Tale of the Seven Beggars (2010)

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As I mentioned at the time, in 2009 Jewish Lights Publishing published The Seven Beggars & Other Kabbalistic Tales Of Rebbe Nachman Of Breslov, translated by Aryeh Kaplan. A few months ago another translation or “retelling” came out, this time by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. The title of this book is Tale of the Seven Beggars. Beside the acknowledgements, preface, prologue, postrscript, notes, and notes about the authors the book includes the 6 original tales of beggars (Blind, Deaf, Mumbling, Twist-Necked, Hunchback, Handless) and the last one reinterpreted by Richard A. Siegel (“Seventh”). Still, the book ends up only 92 pages. You may want to compare this to the JLP book, with its 152 pages and 16 additional tales, beyond the 7 beggars’. But quantity doesn’t necessarily translate to quality. I haven’t read either so I can’t really compare them. Both translators are among my favorite authors, so I would probably enjoy both.

If you would judge a book by its cover my choice would go for the newer book, because its cover incorporates elements from a painting by one of may favorite Hungarian painters Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry. (And the back cover has a piece from another of his paintings.) This is not to belittle Sara Dismukes‘ work, who designed the cover of the other book, but I am partial to Csontváry. However, we are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, so I won’t either.

One more word about the Schachter-Shalomi version. The back cover gives the website for the publisher (albion-andalus.com), but the URL leads to a parked/under construction site. I do judge an operation by the quality of its site. It’s OK to be under construction, happens to the best of us. But at least put up your own under construction page and not default to your ISP’s. That seems too unprofessional.

Nevertheless looking forward getting my hands on a copy of both books.