thought he now had not to fear of anything, and ruled the country very stringently. And he became very wise.

The king fell upon a wisdom that he could conquer the entire world without battle, for there are seven parts in the world, for the world is divided into seven parts, and there are seven planets (i.e. seen luminaries that circle [i.e. make a progression through] the seven days of the week) and each planet shines on one of the seven parts of the world. And there are seven kinds of metals (i.e. seven different metals, namely gold, silver, copper, tin, etc.) and each of the seven planets shines on a specific metal. The king went and gathered all of the seven different metals, and ordered to bring him all the golden portraits of all kings, which hang in their palaces, and from this he made a man. Its head was of gold, its body of silver, and likewise the rest of the limbs, of other metals; in this man were all seven kinds of metal. And he stationed the man on a high mountain, and all of the seven planets shined in the man. And when a man needed any advice, or (had) any business and did not know whether to do it or not, he would stand facing the limb of the type of metal pertaining to the part of the world where he was from. And the man would contemplate whether to do it or not. And if he needed to do it, that limb would light and shine, and if not, it would darken. (All this the king did). And thereby he was conquering the entire world and amassed a lot of money.

However, this effigy that he had made from the seven various metals was not able to perform unless the king would cast down the haughty and raise the lowly. So he went and sent orders to all generals and other ministers who held positions of authority and status. They all came and he demoted them, removing their positions. Even those who had positions which they served since his great-grandfather -- he took them all away, and raised lowly people, appointing them as replacements. Among the ministers whom the king was casting down was the anues. The king asked him, "What is your position?" He answered him, "My position is just to be permitted to be a Jew in public, for the favor that I did for your grandfather." The king took this from him, and he was again an anues.

Once, the king lay down to sleep, and he saw in a dream a clear sky, and he saw all twelve mazalos [constellations of the zodiac] (i.e. the stars in the sky are partitioned into twelve parts, corresponding to the twelve months; a section of the stars is as a lamb, which is the mazal of (the month of) Nissan, and the mazal of (the month of) Iyar is called bull, i.e. an ox; and so each month has its mazal). And he saw the bull and the ram (i.e. the ox and the lamb) that are among the mazalos laughing at him. He awoke with great fury and was very frightened. He ordered to bring the chronicles (i.e. the book wherein everything is written down), and he saw written there, that by bull and ram his offspring would be cut off, and a great terror fell over him. And he told the queen, and a great terror also fell on her and her children. And his heart pounded hard, and he called for all the dream interpreters. And each one interpreted individually, but nothing would enter (into) his ears. And an extremely great terror fell on him. A sage came and told him that inasmuch as he had a tradition from his father that the sun has three hundred and sixty five courses (paths), and there is a place upon which all of the three hundred sixty-five of the sun's paths shine, and an iron rod grows there, whoever has a fear, when he comes to the rod, will be saved from the fear.

This pleased the king very much, and he went with his wife, children, and all his descendants to that place, and the sage also went with them. But in the middle of the way stands an angel who is in charge over anger. For, by anger one creates a destructive angel (i.e. an angel that destroys and spoils), and this angel is appointed over all the destroyers. And this angel is asked the way, for there is a good (Heb: straight) path for a man, and there is a path full of mud, and there is a path full of pits, as well as other paths. And there is a path where there is fire that incinerates from four miles [Heb: parsa'ot] away. (They asked the angel the way, and he told them the path where the fire is.) And the sage kept looking around to see if the fire was there, for he had a tradition from his father that the fire was there. Meanwhile he saw the fire, and he saw kings and Jews dressed in tallis and tefillin traversing the way of [Yid: going about in] the fire. (Heb. only: This was because by those kings there lived Jews in their countries, therefore they were able to traverse the way of the fire). The sage said to the king, "Since I have a tradition that four miles from the fire one is incinerated, I will go no further. You, if you wish, go." And the king thought that since he saw other kings going about there in (Heb: by the way of) the fire, he would also be able to go there. The sage replied, "I have a tradition from my father, so I do not want to go. You, if you wish, go there." The king went with his entire offspring. They caught on fire, and he and his entire offspring were incinerated and all of them were terminated.

When the sage came home, it was a wonder to the ministers that the king and his offspring were cut off. Had he not guarded himself from a bull and a ram? How was it that his offspring and he were terminated? The anues replied, "Through me he was cut off. For the astrologers saw (that by an ox and lamb his offspring would be cut off) but they did not know what they saw. For, an ox - from its hide tefilin are made; and a lamb - from its wool tzitzis (strings) for the tallis are made. And through them the king and his offspring were terminated. For, the kings of countries where Jews live and go about wrapped in tallis and tefillin, were able to go in the fire completely unharmed. But this king, because no Jews dressed in tallis and tefillin were allowed to dwell in his country, was therefore cut off with his offspring. And this was what the bull and the ram of the mazalos had laughed at him. For, the astrologers saw that by bull and ram his offspring would be cut off; however they did not know what they saw, and the king was terminated with his offspring." Amen, so let all Your enemies be obliterated, Hashem!

[Notes Following the Story]

"Why are the nations in an uproar?... You will break them with an iron rod" [Psalms 2] - the iron rod. "... Lest He be angry and you lose your bearing," etc.. And the words are extremely archaic and closed up... All this I [Rabbi Nussun] heard. In addition, I have found some more allusions from this story in this chapter: "... Let us break their restraining bands, and cast away their thick cords from us" -- bands are made of hide, an aspect of tefillin. 'Avos' are cords, an aspect of tzitzis, as our Rabbis ob"m expounded this verse in Tractate Avoda Zarah [3b] regarding tzitzis and tefilin. "He Who dwells on High will laugh" -- for, the bull and the ram laughed at him. "Then He will speak to them in His wrath; and in His anger he will make them panic" -- the anger, the panic, and the fear mentioned above. "But I have anointed My king on Zion, My holy mountain" -- perhaps the allusion here is to the effigy that the king erected on the high mountain; the evil counterpart of the holy, and this is counterpart to the king on the holy Mount Zion, for, all the parts of the world are included there, and so forth, and this is the "mountain" there. "Nasach" (-anoint) is a term as in "nasach vayitzok" (-pouring and pouring-molding) [the statue] [Genesis 35:15]. "Ask of me" -- all the advice mentioned above. "Nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your posssession" - to grasp together all ends of the earth, namely all seven parts of the world, and all the kings and nations as inheritance under him. "Serve" – is tzitzis, "with awe" – is tefilin, and "and rejoice with trembling" -- the trembling mentioned. The entire story is hinted in this chapter, so fortunate is he who knows something of these stories, which were composed with great secrets of the Torah.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

Rabbi Nachman's Legendary Tales