הוראה כאימון: שורשים בהגות היהודית

Stories have been used as a therapeutic method in the past, and even today they used as an educational and therapeutic tool. R. Nachman’s stories have received much attention in research and journalism. Current research mainly refers to R. Nachman’s stories in The Thirteen Tales, and these tales have been much discussed and given different interpretations. In addition to the familiar tales, there are quite a few shorter stories attribute to R. Nachman, whose authorship is a matter of debate.In this article, I will present the story of R. Nachman, “An Act of a Poor Man who Dug in Clay”. This story and others represent R. Nachman’s educational path. I argue that Rabbi Nachman has a model that he uses in most of his stories, and is linked to the philosophical discussion of will, necessity, and free choice; a model that outlines a way of life for a person. Nowadays I would classify his model as one of a coach.It seems that through the training model, R. Nachman’s stories may be used by the teacher or the coach as an educational tool for his students or trainees, to impart a way of life and personal empowerment.