Revelation, Concealment and Censorship in Bratslav Hasidic Literature

Abstract

The reader of Bratslav hasidic literature is confounded by the recurring appearance of the word “etc.,” a word which breaks up the continuity or conclusion of a sentence on nearly every page. It generally indicates the omission of a word or larger fragment which appears in manuscript but is censored in print for various reasons. Indeed, Bratslav books are subject to continuous internal censorship. As long as Bratslav remained a small group, the hasidic reader knew to fill in the lacunae, whether on the basis of oral tradition or manuscripts in their possession. The increase of “new initiates,” however, shifted the balance between concealment and revelation. Until now it has been commonly thought that every later edition is more complete (as they include earlier “omissions”) with the understanding that publishers now reveal that which was previously concealed; the case in recent years, however, is the complete opposite. The very editions “with omissions,” or “with new omissions” – to use the paradoxical expression of the Hasidim (meaning, editions without omissions) – indeed contain many additions scattered throughout various manuscripts, yet they oftentimes excise passages that had previously been printed. The upshot is that each and every edition stands alone, each subject to its own unique censorship. This assortment of editions of Bratslav literature published in the past twenty years has led to a situation in which there are no authoritative editions, as each printer manipulates the text as he or she sees fit. This assessment is germane to all Bratslav publications, yet it is particularly so in regard to the central hagiographic Bratslav text: Hayyei Moharan (The Life of R. Nahman), written by R. Natan of Nemirov during R. Nahman’s lifetime, up to the latter’s death. This work, part of a larger corpus of hagiographic literature authored by R. Natan, was first published with significant omissions in 1874. The complex web of Bratslav hagiographic writings lies at the heart of this article. We address several classic examples of internal censorship, most notably concerning R. Nahman’s dispute with R. Aryeh Leib, the “Shpole Zeide,” as well as the importance of the “omissions” in understanding the teachings found in R. Nahman’s magnum opus Likutei Moharan.