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