The Praises of Rabbi Nachman - part 2 - The Order of His Voyage to the Land of Israel - 19

HH

Shivchay HuRan

Part 2

19. And after Shabbos, on Sunday, the tzadik, our teacher Rav Avrohom mentioned above, came to Rabbainu o.b.m. to his lodgings, and they spoke in private between themselves. And after a day or two Rabbainu o.b.m. fell sick and was bedridden, may the Merciful One save us, and he sent (money) for pidyoan (-redeeming) to the aforementioned tzadik, and every single day the aforementioned Rav, our teacher Rav Avrohom, would go to visit him.

Afterwards there was over there the famous incident with the moaser (-a renegade Jew who informs on his brethren) who was there. And the moaser was one of the men from chutz-lu'uretz (-outside Israel) who had come there, and he became a moaser by the Pasha (-Turkish ruler), and perpetrated great evils to the people of Tiberius, and he held the greats of the city in captivity, and he incarcerated them in the pit for nine weeks, and afterwards the "Franken" (Sephardic) people traveled to the Pasha, and they gave him a huge fortune, and he discharged them. And they went and they caught the moaser, and they wanted to strangle him, and he pretended as if he was already lifeless and dead, and afterwards he revived and went and informed on them, until the Pasha gave him jurisdiction, that he could do with the city as he pleased, and he made him an officer, and he came to the city with great honor with Ishmaelite soldiers with grandeur and glory, and then, promptly and immediately the whole city fled, and there did not remain except women and children, and there was great crying in the whole city, and there was a great outcry and copious crying in every single house.

And Rabbainu o.b.m. also wanted to flee, but he was unable because of his infirmity, and he already started to leave the city, but he returned afterwards. And this was from Hashem, because through Rabbainu o.b.m. they all returned into the city, because the moaser submitted himself profusely under the feet of Rabbainu o.b.m., and he went to Rabbainu o.b.m. and humbled himself profusely under him. And the manner of conduct in which Rabbainu dealt with the aforementioned moaser, many folios would not be sufficient to relate, because he comported with him with wondrous wisdom, until the moaser was abnegated before him, and he ordered the man that was with Rabbainu o.b.m. to make a proclamation, that all those who fled should return, and they all returned through this into the city.

And/for Rabbainu spoke to him with cunning, and said to him, that it was proper and befitting for an officer, that he should pray for the plight of Israel and that he should be pious and humble, because the aforementioned moaser was a pharisaic, and he projected himself as if he was pious, and he began to speak with Rabbainu o.b.m. matters of chasidus (piety, hasidus), and he o.b.m. pretended like he didn't know, so that it seemed to the moaser as if he o.b.m. held of him also to be a chusid (hasid/pious). And he (Rabbainu) spoke with him shrewdly and with cunning, and he spoke appealingly to his heart, that he should accustom himself to saying Psalms, until Rabbainu o.b.m. told him: "With this I will know that you do not have haughtiness, if you can recite Psalms in my house before the youth with great crying." And so it was. And immediately he began to say Psalms with great crying and his tears on his cheek.

And afterwards the moaser fell into infirmity, and even still they were guarding all the gates to guard for the arrival of meshulachim (-fundraisers (returning bearing funds)), because this is what he had informed on, that he said that a huge fortune came from here (-outside Israel) to there (-Tiberius), however, Hashem was to their avail, and they hid the matter from the aforementioned moaser, and they sent the man that was with Rabbainu o.b.m. to Haifa, and he received the money from the fundraisers, and brought it to Tiberius, and gave them to Rabbainu o.b.m., and he gave it to them, and they allocated it. And when the moaser recovered from his infirmity, he boasted of himself that he would perpetrate more evils, and his end was - that he fell again into infirmity and died. And Rabbainu o.b.m. had great joy that this great merit came about through him, because through him everyone returned into the city, and upon their returning there they all rejoiced with him together.

And Rabbainu o.b.m. went there upon the grave of his grandfather, Rabbi Nachman o.b.m. (of Horidainke), and also they rented donkeys and traveled to be by all the caves, and when they came to the cave of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai (-Master of the Zohar, in Meron), the youth engaged in prayer and in learning Zohar, as he o.b.m. had assigned them, but from him they did not see anything, just, he was extremely happy, and he would come over all the time next to the man that was with him, and say to him: "Fortunate are you etc.." and at night he went from room to room and exhorted them to say Zohar etc. and so forth, but he himself didn't say anything, he just went about singing to himself (t.n. there is an elaborate Breslov tradition here about a conversation that Rabbainu had with Rabbi Shimon, in which they agreed that when the holy tomb of Rabbainu would be inaccessible, Rabbi Shimon would host the Rosh Hashana pilgrimage (-this was over 10 years before Rabbainu's passing). Despite this tradition many Breslovers preferred and opted to make the Rosh Hashana kibbutz in Jerusalem, see Yimay Shmuel volume 3 where he discusses the pros and cons of this critical dilemma, and ultimately there were years that even these faithful Breslovers had to succumb to the decision of the overwhelming majority in order to be there for the kibbutz in Jerusalem. Saba Yisroel recounts that Rabbi Shimon asked Rabbainu, "Meron (the place where he is buried) - me (who) ron (sings)?!" To which Rabbainu replied, "Me-ron?! Ani (I) ron (sing)! Ani Rabbi Nachman! Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman!") And he was extremely happy until daybreak; and at daybreak he stood with Talis (-prayershawl) and Tefilin and prayed for some hours.

And from there he traveled with them to the cave of Hillel (-today it is part of the extended compound of Rabbi Shimon), and there he too said chapters 33-34 of Psalms, and there as well he was very happy. And from there they went to the grave of Shamay (-the arch Talmudic disputer of Hillel), there he was beset with melancholy, and he said, that this was very puzzling by him, and afterwards he said, that there is an answer to this, but he did not reveal the answer.

And from there they traveled to the other caves, and when they came to the great mountain (-on the way to Tsfas), where on top of the mountain is the cave of the Tana (-sage of the Mishna) Rabbi Cruspiday, and it was not possible to go there with the donkey, he jumped off of the donkey, and he went by himself with the man that was with him, and he went almost on is hands and knees, until they came to this cave, and he stayed there a little, and they returned from there to another cave. 

And they were by the cave of a yanookuh (-infant, in this case referring to one who had a very lofty soul and made great revelations, see Zohar, Buluk 186a), and everyone had been afraid of entering that cave because they said that there was a snake prevalent there in that cave; also there was a large tree on/by this cave, and Rabbainu o.b.m. was the first to enter there, and there was no snake at all, and from then on everyone began to go to the cave, and afterwards they went to the other caves, until they returned to Tiberius, and then Rabbainu ordered the man that was with him to travel to Haifa to purchase passage on a boat to chutz-lu'uretz (-outside Israel).

And when he arrived there to make the purchase, in the meantime a boat came with the Rav and gaon (-Torah genius), the chusid (pious/hasid) the famous Rabbi of the community of Shipeetuvkeh, and also a shlucha (messenger) dirabunun (of the rabbis), and it was then that there was the incident, that they were scared to receive the money personally because of the moaser mentioned above, and they were forced to give the money - all to the hand of the man that was with Rabbainu etc., as mentioned above; so the aforementioned man was compelled to return to Tiberius with the money. And when he came to Tiberius, Rabbainu o.b.m. said: "It is probably the will of Hashem that we should be in the Land of Israel some more time." And Rabbainu o.b.m. said that they should rent donkeys for him to go to the holy city of Jerusalem, and when the tzadik the Kalisker heard this, he requested of him not to go (t.n. it is therefore a custom to go to the holy tomb of Rabbi Avrohom Kalisker and request him to withdraw already this request and to encourage Rabbainu to bring his tomb to Jerusalem). And when the Shipeetuvkeh tzadik came to Tiberius, he made a great feast at night for Rabbainu o.b.m. and he doted on him, and they spoke privately, and noone heard what they spoke together. And Rabbainu o.b.m. made peace between the holy Rav of Shipeetuvkeh and the holy Rav the Kalisker.

And after a short time a plague fell there upon the city, and he was forced to flee from his lodgings to a different lodging, and afterwards the plague fell there as well, and he was forced to flee from Tiberius. And his flight from Tiberius during the plague, may the Merciful One save us, was fraught with very great danger, because the gate of the wall was closed, and he was forced to flee by way of the cave, until he came to the wall which is by the bank of the Kinneret (-Sea of Galilee). And he wanted to climb on top of the wall and descend from there in order to thereby leave the city. And when he climbed on top of the wall and passed over to the second exterior side, he looked - and behold the sea was below him, and he was suspended on his hands and feet on the wall above, and beneath him was the sea, and he lifted his heart to Hashem Yisburach, and He saved him in His mercy, and he got out of there safely, until he came to the holy city of Tsfas (-Safed), and they stayed there a few days, until it was heard, that the French ("Tzurfas" - same letters as Tsfas, with an added letter Resh) would soon arrive in Ako.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman

The Praises of Rabbi Nachman - part 2 - the Order of His Voyage to the Land of Israel - 17-18

HH

Shivchay HuRan

Part 2

17. However, the people of the Land of Israel living in Tsfas (-Safed) and Tiberius, immediately upon hearing that Rabbainu o.b.m. was in Haifa, the greats and the tzadikim who were there sent to request Rabbainu o.b.m. that he should travel to them. And the people of Tiberius came for Yom Kippur to him, and they brought him letters from the greatest tzadikim, that they all are requesting him to come to Tiberius for the holiday of Sukkot, but he paid no attention to all this. And he said to the man that was with him to buy him Esrogim (-citrus fruits - one of the four species taken up on Sukkot), and he went to the Chuchum (-Rabbi of Sephardim) located there and gave him 20 paras (a copper coin), and he went to an Ishmaelite field and brought him 3 very beautiful choice Esrogim.

In the meantime, while he stayed in Haifa, a young Ishmaelite came and sat next to him and spoke to him a great deal of words, and he (Rabbainu) didn't know what he was saying, and so it was by every single meal, in the day and at night, and he (the Ishmaelite) was very friendly to him. And one time he (the Ishmaelite) came to him (armed) with weapons, in great anger, and began to scream and shout at him, and he (Rabbainu) didn't know what he was saying, however, there was a woman there from the province of Volichai (-from the border of Romania), and immediately after the Ishmaelite left, she said to Rabbainu o.b.m., for the sake of Hashem, that he should flee from this house, because this Ishmaelite said, that he o.b.m. should meet him in battle, which is called "fechtin" (- similar to the English word feuding, but should probably be the Russian word for duel: poyedinok , which shares (-anagram) the same consonant letters as fechtin (the Hebrew letter for f and p are the same, and the original Hebrew was printed without distinct vowels) just inverted at the end).

So immediately he o.b.m. fled to the house of the chusid (-pious/hasid) the famous (rabbi), our teacher Rav Zi'aiv of Tcharney-Austria mentioned above, and he hid him in an innermost room, and  afterwards the aforementioned Ishmaelite came again to the house of lodging of Rabbainu o.b.m. and said: "Where is that man?; He should know that I like him very much; I will give him my donkeys and also my horse, so that he can go with the caravan to Tiberias, and from now on he has no longer anything to be afraid of me." And so it was, that Rabbainu o.b.m. came to his lodging, and the Ishmaelite came and did not speak with him at all, just was silent and laughed, and afterwards this Ishmaelite was extremely friendly with him with extra affection. 

And this matter with the Ishmaelite was a great wonder, and Rabbainu o.b.m. said, that he had more suffering from the affection of the Ishmaelite than from his hatred and anger; and according to what was heard from his holy mouth, that there was inherent in this incident that he had with the Ishmaelite, great danger, and it seems that it was heard from his holy mouth that he said, that this Ishmaelite was the Samech Mem (-these are the first and main descriptive letters of the angelic name of Satan) himself, and Baruch Hashem that he was saved from him peacefully with the kindness of Hashem.

18. And on Chol Hamo-ed (-intermediary days of the holiday of) Sukkot all the people went, and also Rabbainu went with them, to the cave of the Prophet Elijah, and there all the people made great joyous festivities, and dancing, and circles of dancing, but he was not happy at all, just, he sat there with great submission and with a broken heart. And the Rav, Rabbi Zi'aiv mentioned above, asked the man that was with him: "What is this, and over what is this, that he is melancholic from Rosh Hashanah till now? Hashem knows if this is a propitious matter (-i.e. it is definitely not)!" And also on Simchas Torah they made hakafos (circling the Torah scroll/s on the central bima) with dancing and joy as is customary, especially since there were chasidic men there. And he o.b.m. was also in the synagogue, but did not want to make any hakafa (-circling), just, he sat there in submission and bowed head (as was his way to do so usually before he merited to accomplish what he desired, at every time and at every hour (that) he would be very brokenhearted, every time etc., as will be explained further on (article 33)).

And after Simchas Torah he said to the man that was with him: "Baruch Hashem I accomplished what I desired in a fashion most optimal and correct, and even still I was thinking of tarrying here out of affection for the Land of Israel, but now it is my desire to conduct the travels to our homes in Chutz-lu'uretz (-outside the Land of Israel), therefore go and rent (passage on) the boat to Istanbul; but the man that was with him did not want to listen to him, and he refused to travel to his home, because he said, that his desire is to be in Tiberius etc.. And Rabbainu o.b.m. answered him: "Since you desire to be in Tiberius, go and rent donkeys to go there," because his way was not to be very stubborn over anything etc.. And he rented donkeys, and they went to the holy city of Tiberius, and they came there towards evening; and the whole night the people of Tiberius went to greet/receive him; This one entered and this one left, and many dressed themselves in Shabbos clothing in his honor, and he did not sleep the whole night because of this. And in the beginning he stayed in the house of his relative, a descendant of the holy Rav, our teacher Rav Nachman of Horidainke o.b.m., but many (people) said, that it was necessary to see (to it, to attain) for him a large house, so that he has expansive consciousness, and immediately they agreed that he should stay in the house of the famous rabbi, the veteran/faithful and the chusid (-pious/hasid), our teacher Rav Tzvi Harker, and he moved in there.

And the holy famous Rav, our teacher Rav Avrohom Kalisker o.b.m. sent to him: Being that it is the day of bloodletting by him, therefore it is not possible for him to go to him (Rabbainu) to give him Shalom. And Rabbainu o.b.m. replied, that regardless of this he had been planning on going to him. And immediately he went to the aforementioned mentioned tzadik, and he (R.A.K.) received him with very, very great honor, and exceeding love, and very, very great affection. And the greatness of the love and affection that the holy rabbi, our teacher Rav Avrohom mentioned above had with our honorable holy rebbe o.b.m. is impossible to explain or to relate. And he (R.A.K.) appealed to him that he (Rabbainu) should lodge with him, and Rabbainu replied that this was not possible, for him to stay permanently by him, however, for one Shabbos he will be by him. And on the morrow he (R.A.K.) sent for him, and he received him for the first Shabbos, (of the weekly Torah) portion of Noach, and on the night of Shabbos, Rabbainu o.b.m. bent his head down so that he (R.A.K.) should bless him, and he (R.A.K.) jumped back four cubits away from him with great trepidation, and he spoke with tremendous fervor, and it was impossible to understand what he said, but in the end of his words they heard that he said: "How we (-third person, referring to himself) are ashamed in the presence of the progeny of the Baal Shem Tov o.b.m.," and he did not want to bless him, however, the man that was with Rabbainu o.b.m. he blessed promptly when he (-the man) bowed his head.

And during the feast there was great joy, and the aforementioned tzadik requested of Rabbainu o.b.m. that he say Torah (-holy teachings), but he did not want to in any way. So the aforementioned tzadik himself said Torah; and so it was at the second feast and the third. And the recital of Torah of the aforementioned tzadik, our teacher Rav Avrohom, was with great fervor and great shouting, and no word at all could be heard (-discerned), just at the end he concluded: "This is the essential devotion of the Creator blessed He." And Rabbainu o.b.m. would praise and glorify his Torah immeasurably, almost without an equal. Also I (myself) heard from his (Rabbainu's) holy mouth that he said, that perfection was only by the tzadik our teacher Rav Avrohom mentioned above. And he said to me: "Behold I have seen many tzadikim, but perfection/completion was just by the aforementioned holy tzadik." (T.n. this was the tzadik who ruled that the book of the Tanya must not be printed and must be put into geniza).

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman

The Praises of Rabbi Nachman - part 2 - The Order of His Voyage to the Land of Israel 15-16

HH

Shivchay HuRan

Part 2

15. And after a day or two the boat was left without drinking water, because all the drinking water that was on the boat was finished by them, and they only had left but one vessel of filthy murky water, and bugs were crawling in them, and these waters were apportioned to the people on the boat in rations, one ackee (t.n. the Ottoman's have a: çeki - 225.789 kg (497.78 lb), but probably didn't ration by weight, so this is probably referring to the Turkish word for tea, there should have been another word given to specify which tea measurement, but presumably it would not be the teaspoon, but the Tea glass  = ‘Çay Bardağı’ (CHAI’ BAR-dah-uh) -  this means a small glass Turkish tea glass, whichever was on hand (i.e. there is no set standard, just the general size of tea glasses)) - per person, and they were in great danger of thirst more than all other dangers, so the men, women, and children prayed from the depths of their hearts, and again a great storm wind whipped up, and it brought the boat after two 24-hour cycles to the Holy Land, to the shores of Jerusalem, to the holy city of Jaffa. And Rabbainu o.b.m. wanted to disembark there from the boat to go to Jerusalem together with the aforementioned Sage, as mentioned above, but from Hashem there was a factor, and the Ishmaelites did not allow him to enter to them, because they looked at is clothes and upon the countenance of his face, that he has long pehyos (-sidelocks), as is customary in our country, and that he does not know their language and so forth, and they said that he's certainly one of the French spies, and no appeasement or supplication were to avail, and Rabbainu o.b.m. remained on the boat.

And the captain planned on staying there with the boat, to hold up and rest there for some days, and it was then two days before Rosh Hashanah, however, the boat was not able to stand there, because the waves of the sea wanted to overturn it, and no remedy or scheme was to any avail (for this). And the matter was a great wonder in the eyes of the captain, and he asked: "What is this? And why is this?" And the Sephardic chuchumim (-rabbis) answered him, that there's a tradition in their hands, (from a continuum of transmission) man directly from (the mouth of) man, that in this place the prophet Jonah son of Ameettai was cast (overboard). And the boat was unable to stand there that night, and they were forced to move with the boat from there, and they went from there, and they came in the evening, the night of "Zichor (remember) bris (the covenant - This refers to the Slichos - special prayers said the night before Rosh Hashana)," to the holy city of Haifa, and they stood by Mount Carmel opposite the Cave of Elijah, and in the very early morning ("ashmoares haboaker," Exodus 14:24, the last watch/quarter/third of the night) all the people said Slichos with great joy, and afterwards they prayed the morning prayer (-shacharis), and afterwards they all went to the holy city of Haifa, men, women, and children.

And then Rabbainu Hakadosh o.b.m. entered the Holy Land (t.n. from a strictly halachic viewpoint, when the boat was in the harbor it was already in the Holy Land, obviously there is extra significance in actually walking on solid ground, and this is beyond the scope of these mere glosses), to the place which he longed for and he yearned for with very, very great craving, and longing, and yearning, and he was moaser nefesh (-self sacrifice) thousands of myriads of times for this, and he jeopardized his life for this. And the greatness of the enormity of the joy that he had in that moment, that he entered and stood on the holy ground, is impossible to fathom in the mind; if all the oceans were ink etc. they would not suffice to explain a fragment of the fringe of this, because promptly and immediately he attained what he attained, because he said, that immediately when he walked four cubits in the land of Israel, he accomplished what he desired to attain.

And after midday they went to the mikvah, and afterwards - to the synagogue, and they tarried (there) until the night, and when Rabbainu o.b.m. came to his house, to his lodgings, he had very great and ecstatic joy, and every single moment he said to the man that was with him: "Fortunate are you, that you merited to this, to be with me here." And he ordered to have read and mentioned before him from the note all who were inscribed there, i.e. his whole retinue who gave him notes with their names. And they ate there the feast of the night of Rosh Hashana, and everything - with great joy, until after the feast, until they lay down to sleep. 

And in the morning they went to the synagogue, and after they came from the synagogue, there aroused in him worry, and a very broken heart without measure, and he did not speaking an iota with any person.

16. And immediately after Rosh Hashanah it was the desire of Rabbainu o.b.m. to return immediately to his home, and he did not want to travel at all anywhere, not to Tsfas (-Safed) and not to tiberias, however, the man that was with him, had a very strong yearning to feast his eyes on the places of the Land of Israel, and he came to Rabbainu o.b.m. and said to him, that there is a caravan that they can go with to Tiberius. And he (Rabbainu) answered him: "You have yearning for Tiberius - go charter donkeys." And he did so, and he gave them a down payment ("adruf").

And upon his return from the owner of the donkeys, he (Rabbainu) said to him immediately: "You chartered donkeys(?)." 

He replied: "Yes." 

Rabbainu o.b.m. said to him: "Promptly and immediately go and take from them the down payment, and if they do not want to return it to you, then leave the down payment forfeit, because I do not want to go there;" And after 2 or 3 hours the aforementioned man that was with him fell into great weakness, may the Merciful One save us, and then he gave praise and thanks to Hashem Yisburach for preventing him from going with the aforementioned caravan.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman

Time For Tiveria

HH

The news ran this, and I've heard it in the street as well, the false messiah of Teveria (kook) has predicted great calamity G"F and urged all Jews not to be in Teveria at all. Knowing a little about this man I would readily say that this is an indication that Tiveria is in fact the place to be. So come one come all!

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

ב"ה

בחדשות, וכן שמעתי ברחוב, אומרים שהמפרסם (משיח) של שקר של העיקר טבריה (קוק) ניבא תקלות רחמנא ליצלן על העיר, וצוה שלא יהיו פה יהודים... אז כפי מה שאנו יודעים ומכירים אותו, נראה שזה סימן חזק שעכשיו טבריה היא היא המקום להיות! אז כולכם מוזמנים...

נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן!