What roles does humor play in Jewish life?

Rebbe Nachman told the story of a king who built a palace and asked two men to decorate it. The king divided the palace into two parts and assigned one part to each of them. He also fixed a time limit to complete their work. The first man toiled to teach himself the art of painting and plastering and was able to paint his part of the palace with the most beautiful and unusual murals. But the second man paid no attention to the assignment and did nothing about it whatsoever. As the deadline approached, he realized he had little time left. So he plastered his entire portion with a black substance called pakist, a kind of shiny pitch. The pakist acted like a mirror, reflecting everything around it.

The king came and admired the first man’s part, with its wondrous and beautiful paintings executed with extraordinary skill. The second part was covered with a curtain. When the king approached, the second man stood up and drew aside the curtain. The sun was shining, and all the remarkable paintings appeared in his section in their entirety because of the pakist, which reflected everything like a mirror. This found favor in the eyes of the king. (See full story in Tzaddik #224.)

--Retold by Yossi Katz at Breslov.org, Pathways 2017

Arthur Green refers to this character as a 'wizard-figure' seen also in some of Rabbi Nachman's other stories. "He is a prototype of the tzaddik, of whom Nahman has told us elsewhere that he can help find what you have lost and can laugh at the entire world."(Tormented Master, p. 359).

"Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs,[1] better known as the "Wizard of Oz" and, during his reign, as "Oz, the Great and Terrible", is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum." -Wikipedia, “Wizard of Oz (Character)”

Tormented Master, Excursus II: The Tales

"The story confronts us as a series of puzzles. Who is this king who collects portraits of all the kings in the world, but is missing just this one? Who is the wise man sent to obtain it, and what is the true nature of his mission? And who is the jokester at the center of the world who helps the wise man on his way? How does the hero get through the barriers of sea and swamp and suddenly arrive in the market-place of that kingdom? What are the lies, the officials, and most puzzling of all, who is the king at the end of the tale and what does the wise man see when the curtain is cast aside?" p. 357

“revelation requires an act of divine self-contraction” p 358 [Green connects this with the kabbalistic concept of צמצום/tzimtzum/ contraction.]

“Kabbalism represents a highly anthropocentric world view, in which the participation of man in the redemptive process is essential. …. The pre-Hasidic Kabbalist generally placed his emphasis on the collective character of this redemption-work… In Hasidism…much more emphasis was placed upon the particular task of the individual: …. there are bits of divinity in the world that can be uplifted by you and you alone. … The seeker goes through life, stumbling about in the world of lies, until he finally returns to that world from which he was sent, bearing with him a new portrait of the king, one that could be painted only at the end of that lifetime.” pp. 359-360

“…it is by no means inconceivable that Nahman had yet another of his many mirrors in mind at the end of the tale, and that the hero, casting aside the curtain, takes his own self-portrait back with him as a new likeness of the king.” p. 360

Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters, New York: Random House,1972

"Rebbe Nahman knew how to laugh, wanted to laugh. Mostly about himself. He played with the urchins to mock the Rebbe inside him. He played war to show the absurdity of wars. He posed as a madman to deride reason and appearances, and as a penniless nomad to underline the grotesque aspect of posses-sions. He played the clown to rid himself of the last vestiges of pride that persisted inside him. All this he could not do where he was known. That is why, at home, he went to the other extreme: he disarmed his pride by pushing it to its limits, by exaggerating his own importance in all areas, in all spheres. By conferring upon himself unlikely dimensions, he deliberately made himself into a caricature. To provoke laughter. And certainly also to exasperate his adversaries. These adversaries he used as a pretext, as a front. He aimed higher. Pride, his falsest and most successful mask, allowed him to laugh louder yet."

"In one of his tales we read: 'Once upon a time there was a country that encompassed all the countries of the world. And in that country, there was a town that incorporated all the towns of the country; and in that town there was a street in which were gathered all the streets of the town; and on that street there was a house that sheltered all the houses of the street; and in that house there was a room, and in that room there was a man, and that man personified all men of all countries and that man laughed and laughed—no one had ever laughed like that before.'"

"Who is that man? The Creator laughing at His creation?

"Man sending Him back His laughter as an echo, or perhaps as a challenge? Will we ever know?" - pp. 199-200

Next Class: Tale The Seven Beggars: The Fifth Day ("The Hunchback")