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The Absent Seventh Beggar

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1 This is a box structure outline of Nachman’s Tale of the Seven Beggars, a story composed of a series of nested stories. Since the tale remains incomplete, the nesting structure never works its way back to the outermost frame. Pearl Abraham, author “The Seventh Beggar”1 In the beginning of time, before the mountains were made. Before the sky split, passion sits. In peace and harmony. Creates the space for a new baby. We stay empty in the vision of the King for his dreams will manifest in we. Princes and Priests will come run and emerge as the surge flows like rain. To see, to see the day it come When the King will look into His Kingdom. And to my being and see hisself happy. Believe in me, I believe in we. This is the story of the seven beggars. Trying to get back on a eagle's feathers. Looking for a place to be born amongst the sons and daughters. Get back to you, get back to you. There was an ocean, there was a boat. It ran into the waves and rocks and it broke. From the debris, made the ocean and skies, overt deceit, lies. Ancient tongue. 1 For scholarly analysis of folk themes see Avidov Lipsker: (Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore, 13-14 (1992), pp. 229-248) 2 So the great equal smile. You, you, me, we are the same. You, who remembers all the while, all the way back before the cord was cut? Before the leaves, before the trees, before the sea, and the black ocean breeze. Before the great storm, wandering in this world, waiting for a day to be born. This is the story of the seven beggars. Trying to get back on a eagle's feathers. Looking for a place to be born amongst the son's and daughters. Get back to you, get back to you. And you try to fill yourself up with all this stuff, to fill the hole. I'm trying to feel the whole, reason to talk if you ain't got what to say. And the sounds everything is ok. You know that place where you run away? Well it's time to stay, time to be hungry. Before the beginning Before this song Before right and wrong Before (Everything) Above space and time Above reason and rhyme Above circles and lines Before God start singing We were lost at sea (in the boat). 3 Waves crashed around me (fire and smoke). This is the story of the seven beggars. Trying to get home on a eagle's feathers. Looking for a place to be born amongst the sons and daughters. Get back to you, Get back now get it back. Gon' get it back. Matisyahu - 7 Beggars Lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgyzHKhuXiM Moreen Greenberg Zafed, Israel: Illustration, The Seven Beggars There was once a king who had an only son, and while he lived the king 4 decided to give his crown to the prince. He made a great festival to which all the noblemen of the kingdom came, and in the midst of pomp and ceremony the king placed the crown upon the head of his young son, saying, "I am one who can read the future in the stars, and I see that there will come a time when you will lose your kingdom, but when that time comes you must not be sorrowful; if you can be joyous even when your kingdom is lost, I too will be filled with joy. For you cannot be a true king unless you are a happy man." The son became king, appointed governors, and ruled. He was a lover of learning, and in order to fill his court with wise men he let it be known that he would give every man whatever he desired, either gold or glory, in return for his wisdom; than all the people in that kingdom began to seek for knowledge, in order to get gold or glory from the king. And thus it was that the simplest fool in the land was wiser than the greatest sage of any other country; and in their search for learning, the people forgot the study of war, so the country was left open to the enemy. Among the philosophers in the young king's court there were clever men and infidels who soon filled his mind with doubt. He would ask himself, "Who am I; why am I in the world?" Then he would heave a deep sigh, and fall into melancholy. Only when he would forget this doubt would he again become a happy king; but more often every day he thought, "Why am I in this world?" and sighed. One day the invader came and attacked the unprotected kingdom, and all the people fled. Men and women left their fields and their homes, and the highways were filled with carts and wagons, with people on foot carrying infants in their arms. The fleeing people went through a forest, and there it befell that two five-year-old children were lost: a boy and a girl. After all the people had passed, the children heard each other crying. Then they went up to each other and joined hands, and wandered through the forest. Soon they were hungry, but they did not know where they could get food. Just then they saw a beggar going through the woods, carrying his beggar's sack. They ran to him and clung to him. "Where do you come from?" he asked. "We do not know," the children answered2. In Rabbi Nachman’s story of the Seven Beggars, each one of the wandering holy men gives the young bride and groom his most essential quality as a wedding 2 The Golden Mountain, Meyer Levin, 1932 5 present, this being his most fitting empowerment. 1. The Blind Beggar The blessing of the Blind Beggar is: “You should be old like me; that is, you should have a long life, like mine. You think that I’m blind, but actually, I’m not blind at all. It is just that for me, the entire duration of the world’s existence doesn’t amount to even the blink of an eye . I am extremely old, but I am extremely young. In fact, I have not yet begun to live – but nevertheless, I am very old.” He goes on to describe a contest with other sages about whose memory is the greatest. The Blind Beggar alone remembers the primal Nothingness (Yiddish: “Ich gedenk gohr-nisht!”) that altogether precedes creation. (He is therefore the “Elder on the Side of Holiness” and the “Elder of Elders”; see Chayei Moharan 123 and 272, citing an expression of the Zohar.) And this sublime realization is his gift to the newlyweds – and to us all when we reach the hour of “finding” or spiritual discovery, the unification that is comparable to a wedding. (In Likkutei MoharanI, 65, the tachlis is related to the paradigm of closed eyes, which can perceive the transcendental reality and not be distracted by worldly illusion.) 2. The Deaf Beggar The blessing of the Deaf Beggar is: “You should be like me; that is, you should live a good life, like mine. You think that I’m deaf, but actually, I’m not deaf at all. It is just that the entire world does not amount to anything to me, that I should listen to its deficiencies. All sounds come from deficiencies, since everyone cries out about what he is lacking. Even the world’s joys are due to deficiencies, since one only rejoices when his lack is filled . However, I have a good life in which nothing is lacking.” In the story he tells as proof of his claim, he alone is capable of saving a mythical Land of Wealth, once perfect in its delights, but now corrupted by an evil king and his emissaries. The Deaf Beggar guides the populace to purify themselves of the three poisons of profane speech, which had ruined the sense of taste; bribery, which had ruined the sense of sight; and sexual immorality, which had ruined the sense of smell. Purged of these evils, the ill-tended garden in the midst of the land reverts to its former Eden-like state, and the lost gardener, who had been taken for a madman, is discovered and restored to his former position. Implicit in this sub-plot is the idea that the “good life,” which is the spiritual life, may be experienced through our very senses, if only we would purify ourselves of these toxins. 6 3. The Beggar With a Speech Defect The blessing of the Beggar With a Speech Defect is: “You should be like me. You think that I have a speech defect. I don’t have a speech defect at all. Rather, all the words in the world that do not praise God lack perfection. [Therefore, I seem to have a speech defect, since I cannot speak such imperfect words.] But actually, I don’t have a speech impediment at all. Quite the contrary, I am a wonderful orator and speaker. I can speak in parables and verses that are so wonderful that no created thing in the world doesn’t want to hear me. For the parables and lyrics that I know contain all wisdom.” In the course of the tale he tells to “prove” his claims, the Deaf Beggar indicates that his parables and verses sustain the entire universe – and they reflect the animating wisdom of all seven days of creation, which was brought into being through the divine speech.
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