Crossing the Narrow Bridge - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav 6 - Tale: The Wise Man & the Simpleton

... כְּנֶגֶד אַרְבָּעָה בָּנִים The Torah relates to four types of sons – one who is wise, one who is wicked, one with a simple nature, and one who does not know how to ask.

The WISE SON/Chacham/חכם what does he say? “What are the testimonies, the statutes and laws, that the LORD our God commanded you?” And you must tell him the laws of Pesaḥ: “After eating the Pesaḥ offering one does not eat anything more.”

The WICKED SON/Rasha`/רשע what does he say? “What is this service to you?” “To you,” he says, not to him. When he sets himself apart from the community, he denies the very core of our beliefs. And you must set his teeth on edge and tell him, “Because of this the LORD acted for me when I came out of Egypt.” “For me,” and not for him; had he been there he would not have been redeemed.

The SIMPLE-NATURED SON/Tam/תם what does he say? “What is this?” And you must tell him, “With a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the grip of slavery.”

And the ONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO ASK/ve'she'eino yode'a lish'ol/ושאינו יודע לשאול you must open [the story] for him, as it is said: “And you shall tell your child on that day, ‘Because of this the LORD acted for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

Tale 9: The Clever Man and The Simple Man (lit. Of a Wise One and a Simple One)

[Introduction] Once there were two home-owners in a city who had great wealth, large houses and two sons; that is, each one of them had a son. The two children learned together in the same schoolhouse. One of them was a khakham [clever, smart, sophisticated, wise] and the other was a tam [simple, innocent, artless, wholesome] (not that he was a fool; rather, his intellect was simple, without sophistication). The two sons loved each other very much. Even though one was khakham and the other was tam,they nevertheless loved each other very much.

Came a time when the two householders began to decline. They continued to decline until they lost everything and became destitute with nothing remaining but their houses. As the sons began to grow up, their fathers told them: We do not have enough to pay for you, to sustain you. Do for yourselves what you can.

[The Simple Man and the Clever Man Learn Trades] The tam went and learned shoemaking. The khakham, who was a bar-havana, [an astute, discerning person], didn't want to apply himself to such a common trade. He decided he would travel the world and see what to do. As he was going about the marketplace, he saw a large wagon with four horses in harness speeding through. He called out to the merchants, "Where are you from?" They answered him, "From Warsaw." "Where are you going?" "To Warsaw." He asked them, "Perhaps you need workers?" They saw that he was astute, motivated, and looked good. So they accepted him. He traveled off with them and served them very well on the way.

When they arrived in Warsaw, since he was a bar-havana, he decided, "Since I am already in Warsaw, why should I remain with these [merchants]? Maybe there is a better place than [with] them. I shall go search and see." As he walked around in the marketplace, he began to investigate and inquire about the men who had brought him, and whether there would be a better place than [with] them. They answered that these people [who had brought him] are honest people and it's good to be with them. However, it is very difficult to be with them since their business dealings are in very distant places.

So he went and offered himself to a proprietor. And the way with servants is, at first one has to be hired for less and do the heavier work. Then later, one advances to better jobs. The proprietor would use him for very hard work, sending him off to nobility carrying merchandise in the manner of servants--prominently displaying the garments on their extended arms; this work was very hard for him. Sometimes he needed to carry the merchandise to upper floors, and this work was very hard for him. He decided, since he was a philosopher, a discerning person: "Why do I need this work? Is not the main point the ultimate purpose--to get married and make a living? I don't need to see to that yet; I will be free for that later, in the years to come. Meanwhile, it would be better to travel, visiting countries, feasting my eyes on the world."

Meanwhile, many years passed and he became even more knowledgeable on account of having been in many countries [DR including Italy and Spain.]. He decided, "Now, it's time to look at the ultimate purpose." He began to philosophize about what he should do. It seemed to him that he should learn goldsmithery, which is a major occupation, a nice craft, entailing great insight and very profitable. And since he was such a bar-havana and philosopher, he didn't need to study the trade many years; merely in a quarter year he received the skill, and he became quite a great craftsman, even more of an expert than the one who had trained him.

(The Wise One goes on to become a gem cutter and a physician. He must study Latin to study medicine.)

[The Clever Man Afflicted, the Simple Man Joyful] After all this, the world began to seem, in his eyes, as nil. For due to his genius, and since he was such a great craftsman and so wise and such a doctor, every person in the world was like nil to him. He decided that he would now accomplish the purpose and take a wife. He opined to himself: "If I marry here, who will know what has become of me? Let me rather go back home, so that people will see what has become of me. I left as a young boy and now I have come to such greatness." And he picked up and traveled home, experiencing great afflictions on the way. For on account of his sophistication he didn't have anything in common with people about which to converse. [He was so worldly and refined that] he found no lodging up to his standards and so, he felt constantly afflicted.

For now, let us set aside the story of the clever man; and we will begin to tell the story of the simple man. The simple man learned shoemaking, and since he was a simple person he had to study the trade a great deal until he got it, and [even then,] he did not have complete expertise in the craft. He took a wife, and he sustained himself from his work. And since he was a simple person and was not such an expert, therefore his livelihood came with a great deal of pressing and was very limited. He didn't even have time to eat because he always had to work, due to his inability to [be more proficient] in his craft. Only while he was working--when he had inserted the nail and pulled through the cobbler's thread--only then would he take a bite of a piece of bread and eat.

[The simple man's] customary behavior was to be always very joyful. He was constantly full only of happiness. And he had all the foods, all the drinks and all the clothing. He would say to his wife, "My wife, give me to eat;" and she would gave him a piece of bread and he ate. Then he would say, "Give me the sauce with buckwheat groats," and she would cut him off another slice of bread and he ate. And he would praise and say, "How very good and nice is this sauce!" Similarly he would order himself served meat and other delicacies, and for each dish, she would give him a slice of bread from which he would have great pleasure and give great praise. "How well prepared this is!" as if he had actually eaten that very dish. For he would really and truly feel, in the bread that he ate, the taste of all the foods he wanted; on account of his great temimuth [the quality of being tam; simplicity; wholesomeness; naivete; innocence] and his immense joy.

[The Clever Man Arrives Back in Town] In the meantime, there was a commotion--the clever man is traveling and coming here with great pomp and sophistication! The simple man also came running to greet him with great joy. He said to his wife, "Give me quick the yupa! I shall go and greet my dear friend; I will see him." She gave him the peltz and he ran to greet him. Now the clever man was riding pompously in a horse-drawn carriage; the simple man came out to greet him and welcomed him joyously, with great love, "My dear brother, how do you do? Blessed is God for bringing you and giving me the privilege of seeing you!" And the clever man, for whom the entire world was like nothing, as was stated above [that everyone and everything in the world was insignificant to him, for he considered himself above all the world] — all the more so such a person as [the tam] who seems crazy. But nonetheless, on account of their shared childhood love, he drew him close and traveled with him into town.

Now the two householders, the fathers of these two sons, had died during the time when the clever son was traveling the world. Their houses had been left [as an inheritance]. The simple son, who had remained local, moved into his father's house claiming his inheritance. The clever son, however, had been in foreign countries and had no one to receive the house. So the clever man's house became ruined and was lost--nothing remained of it. Thus the clever man had no house to enter when he arrived. He traveled to an inn but was anguished there because it wasn't up to his standards.

The simple man now found himself a new occupation--he would constantly run from his house to the clever man with love and joy. He noticed that the clever man was suffering from the lodgings. So the simple man said to the clever man, "Brother, come over to my house and stay with me! I will gather all my belongings into one bundle and you'll have my entire house at your disposal." This was agreeable to the clever man, so he moved into his house and stayed with him.

[The King Sends for the Clever Man and Simple Man] Now these two sons were known in public by their nicknames: "Khakham--Clever" and "Tam--Simple." Even though there are many clever and simple people in the world, still, in this case, it was unusually apparent. For they were both from the same town, went to school together, and the one had become such an extraordinary genius, while the other was so extremely simple. Even in the public registry (the book listing the citizens) where they record everyone's given name and family name, these two were registered only by their nicknames--"Khakham" and "Tam."

One time, the king was perusing the registry and found these two recorded solely by their nicknames, "Clever" and "Simple." The king was amazed and very much wanted to see them. He realized, "If I suddenly send for them to come before me, they will be very frightened. The clever one won't know at all what to make of this, and the simple man might go crazy from fear." So, the king decided to send a khakham to the khakham and a tam to the tam. But where does one get a tam in the royal [capital] city? For in the royal city [where the king lives] the majority are smart people. However, the one who is appointed overseer of the treasury — he is intentionally a simple person. For they do not want to appoint a clever person overseer of the treasury. Perhaps through his cleverness and his intellect he will embezzle all the funds; therefore they expressly put a simple person in charge of the treasury.

The messengers traveled off and arrived there. They delivered the letters to them; the clever one delivered to the "khakham" and the simple one to the "tam." Now the "tam", as soon as he was delivered the letter, spoke up to emissary (who was also simple, as above) saying, "See here. I don't know what is written in the letter. Read it to me." He answered him, "I'll tell you by memory what is written in it. The king wants you to come to him." Immediately he asked, "Are you making fun of me?" He answered him, "It is the absolute truth; no kidding." [The tam] was instantly filled with joy and ran, saying to his wife, "My wife, the king has sent for me!" She asked him, "What is it about? Why [has he sent for you?!]" He had no time to answer her at all. He immediately and joyfully rushed off to travel with the emissary, right away entering and sitting down in the carriage. There he found the above-mentioned clothes and he became happier and happier.

[The King Appoints the Simple Man as Governor, Minister] In the meantime, reports were sent that the governor was corrupt, and the king deposed him. The king made up his mind: it would be good to have a simple person be governor, for a tam would conduct the country with truth and justice, since he would not know any sophisticated or contriving ways. So, the king decided that he should make the above-mentioned simple son the governor. He issued orders that the "tam," for whom he had already sent, be appointed governor immediately upon entering the provincial capital. For that would be the route the "tam" must travel. Therefore they should watch the city gates so that as soon as the "tam" arrives, they should detain him and install him as governor. They did so. They stood over the gates and as soon as he drove through, they stopped him and told him that he had been appointed governor. He inquired, saying, "Please don't clown around with me." They answered him, "Of course! No joking at all! The "tam" immediately became governor, with authority and power.

Now that his mazal went up — and [as the Talmud teaches,] mazal machkim [as the mazal (flow) goes up, so does one's wisdom] -- the "tam" acquired a bit of discernment. Nonetheless, he did not make use of his wisdom at all but just conducted himself with his temimuth (simplicity) as before, and he led the state with temimuth, with truth and with integrity, with not a drop of corruption. For management of state requires no great intellect nor special knowledge, just uprightness and temimuth. When two people came before the "tam" for judgment, he would say, "You are innocent and you are liable," purely according to his simplicity and truthfulness, without any crookedness nor deceit. And thus he conducted everything truthfully.

(The Simple One learns intellectual ideas and languages while retaining his simplicity. He becomes prominent.)

[The Clever Man Denies There is a King] [Returning to] the khakham--the clever man. When the letter from the king came to the "khakham," he replied to the clever person who had delivered it, "Wait. Spend the night here. We'll talk it over and we'll come to a decision." That evening, he prepared him a great feast. During the meal the khakham waxed wise, analyzing with his cleverness and philosophy. He spoke up and said, "What can this mean, that such a king should send for such a lowly person as me? What am I that the king should send for me? Such a king with such authority and prestige! And me, so insignificant and despicable compared with such a great king — well, how is it conceivable that such a king should send for so unimportant a person as me? If I should say on account of my wisdom, what am I next to the king? What! The king doesn't have any wise men? Moreover, the king is certainly a great sage himself. So what is this, that the king should send for me?" He was very, very astonished by this. He spoke up, saying (that is, the original khakham, who was the simple man's childhood friend--for all this conjecture was the original khakham's monologue describing his astonishment and surprise, to which he now answers his own rhetoric, saying to the clever messenger), "You know what I say? My opinion is that it clearly must be that there is no king whatsoever in the world. That the entire world is mistaken in this foolishness; that they think there is a king. See! Understand — how can it be possible that the entire world should give itself over to depend on one man, that he should be the king? There is certainly no king in the world at all."

The clever messenger replied, "Haven't I brought you a letter from the king?" The original khakham asked him, "Did you yourself receive the letter from the king's hand directly?" He answered him, "No. Just another person gave me the letter in the king's name." He answered up, saying, "Now see with your own eyes that my words are correct--that there is absolutely no king." He returned to asking him, "Tell me, are you not from the capital city and did you not grew up there all your life? Tell me, have you ever, in all your days, seen the king?" He answered, "No." (For in fact it is so, that not everyone is privileged to see the king, for the king does not reveal himself [publicly] except on rare occasion.) The original khakham declared, "Now open your eyes and see that I am correct, that there is definitely no king whatsoever, for even you have never seen the king." Once again the messenger answered the khakham, "If it is really so, who then rules the country?" The first khakham responded, "That — I'll make clear to you, for it is [specifically] me you should ask, since I am an expert in this. I have wandered about in [many] countries; I've been to Italy. The customary practice is that there are seventy ministerial advisers [senators] who go up and lead the country for a certain time. Then the authority is given over to the next group until each and every resident takes a turn." His words started to penetrate into the clever messenger's ears until they came to agree and conclude that there definitely is no king in the world at all.

(The Wise One and the wise official go off traveling together.)

[The Clever Man Meets with the Simple Man] The circumstances played out that they were wandering about until they came to the city in which the minister lived (that is, the "tam," the simple man, the friend of the "khakham," the clever man). There in that city was a genuine Baal Shem [lit. "Master of the (Divine) Name;" a holy man and miracle worker]. The Baal Shem was held in high esteem because he had done truly amazing things, and even among the nobility he was important and famous. The two clever men came into the city, walked about and came before the house of the Baal Shem. They saw many wagons stationed there--forty or fifty--with sick people. The khakham figured that a doctor must live there. He wanted to go into the house, for since he too was a great doctor, he wanted to go in to make his acquaintance. He asked, "Who lives here?" They answered him, "A Baal Shem." This filled his mouth with laughter and he said to his friend, "This is another lie and an outrageous mistake! This is even more nonsense than the mistake about the king! Brother, let me tell you about this fallacy, how very much the world is fooled by this lie.

(The Wise One and his wise travel companion make fun of the Baal Shem and are punished. The Wise One seeks redress and eventually finds himself face to face with the governor, his old friend, the Simple One.)

(42) Immediately the [simple] minister initiated, saying to him, "See my temimuth (my simplicity), to what it has brought me — to greatness such as this! And to what has your cleverness brought you?" The khakham spoke up and said, "That it turns out that you are my friend, the tam — about this we can speak later. Right now, give me a judgement against them for having hit me." He asked him, "Why [did they hit you]?" He answered him, "Because I spoke against the Baal Shem, that he is a lie and a great fraud." Answered up the tam prime minister saying, "You still adhere to your contrivances? Look, you once said you could easily reach my [level], but I could not reach yours. Now see that I have already long reached your [level], as mentioned above [that the tam had already become exceedingly wise as well] but you still have not reached mine. And I see that it is far more difficult for you to come to my temimuth [level of simplicity]."

However, since the tam minister had known him from long ago when [the khakham] was still great, he ordered that he be given garments in which to be attired and he bid that he dine with him.

(43) While they were eating, they began to converse, the khakham started trying to prove his aforementioned opinion that there is no king at all. The tam minister snarled at him, "What!? I myself have seen the king!" The khakham answered him glibly, "Do you know personally that it was the king? Do you know him, his father and his grandfather to have been kings? From where do you know that this is the king? People have told you that this is the king. They have deceived you with a lie." The tam became deeply vexed about the king, that he should deny the king's [existence].

Meanwhile someone came and said, "The Devil (Heb. `Azazel,Yid. Toivl) has sent for you (plural)." The tam shook with terror and ran and told his wife with great trepidation how the Devil had sent for him. She advised him to send for the Baal Shem. He sent for him; the Baal Shem came and gave him kame`as [amulets containing holy names] and [other] protections and told him that he need no longer fear at all. He had great faith in this.

The Devil had snatched those two sophisticates and carried them off to [a place of] slime and mud. There the Devil would sit on a throne amidst the muck. He threw them into the mire which was thick and sticky, literally like glue, and they were completely unable to move in the muck. They (these clever guys) screamed (at those who were afflicting them, that is the Devil and his henchmen), "Wicked ones! What are you torturing us for? Is there really a Devil in the world? You are evil, torturing us for no reason!" (For these smart men still did would not believe that there is a Devil; instead they insisted that evil thugs were persecuting them without cause.) The two sophisticates were left in the thick mire and were trying to figure out, "What is this? These are nothing but hooligans with whom we had once quarreled, and now they are afflicting us so harshly." They remained there, tortured and horribly abused for a number of years.

[The Clever Man Admits There is a King on the Earth] One time the tam--the simple man [who became the prime] minister--passed by the Baal Shem's home and was reminded of his friend, the khakham, the clever man. He went in to the Baal Shem and leaned in to him (as is the way of officials [wishing not to be overheard]), asking whether it would be possible to show him the khakham and whether he could extricate him. He said to the Baal Shem, "Do you remember the khakham whom the Devil sent for and carried away, and who has not been seen since?" He answered him, "Yes." He bid him to please show him the place [of the khakham] and to extricate him from there. The Baal Shem said to him, "I can certainly show you his place and take him out. Only no one but you and I may go." So they went together. The Baal Shem did what he knew [to transcend space and time in order to locate and go to the place] and they arrived there. He saw how they lay there in the thick muck and slime. When the khakham noticed the minister, he screamed to him, "Brother, look! They are beating and torturing me so intensely--these hooligans--for no reason!" The minister snarled at him, "Still, you hold to your contrivances and don't want to believe in anything at all?! You say these are people?? Now see here! Look! This is the Baal Shem whom you had denied. He is specifically the one who can take you out (and he will show you the truth)." The tam, the minister, beseeched the Baal Shem to take them out and show them that this is the Devil and that these are not humans.

The Baal Shem did what he did, and they were left standing on the dry land with no mire there at all. And the damaging demons became plain dust. Then the khakham saw and begrudgingly was forced to admit to everything, that there is indeed a king [and there is indeed a genuine Baal Shem], etc.

(27) When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors/'ish sadeh/איש שדה; but Jacob became a mild [=simple] man/'ish tam/איש תם, raising livestock [DR: dwelling in tents].

(3) He was mindful of His steadfast love and faithfulness/'emunato/ אמונתו toward the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth beheld the victory of our God.

Aryeh Kaplan: "The mansions or houses denote faith," comment to the tale in p. 131 of his The Lost Princess and Other Kabbalistic Tales of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (Jewish Lights, 2005)

(1) Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from every man, as it is said: “From all who taught me have I gained understanding” (Psalms 119:99). Who is mighty? He who subdues his [evil] inclination, as it is said: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot, as it is said: “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors, you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2) “You shall be happy” in this world, “and you shall prosper” in the world to come. Who is he that is honored? He who honors his fellow human beings as it is said: “For I honor those that honor Me, but those who spurn Me shall be dishonored” (I Samuel 2:30).

(8) He [Balaam] said to them [=the emissaries of King Balak], “Spend the night here, and I shall reply to you as ה׳ may instruct me.” So the Moabite dignitaries stayed with Balaam.