The Rebbe’s Melody
The Hasidim held that deep secrets of the Torah could be found hidden in melodies. According to the teller of this tale, it was said of Reb Shneyer Zalmen, the founder of Habad Hasidism, that before he sat down to his studies he would sing the following song:
All the angels, all the seraphim
Ask who God may be.
Ah woe, what can we reply?
“No thought can be attached to Him.”
All the peoples—every nation—
Ask where God may be.
Ah woe, what can we reply?
“No place is without Him.”
There is a third stanza, said the storyteller, but he could not remember it. Tradition has it that Reb Shneyer Zalmen wrote ten songs to accompany each of the ten mystical sfires, the divine emanations in which God’s creative power unfolds, according to Cabalistic doctrine. One of those melodies, wide-spread among the Hasidim, was known as “The Rebbe’s Melody.” And about it, the storyteller told the following tale.
One Sabbath day Reb Shneyer Zalmen was explicating Torah to his disciples. As he spoke, he noticed an old man, a stranger to him, sitting tensely opposite him. The man was staring into the Rebbe’s eyes and seemed to be trying desperately to understand what was being said, but it was clear from the grieving look on his face that he could not.
When the Rebbe retired into his study, he sent for the stranger and asked him if he had comprehended the day’s discourse. The man wept as he replied that he had been unable to follow the holy words. He explained that he had been orphaned at an early age. And his mother had been too poor to keep him in primary school, because she needed his help in supporting the family. So he became a workingman, and later, when he married, he did not have time for Torah study because he was supporting his wife and children. “All I can do,” he said, “is to recite the Psalms. And though I recite them daily, I don’t understand them too well.
“Now in my later years, with my children grown and out of the house, I find myself drawn to the study of Torah, but the scholars in the synagogue laugh at me.
“And so, having heard that you befriend all men, I’ve come to sit at your table to study along with the others. It’s made me very happy to be a man among men at last. But when you begin to explain the Torah and I can’t understand what you’re saying, my happiness curdles and my joy turns to grief.
“Rebbe, Holy Rebbe, tell me how to become worthy of studying with you. What must I do to understand the Torah?”
The man bowed his head and the tears streamed down his face. Reb Shneyer Zalmen put his hand on the man’s shoulder and said gently, “No more tears. Today is the Sabbath and one may not be sad on the Sabbath.
“What you heard me explaining today was the Baal Shem Tov’s conception of Hasidism. And if you haven’t understood what I said in words, I’ll help you by singing a song. Listen, for all of the Baal Shem’s thought is hidden in it.”
And here Reb Shneyer Zalmen began to sing a sweet melody, one phrase after another. The man listened as if he had been turned into a pillar of attention. Not so much as an eyebrow moved. And the more the Rebbe sang, the brighter was the glow in the man’s face. He felt his soul being transported. A warm flush of happiness surged through him. When the Rebbe finished singing, the man cried out, “Rebbe, I understand, I understand. Ah, Rebbe, I feel worthy now to be your student.”
And from then on, it was the Rebbe’s custom to sing that melody at the conclusion of his discourses as a way of clarifying them, just in case there was someone at his table who could not fully understand his words.
And the melody is known to this day as “The Rebbe’s Melody.”
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Glossary
Reb: The traditional title prefixed to a man’s name; comparable to “Mister” in English.Rebbe: (lit., “my master”) A Hasidic spiritual leader; a rebbe may or may not also be a “rov” (ordained rabbi, q.v.). A “melamed” is usually addressed by his young pupils as “Rebbe.”
Torah: (Yid. “toyre”) The Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses; the scroll on which these first five books of the Bible are written. The term refers also to Jewish law in general and to the traditional study of sacred Jewish texts.
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Annotations
COLLECTOR: A. Rekhtman, member of An-ski Expedition.SOURCE: Rekhtman (1958), pp. 259–61.
COMMENTS: Shneyer Zalmen (1745–1813) of Lyadi (Lvady), U.S.S.R., was the founder of Habad Hasidism, Habad being an acronym for *khokhme* (wisdom), *bine* (understanding), and *daas* (knowledge). See tale no. 175, “The Bridge Hobgoblin,” for another story about this rebbe.
