Sefer Hamidot
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| Hebrew: | |
|---|---|
| ספר המידות | |
| Spelling: | |
| Sefer Hamidot, Sefer Hamidos | |
| Other Names: | |
| The Book of Traits, Sefer Ha-Alef Bet, The Book of Alef Bais | |
| Description: | |
| A book written by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov on the properties, associations and manifestations of different traits. |
The Book of Traits (Sefer Hamidos) was written by the Holy and Righteous Rabbi Rabbainu Nachman of Breslov. The book is divided into two parts. The first part was written when Rabbainu Nachman was six years old. The second part was written over the years. The book is an alphabetical listing of character traits, good and bad, with advices for their rectification. This Holy book was written for those who are seeking honestly with an open heart to rectify and purify all of our character traits. Great Rabbis have added on to this book the original sources of these advices that are already mentioned by Biblical verses and Rabbinical writtings. Rabbainu Nachman said of this Holy book "This book made me a Kosher Jew".
IN THE BEGINING:
The Book of Traits (Sefer Hamidos), originally called "The Aleph-Bet Book" was written by Rabbainu Nachman of Breslov. May his Righteousness and Holiness be Remembered Forever. He gathered statements of different various traits and advices related to our daily lives. The book is categorized according to different subject headings according to the Hebrew alphebet. At the start the book was written in the Holy handwritting of Rabbainu Nachman, who began to write the first part during 1773 at the age of six. It was left unpublicized until 1803 when Rabbainu Nachman called his Holy Student Rebbe Natan Stranhertz, and read to himmost of the book to prepareit for publication. Rabbainu Nachman valued this book very much.
THE WRITTING OF THE BOOK:
The book is divided into two parts. The first part is called "The Old Aleph- Bet", which was written when he was six years old. The second part, which is much smaller, is called "The New Aleph-Bet" which was written a while later. Its exact date is unknown. Rebbe Natan combined both parts to one volume, in its first printing. The first printing of the Holy book Sefer Hamidos was printed in 1810 in the city of Mahlov, Ukraine.
The second printing, which also includedRebbe Natan's footnotes, was printed in 1821. Both parts of the book were printed under the same subject headings together with a caption of First part andSecond part, to differenciate from one another. 1 TESTIMONY FROM REBBE NATAN: According to personal testimony from Rebbe Natan, only a small percentage of the amount of the handwrittings of Rabbainu Nachman has been printed. Under the subject heading of 'healing' alone Rebbe Natan writes that he saw more than 200 handwritten pages. Rebbe Natan testifies in his book "The Life of Rebbe Nachman"", chapter 434, that when he began to write the book in 1803, Rabbainu Nachman was reading to him word for word. This continued for a very short time; then three or four months passed and we wrote more. Afterwards, approximately two years passed, that we put the writting aside. Then during Chanukah of 1806 we sat together for three weeks and finished the writting. The work was very difficult for Rabbainu, but due to his sacrificing of his soul for the love of the Jewish People, we completed the writting. THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK: Rabbainu Nachman gathered from every place that has subjects of 'Mussar',advices how a person can rectify his character traitas. He wrote them at age six as a reminder to help him not to forget. He wrote sayings that have to do with valuing good traits and discrediting bad traits. He organinzed everything under an alphabetical listing of subject headings. In addition, Rabbainu Nachman, due to his enormous and vast wisdom, achieved very valuable insights into rectification of character traits from Biblical verses and from our Ancient Rabbinacal sources. These are not explained thoroughly and are mentioned only subtly for those who are very wise in Torah Knowledge. ADVANTAGES OF READING AND LEARING FROM "THE BOOK OF TRAITS": Rabbainu Nachman writes that a person will find very advantageous advices how to watch out for bad traits, and how to follow the good traits that paarrell them. It is already publicized and known that whoever is sincerely looking to achieve an honest and straight path, he will find it in this book. Rebbe Natan writes, Happy is he who attaches himself to this book. Rabbainu Nachman waid of his book, "This book made me a Kosher Jew". Rabbainu also called his book "My best beloved friend". ADDITIONAL FOOTNOTES: From 1873 to 1874, Rebbe Nachman of Cherin, Ukrainewrote footnotes to sight the Biblical and Rabbinical sources of the writings from "The Book of Traits". Then in the year 1876 Rebbe Nachman of Cherin printed the book 2 with his footnotes and those of Rebbe Natan. Thirty two years later, during 1908, Rebbe Tzaddok of Lublin, Poland added more footnotes of sources. Breslov chassidim consider footnotes as explanation and comentary to the book, because without them it is very difficult to understand the connection of the context to the subject heading, without knowing the source or without being fluent in the knowledge of all of the Torah with all of its Rabbinical writings. In 1984, Rabbi KalmanRozin added an expansion of the abbreviations of the footnotes with an explanation to understand Rabbainu Nachman's statement from the Rabbinical source. Furthermore, in 2007, Rabbi Nachman Yoseph Vitriel from Brooklyn, New York in America, printed a version of "The Book of Traits" with a rearranged order of the subject headings, with more than twenty new subject headings,a very insightful index, and explainations of the Talmudic and other Rabbinical sources, the printing of which resulted in two very thick volumes and almost 1000 pages. Today, there has been a massive spreading of this book to the public, especially in Israel when last year alone there was a printing of "The Book of Traits" softcover pocket size that was selling for Less than 2 shekels with a printing of 15,000! CHRONOLOGY: 1773 Rabbainu Nachman wrote part one of "The Book of Traits". He completed part two over the years. 1803 Rebbe Natan is asked by Rabbainu Nachman to transcribe the book from his personal handwritting. 1811 Rebbe Natan sends the book of for it's First printing. This was the year that Rabbainu Nachman passed away. The printing was done in Mahlov, Ukraine. 1821 The Second printing of "The Book of Traits" was completed with additional footnotes from Rebbe Natan. 1876 A new printing with footnotes from Rebbe Nachman of Cherin sighting the Biblical and Rabbinical sources. This was printed in Cherin, Ukraine. 1907-8 A new printing with further footnotes from Rebbe Tzaddok of Lublin, Poland. 1984-5 An expanded version of "The Book of Traits" including footnotes explaining the original sources. 2007 A further expanded version of "The Book of Traits" that resulted in the printing of two very thick volumes of sources and explainations of the 3 commentaries. 2012 A printing of a softcover pocket sized version that resulted in the printing of 15,000 copies and the distribution to the public at a 'give away' price of 1shekel 20agorot, the American equivellentof only .30cents. 4