Menachem Nochum Friedman

Rabbi Menachem Nochum Friedman (1823–1869) was the founder of the Shtefanesht dynasty of Hasidic Judaism.

Attributed

• I will tell you what the game of checkers teaches us. We learn the following rules: 1. You give up one piece to save two. 2. You cannot make two moves at once. 3. You are not allowed to have regrets. 4. You only go ahead, you do not retreat. 5. Once you go up, the way is open on all sides.
  • "852". טעמי המנהגים. 
  • Upon coming across a group of his Hasidim playing checkers
• Personally, I do not know at all what is the meaning of the word "religious" [frum]; also my father did not mention such a word to me. But it appears to me that it is a type of garment whose outward cover is pride, whose lining is anger, and which is sewn with the black of depression.
  • Brayer, The House of Rizhin, pp. 384–385
  • When asked to pray for a certain individual who was very religious
• If we could hang all our sorrows on pegs and we were allowed to choose those we liked best, every one of us would take back his own, for all the rest would seem even more difficult to bear.
  • Brayer, The House of Rizhin, p. 390