Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me’uman (hebräisch נַ נַחְ נַחְמָ נַחְמָן מֵאוּמַן) ist ein hebräischer Name und ein Lied aus der Tradition einer Gruppierung der Breslover Chasidim, welche umgangssprachlich als „Na Nachs“ bezeichnet werden. Es ist eine kabbalistische Phrase[1] die auf die vier hebräischen Buchstaben des Namen „Nachman“ zurückgeht, und damit auf den Gründer der Breslov-Bewegung, Rebbe Nachman von Breslov, zusammen mit einer Referenz auf seinen Begräbnisort in Uman, Ukraine.[2]
1922, Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser, a Breslover Hasid, claimed to have received a petek (note) addressed to him from Rebbe Nachman, although the latter had died in 1810. The seventh line of this petek is signed he|Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman, which became Rabbi Odesser's personal meditation and song. Before he died, he taught this phrase to a group of devotees who formed the Na Nach- movement.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein may have been referring to the petek in his endorsement of Odesser's book distribution ambition, stating that he saw a "wondrous secret document which he possesses".[3]
Geschichte der Phrase
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The Na Nach Nachma phrase was revealed to and taught by Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser, the authentic Breslov figure who was born in 1888 in Tiberias. Rabbi Israel was among the first Breslover Hasidim in Israel, having learned about the movement from Rabbi Yisroel Halpern when he was a young yeshiva student.
When he was 33 years old, Rabbi Israël was overcome with weakness and hunger on the Fast of Tammuz. He decided or rather felt that he had to eat, in connection to the great that befell on him then. But immediately after eating, he felt great sorrow at having succumbed to his own physical temptations. After six continuous days of prayer, a powerful thought came to him: "Go into your room!" He did as the inner voice said, went to the bookcase, that was locked and only himself had the key of the locker, and randomly opened a book. In the book was a piece of paper that he would later call "The Letter from Heaven." (Another version of the story is that Odesser was sitting in a synagogue with a second tier serving as its Womens section, when the synagogues sexton decided to play a joke and throw the paper down at Odesser.) The paper, written in Hebrew, with one line in Yiddish, is translated as follows: Vorlage:Quote
R. I. Odesser the understood the letter to be a message of consolation, above other marvellous things inside, directly from Rebbe Nachman's spirit to himself here on earth. Since his name did not appear in the petek as the recipient, Odesser said that this was reason for every person to consider the petek addressed to himself or herself personally.[5] Odesser adopted Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman}}[6] as his personal meditation and song, and became so totally identified with it that he later said, "I am Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman!" (This quote appears on Odesser's tombstone in Jerusalem.)
Pronunciation and meaning of the phrase
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During his lifetime, Rebbe Nachman spoke of a "Song of Redemption" that would be revealed before the coming of the Jewish Messiah. This song would be in a "single, double, triple, quadruple" form. (Likutei Moharan II, #8}}). Another possible explanation for this phrase is that the Talmud states in Tractate Pesachim that if one wants to rid himself of a certain demon that inflicts water he should say שברירי ברירי רירי ירי רי thereby diminishing the effects of the demon. Just as we see that saying phrases with diminishing letters can diminish the effects of something impure, so to saying and adding to the name of a righteous person can exemplify him to the greatest high.[7] Na Nach Nachma}} phrase has such a structure (keeping in mind that Hebrew often omits the vowels) and is based on the Rebbe's name, "Nachman":
- Vorlage:Transl (One Hebrew letter: Nun) — Vorlage:Script/Hebrew
- Vorlage:Transl (Two Hebrew letters: Nun-Chet) — Vorlage:Script/Hebrew
- Vorlage:Transl (Three Hebrew letters: Nun-Chet-Mem) — Vorlage:Script/Hebrew
- Vorlage:Transl (Four Hebrew letters: Nun-Chet-Mem-Nun) — Vorlage:Script/Hebrew
- Vorlage:Transl (a pun: it can mean "from Uman", Rebbe Nachman's burial place, and can also mean "believed" or "accredited".) — Vorlage:Script/Hebrew
The phrase is pronounced with a soft A sound as in "ah" and a guttural KH sound as in German "ach." It is usually accented as follows:
Speakers of Yiddish have also noted that Vorlage:Transl can mean "now to," which would loosely translate the phrase as "Now to Nachman from Uman," that is, traveling to the Rebbe on pilgrimage to his gravesite or in one's heart.
Popularity of the phrase today
BearbeitenWhatever the origins of this phrase, it is now very popular among a subgroup group of Breslover Hasidim who follow Rabbi Odesser, who are colloquially known as the Na Nachs. The name has been incorporated into both traditional and contemporary[8] Jewish music, appeared on bumper stickers, billboards and public graffiti throughout Israel, and is used on jewellery and amulets. Among some groups of Sephardic Jewish youth in Israel, it has become a sort of rallying cry for returning to traditional Judaism, although not necessarily to mainstream Breslov.[9]
More recently, some people have begun to wear the words of the phrase crocheted on large, white yarmulkes with a little tassel on top. (These hats are a modification of a traditional white yarmulke that has been worn in Jerusalem for centuries. That style, in turn, apparently evolved from the medieval Jewish hat with the ball on top—hence the tassel.Vorlage:Citation needed) When Rabbi Odesser was still alive, some of his followers were already wearing large white yarmulkes, but without the phrase on them. Today, the Vorlage:Transl make this crocheted yarmulke part of their uniform attire. Vorlage:Transl yarmulkes in other colors are also appearing on the market and are a popular item for Purim.
Bibliography
BearbeitenThe following books were written on the Vorlage:Transl and the meaning of its words:
- Vorlage:Transl ("The Compass of the Petek"), by Amos Levi. This book divides the 6,000 years of the world by the 51 words of the Vorlage:Transl, allocating 120 years to each word, analyzing history and the future based on the corresponding word and letters in the Vorlage:Transl. E.g. the first word of the Vorlage:Transl, Vorlage:Transl (very) corresponds to the first 120 years of the world. Thus the Hebrew letters of the word Vorlage:Transl, מאד, can be rearranged to spell Adam, אדם, the first person to live in those years.Vorlage:Efn-ua
- Seventy Rectifications of the Vorlage:Transl
- Vorlage:Transl ("This Will Comfort Us"), by Rabbi Yitzhak Vorlage:Proper name. An in-depth study of every word and letter of the Vorlage:Transl.
Einzelnachweise
Bearbeiten- ↑ „Achorayim“ - A progressive expansion of the name, one letter at a time. Archiviert vom am 1. November 2013; abgerufen am 10. September 2017 (englisch).
- ↑ R' Yoel Roth - Father Bring Me To Uman (Shiezoli. Official Channel - YouTube)
- ↑ File:00000050 moshe feinstein haskama petek.JPG - Zissil.
- ↑ "Prayer and teaching were done by Rabbi Yisrael about risk of "young people of Israel"… but with Torah also in Derech Eretz" (BH - YouTube)
- ↑ Yisroel Saba tape recording and transcript.
- ↑ ...i.e. Nachman Song Vorlage:Quote
- ↑ Pesachim 112a:5.
- ↑ Eve And Lear – song (YouTube)
- ↑ Nachmanim Song – Official Remix (YouTube)
Quellen
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- Nachman of Breslov: The Letter from Heaven. (englisch, Volltext [Wikisource] Übersetzung aus dem Hebräischen).
- The Letter from Heaven: Rebbe Nachman’s Song. an account of Rabbi Odesser’s life and the story of the Vorlage:Transl, published by Netzach Yisroel Press, Israel, 1991, 1995.
- Young Buds of the Stream, letters to Zalman Shazar from Rabbi Odesser, English edition published by Netzach Yisroel Press, Israel 1995. S. 37–43 contain a detailed explanation of the meaning of the phrase.
- Outpouring of the Soul, translated by Aryeh Kaplan. (Compilation of Nachman of Breslovs quotes on meditation and prayer). Breslov Research Institute, 1980.
Weblinks
Bearbeiten- Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser page—direct link to the section discussing the authenticity of the Letter from Heaven (including handwriting analysis, police lab analysis of the paper, etc.) and cites references to similar miraculous letters mentioned in the Talmud.
- NaNach.Net Current news about Na Nachs all over the world. Sabba Yisroel, the community, pictures, videos and articles about people shouting Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman!
- Haaretz, 5/25/08 Ha'aretz: Rolling with the Na Nachs, the most high-spirited and newest Hasidic sect
- Understanding the secret message of Rabbi Nachman „Na, Nach, Nachma, Nachman m’Uman.“ (www.jpost.com)
[[Category:Breslov Hasidism]] [[Category:Hebrew words and phrases]]