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