Books of Jacob | II. Book of Sand, Chapter 8
"He chose freedom in his heart, rather than freedom in the world"
“I [Nahman] wrote down those words with a joyous sense of satisfaction. That was how to understand Sabbatai’s actions. He chose freedom in his heart, rather than freedom in the world. He had converted to Islam in order to be faithful to his mission of salvation.”
Tokarczuk, Books of Jacob, p. 788
Chapter 8 is brief and yet visually rich. Let my notes this week be similar.
First the summary.
In Smyrna (now Izmir, Türkiye), Nahman studies numerology, Kabbalah, and meditation techniques with his teacher Reb Mordke. He meets a Polish nobleman named Count Kossakowski who we will meet more fully in chapter 10. Nahman and Mordke also listen to a wise man named Tovah, who carries the traditions of Sabbatai Tzvi. Eventually, Nahman and Mordechai propose that Jacob marry Tovah’s daughter, Hana. At religious ceremony to celebrate the marriage, Jacob enters an ecstatic and ominous trance.
However, a picture tells a thousand words. Have you noticed the pictures inserted, without captions, throughout the novel. With the help of Google Lens you can identify these pictures and so discover more about the context of the novel. For example, on page 789 you find the sefirot diagram - the Kabbalistic tree of life.
Do follow your curiosity through the slow read. Explore the pictures and their sources.
I discovered during the week that The Books of Jacob was staged as a theatrical production at the National Theatre of Poland in Warsaw. The Theatre’s website has a photograph gallery of scenes from the play. The 25 images can help you visualise the characters and scenes better than any words I can write. I have used an image that may represent Jacob’s trance for this post Check them all out here.
For paid subscribers below I have some additional sources and notes to enrich your Slow Read.
chat question - on Olga Tokarczuk’s other writing.
character - Reb Mordke and links to Gershom Scholem’s account of his role in Jacob’s story
context - on the Tree of Life and Jewish Messianism, including links to the original source and story of the sefirot diagram from page 789.
If you have not already done so, please upgrade your subscription, and read on to get more from your Slow Read of The Books of Jacob.