Shir Na'im: A Song of Delight
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

        A translation and original commentary on Rabbi Nachman's only existing poem by Rabbi David Sears of the Breslov Center for Spiritual Growth has recently been published by Orot. For more information please visit www.orot.com
        The translation of the poem below is taken from the new book. The combined effort of David Sears, Herman Lowenhaar, and Bezalel Naor, it attempts to preserve the acrostic of Rabbi Nachman's name without sacrificing the poem's meaning. Numbers and subtitles have been added. The commentary explains the verses and explores some of their possible allusions to Likkutei Moharan II, 8, and other teachings by Rabbi Nachman, as well as to sources in the Gemara, Midrash, and Kabbalah.

Shir Na'im:

1. In Praise of the Torah of Moses

No other religions compare to our faith.

Contrivances of mortal intellect their sages conceived.

Moses, however, ascended on high, cloud-garbed.

Necessary Existent spoke with him at any time, so he distanced from his wife.

2. Suffering Purifies Body and Soul

Neglected though we may appear, sickly and oppressed,

Counsel sublime from Moses we received;

         His wisdom emerged from nothingness.

Moses, king over Jeshurun, and our holy faith, twin brother to brother.

Neither his soul nor body pure deviated one from the other.

3. Israel and the Nations

Numerous their souls, numerous their opinions and differing views.

Changing with the times, their forms of worship come from near at hand,

Man-made. Their thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not their ways.

Not we! Our souls are one, and incline not toward their many images.

4. Call for Spiritual Regeneration

Now, my strong and wise soul, why are you not kind to yourself? Why have you forgotten

the One Who raised you, fed you delicacies, and dressed you in purple raiment? For now you are trampled between the hooves of sheep, between the feet of thick, worldly desires. Yet you are naked and bare. The wine of your festivities is now a draught of tears.

Cheer and strengthen yourself anew! Be not like the enormous elephant or the camel that

a mouse leads by the nose, yet it never kicks free. All this is due to folly, not knowing its own strength—O my soul, wise and strong!

Mind the day of reckoning. What will you do then? How will you answer those who sent

you on your mission? Disregard fleeting pleasures, for your body is frail and poor.

Time races. Who knows if this day is not the body’s last?

Nick the heart of stone, and shine unto me from there a glimpse of your face,

clear as the sun, lovely as the moon.

Be neither still nor silent!

Raise your sweet voice in song and thanksgiving!

Open your mouth and bring forth your words that please

the Holy One, blessed be He.

Lift your eyes upon high and remember your ancient love.

5. Creation Bespeaks the Glory of the Creator

Narrow streams and rivers wide, many watercourses, oceans and seas,

Naturally wondrous and diverse in their color, taste, and character.

Creatures large and small abound in each body of water,

species beyond counting,

Magnify and exalt the Blessed One with all their limbs.

Mellifluent words they constantly speak,

their presiding angels do not silence them.

Nacre and gemstones glisten in their depths,

Numinous lights hidden in their vessels.

6. All Creation is Destined to Attain Perfection

Nascent souls hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory

Never cease yearning to become one with their Source.

Channeling life and kindness from the Kindnesses of David,

Charmed the breeze bestirred by drops of Eden’s garden—

from her nothing is lost.

Magisterial heavenly palaces, celestial tents of peace, are marked

for every soul with signs of splendor.

Marveling, "What hath God wrought?" angels ask, racing forth

like shooting stars to perform their missions.

Mortal pleasures are far removed from them,

as is mortal man who has corrupted his ways.

Need, hunger, and embarrassment are man's lot: a soul in the Slingshot.

No loss need be; we shall return to God.

Negative and positive we shall accept with love,

jeweled ornaments these, with which to bedeck the One Above.

7. Holiness of the Land of Israel

Bounteous Earth's globe swathed by many lands and countries,

Beliefs and languages of all children of man,

New buds, blossoms, and her tender grasses.

Nations fall from her winds.

Not one remains; she alone endures, and heavenly constellations encompass her.

8. Holiness of the Jewish People

Shades and spirits hovering in air

Strain to hear the divine decree, and preside over four principles of harm:

“The ox and the pit, the tooth and the fire.”

Mercurial as angels, yet mortal as men,

Mortified, they flee before the Holy Covenant, of which it says, “Circumcised, he

shall be circumcised.”

Chastised as with staves and disfigured,

Charmers and sorcerers subdue them by adjurations, by corruptions.

However, the holy Torah protects us from all impurities.

Heaven rewards charity, which saves from disgraceful deaths.

9. Israel's Suffering in Exile

No longer the gift of prophecy do we possess.

Champing of teeth, nations against Lonely Nation—we are bereft

of understanding.

Musing how to administer the bitter cup of grief, the nations deliberate.

Neck in yoke we will suffer until there arrives the Poor One we await.

10. Empowerment of Mashiach

Blessed, the son will explore the treasure-trove of his Father.

Noble the crown the King shall place upon His beloved child.

11. The Song of Redemption

Sweet the new song we then shall sing,

Motioning each one with his fleshly finger to behold our King.

Chisel and seal in each heart the Torah that it be not forgotten.

Humbled, death will forever disappear, like the fading scent of incense.

12. Spiritual Healing

Not prophets, but wise men, we strive to understand the cosmology

of our body, the distances of its joints and structure of its limbs.

Contemplating this is conducive to knowledge of the Creator Who forms all things.

Medicine shall it be for a man of afflictions, and for the blind and the halt,

the leprous and diseased, the anxious and pained.

Now let us eat, only our souls to sustain, and our natural cravings to restrain!