The Podolian Nights

”[These stories] are best expe­ri­enced as they were intend­ed, one at a time, as a wide-eyed child might beneath an over­grown maple atop a breezy hill dur­ing sto­ry time. Because, as the Tal­mud teach­es and Nach­man echoes, it is the lit­tle that holds a lot. Savor their strange, indi­vid­ual won­der.” — The Jewish Book Council

Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1811) was the great-grandson of Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism. Born in the small town of Medzhybizh in Ukraine, he initially refused to carry on the family tradition of Jewish spiritual leadership. After a spiritually important trip to Israel, he returned to Ukraine and eventually moved to Bratslav. Nachman attracted many followers in his lifetime, including the young Torah scholar Nathan Sternhartz, who went on to transcribe Nachman’s formal teachings, as well as the imaginative tales that make up The Podolian Nights.