A Wedding of the Lost

In a pit covered with reeds and rubbish, a band of beggars gathers to celebrate the wedding of two lost children. This wondrous vision, described by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov shortly before his death, is still read today as a dream awaiting its interpretation. Rabbi Nachman’s radicalism and his uncompromising demand for truth led the story to the very edge of human existence.

Through the figures of the beggars he challenges the image of the normal body and seeks to go beyond the world perceived by the senses. To convey the illuminations he was granted, Rabbi Nachman searches for new modes of expression, walking a path that leads from speech to melody and to silence.

From among the unusual characters and wondrous descriptions arise questions about relationships and our attitude to the body, about spirituality and joy, about renewal and tradition.

A Wedding of the Lost seeks to bring the story into today’s world, and to awaken from it new thoughts about establishing faith and about restoring God to human discourse.

Rabbi Yair Dreyfus, born in Jerusalem (1949), heads Yeshivat Siach Yitzchak. In his person he creates a dialogue between the Jewish and the human, between rationality and spirituality. His writing moves between languages that speak to one another. He has published many articles in a variety of forums.

His previous books:
Beloved Friends: Wedding Sermons [with Rabbi Shagar, Yedioth Books, 2008]
Touches in the Language of the Heart [Yedioth Books, 2013]