At about 2 am on the 21st
of Kislev 5777 (12/21/2016) some Ukrainian thugs entered the holy
compound of the holy tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, better known
as Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman and deposited the grinning head of
pig and smeared the place with fake blood and some tear gas and then
ran off. The Breslovers had a heyday, everyone was pumping and
buzzing, reviewing what had transpired, speaking with local
authorities, and sending out pictures and videos to friends and the
media, and in no time the story got international attention making
headlines all over the world, and multiple members of the knesset
were calling their counterparts in the Ukraine. Anyone familiar with
Rabbainu knows that he has the power to easily light up interest in
whoever he wants, and if he simply wanted to gain some major PR he
has many more respectable ways of doing so – in the past he got
world renown people to publicize for him – like Martin Buber, and
even more recently Bibi Netanyahu announced to the whole world a
teaching in the name of Rabbainu which made one of the presidents of
the U.S. a student. Even still it is kind of typical for Rabbainu to
pick an underdog approach, always desiring to be the victim and not
the persecutor. However in this case there are some very obvious
allusions to the current events – mainly the weekly Torah portion
of Va-yaishev – in which the brothers of Yosef slaughter a “se'eer
eezim <a goat – se'eer can also mean a demon, and eezim – is
brazeness, typical of the swine>” to drench the unique cloak
<kisoaness passim> of Yosef in its blood to fool their father
Yaakov into believing that Yosef was mauled. Rashi sites our Sages as
revealing that this in turn was punishment for Yaakov having fooled
his father Isaac by putting the skins of a goat on his arms, in order
to steal the blessings from Esau. So it would seem that Rabbainu was
accepting upon himself a rectification for all this smear campaign,
not only to bring rectification for the tremendous sin of the selling
of Yosef – which according to the Kabbala is a primary root of the
entire exile and all the suffering thereof – but also in securing
the blessings unhindered from Esau who is likened to a pig.
In addition the paroaches (the
ornate -velvet – sheet) which is draped over the tomb and was
drenched in the red paint or whatnot, was improperly placed there –
previously there had been a beautiful paroaches there which was
specially made with Rabbi Nachman's name displayed prominently in
embroidered letters: Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman. .Haters had
removed and stolen this befitting paroaches and the current was put
there as a replacement, and behold the blood of the Na Nach paroaches
has been avenged!
Another extremely beneficial result was the reawakening of the urgent importance of bringing the holy tomb of Rabbainu to Jerusalem, where there is already a special plot allotted for him on Mt. Zion. Rabbainu expressed himself very clearly on multiple occasions that his place is only Israel, and before he passed away he said explicitly (Life of Our Leader Rabbi Nachman, article 162) that he would really have desired to pass away in Israel, but it was not realistic. So B"H there is now greater awareness and more prayers going up that we should merit to see this happen sooner than later. Because eventually it will obviously happen, there is nothing to stop it, and ultimately Rabbainu will not be the last to arise for the resurrection, but the first...
What I did learn from this
event is that the world is still not properly familiar with the name
of Rabbi Nachman. Rabbi Nachman's name, particularly Na Nach Nachma
Nachman MeUman should be extremely familiar, a household name, and
yet in the international headlines there is no mention of his name,
as if people wouldn't recognize it. In the circles I frequent
everyone knows of Rabbainu, so it was an eyeopener to learn that in
the great big world out there, people are still living in the stone
ages, bereft of any knowledge of Rabbainu! So B”H we got to merit
to see that change very soon. In merit of the holy Petek.
Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!
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