שורש התקווה האמיתי - הגאון הינוקא בהילולת רבי נתן מברסלב זיע"א עשרה בטבת תשפ"ו

3:00 He was a very great tzaddik, very, very lofty. He, in fact — not only did he merit great and tremendous levels, attaining the shedding of physicality, meriting to subdue the material completely — he was the greatest student of Rabbi Yisrael Karduner. Rabbi Yisrael Karduner was a hidden tzaddik, truly tremendous, of whom Rabbi Yisrael Ber Odesser once said: "Fortunate are my eyes" — that is what he said — "that saw the eyes that saw the eyes that saw the eyes that saw Rebbe Nachman."

3:42 That is: he, Rabbi Yisrael Karduner, saw Rabbi Moshe of Breslov; Rabbi Moshe of Breslov saw Rebbe Nosson; Rebbe Nosson saw Rebbe Nachman. So he said: fortunate are the eyes — his own — that saw the eyes that saw the eyes of Rebbe Nosson. And he had absolute emunah, in total self-nullification.

4:16 When he would learn Likutei Moharan or Likutei Halachos, he would not agree to have it explained or clarified for him, or to have anything added. He wanted to hear only the language of the Sages, without a person explaining and adding and saying it in his own words. Once they were reading to him — at the end of his days, when he was weak, they would read to him — and when the reader began to explain a little, like this, something, he motioned to him: stop — stop at once.

4:49 Stop — he could not listen to it. He would hear only that wording itself. That was his way, his approach: to cling very closely to the wording alone, without changing it — and so with all the editions, and the whole way of that printing. And truly, what was special about Rebbe Nosson is that he did not think he could be like the other students.

5:19 He said: I have to be something different from all the students. I have to engrave my Rebbe into eternity. He said — being here in the world, and all of it — he did not care at all about his honor or his effort. He suffered humiliations such as no one else ever suffered, to the point that he gave up being a Rebbe. He could have been the Rebbe of 80 towns; he could have been a great and famous Rebbe, with a palace and magnificent furnishings — he gave it all up.

5:51 The main thing was to come close to Hashem, blessed be He — truly. His whole purpose was to write, to yearn and to long for Hashem, blessed be He, and to compose prayers and Likutei Halachos. For he said that from the day Likutei Halachos exists in the world — he said, people will be called to account for it — anyone who did not learn his Likutei Halachos. That is, the Likutei Tefilos — for many tzaddikim sit in Gan Eden because of his Likutei Tefilos.

6:18 It is a compilation of prayers — one that has prayers, and everything. Now, the holy Rebbe, the author of Divrei David, of Chortkov — whoever has heard of him — he was called Rabbi David Moshe of Chortkov. He was born on Shavuos. The mohel and the sandak were Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin and Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov. And when the Ateres Tzvi arrived, he came to the bris filled with wonder.

6:46 He moved his head from side to side, and then he said: This child is very, very holy. He came to Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin and said to him: Perhaps he is David, perhaps he is Moshe. Perhaps he is David, perhaps he is Moshe. So the Rebbe said to him: Let's call him David Moshe. And so, in the end, they called him Rabbi David Moshe of Chortkov. And he was the father of Rabbi Yisrael of Chortkov, the author of Yismach Yisrael, the author of Ginzei Yisrael, "Your Torah is my delight."

7:17 And he was the Rebbe of Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin, the holy gaon. Meanwhile, the Divrei David — that is his father, the father of Rabbi Yisrael of Chortkov, who was the Rebbe of the Maharam Shapiro of Lublin — he was a great and tremendous gaon, and a tremendous scholar. And he had something within his own four cubits — which book?

7:51 Likutei Tefilos. They say his Likutei Tefilos was full of tears. He would hold that Likutei Tefilos with such wonder, and kiss the book: How can there be such a work in the world, with expressions like these, prayers such as these? How could anyone compose prayers like these? One is awestruck that such prayers exist in the world. How is there such a vast, vast wealth of prayers — I don't know.

8:18 It is something we have not found in all the generations — that someone composed so many prayers to the Holy One, blessed be He. "Let this be written for a later generation, and a people yet to be created will praise Hashem" — that refers to his prayers. That is what he wrote. He said: this was already said about it; it is hinted at — it is hinted at in the book of Tehillim. That's how he was: he was truth, very, very sharp.

8:43 You know — all his thoughts, his whole aim, always, was the Holy One, blessed be He. He cared about nothing of this world; he did not look at this world at all. There is the famous story of how he drew close: that... he was — he compiled the Kedushas Levi of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the famous Kedushas Levi. He compiled the Kedushas Levi. For whoever doesn't know, the book Kedushas Levi, by the holy gaon Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, son of Sarah Sasha and Rabbi Meir — he compiled that book.

9:17 And when one says he compiled it — it is not that he authored it; rather, he wrote down and edited the book for the Berditchever. And after that he had some longings and yearnings; he drew very close to Hashem, blessed be He. Once they were sitting there, the study partners, and one day the study partners said: Come, let's go buy, for the Melaveh Malkah meal, something to eat. They wanted to buy some bagels.

9:44 That is how it's written — that it was bagels. And the lot fell on him to go and buy the bagels. And then he said to himself, on the way: What — did I come into the world to buy a bagel? What is this? What did I come into the world for? A person comes in for seventy, eighty, a hundred years — for a bagel? He went into the synagogue for a few minutes and prayed before the Ark; he wept, dozed off a little, with a broken heart, and fell asleep for a few minutes.

10:19 In the dream he sees a tall ladder. He looks at the ladder; he wants to climb the ladder, but when he goes to take hold of it, the ladder sways. Then he sees someone standing up above on the ladder, who says to him: Hold on tight, and climb. He looks at this figure; he does not understand. He woke from the dream, after he had said Tehillim — I'm telling it to you in brief; it's a long story — as the story is told.

10:50 So, it left its mark on him like that — but to pay attention to dreams? Well — dreams. One sees dreams, and one doesn't know what there is in dreams. Not much time passed, and Rebbe Nosson felt a very great need in the service of Hashem, to come close to the Holy One, blessed be He, in truth. He wants the way of Hashem; he wants to truly seek closeness to Hashem, blessed be He — amid everything there was in that generation, all the confusions there were, and all the...

11:24 It pained him greatly; he wanted to reveal His G-dliness, blessed be He, in the world. He heard a report that a certain tzaddik had arrived in a town not far away. The group wanted to travel to him. They told him: There is a certain tzaddik there, a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, very young. Go to him. "How could that settle my mind?" he says. "A young man — I should go to him?

11:51 No way!" He would not agree under any circumstances, until they said to him: Come, let's go, what do you care? — until he said: Let's go. Because in those days he used to go to many of the tzaddikim of the generation, and all the elders of the previous generation — he had been to them. So he said: now I should go to a young one? When he goes to the elders — it went against his way, so he would not agree to go. After they persuaded him, he agreed to go.

12:17 And when he entered the room — they went in, and each one presented himself before Rebbe Nachman, that Rebbe, that young Rebbe. And then came Rebbe Nosson's turn. So Rebbe Nosson looks at Rebbe Nachman; he really feels something like: this person is familiar to me.

12:43 But no — I can't quite place him. Rebbe Nachman took his hand and said to him: We already know each other. How had he ever met him? He doesn't understand what he means — and then he remembers the dream. He was hinting to him about the dream, where he had told him: Hold strong and climb up to me — come. And so now he remembers the dream, and then there ignited in him something like a fire, burning.

13:08 But still, he was startled; he had not yet fully taken it in. And then Rebbe Nachman told a few stories. He told of a certain house, in the time of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, that someone lived in — who would come each time and ask him whether to go back or not go back. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk would tell him to go in or not to go in — yes go in, or don't go in.

13:37 So he was hinting to them, to the students, to Rebbe Nosson, that it is worth asking him about every matter — not to do anything on one's own. He did not know what was unfolding. He told them that after seven years he went and returned to that same house, and he was harmed — for of course it is also not good to uproot one's home — that is in the will of Rabbi Yehudah HeChassid — and to return to a place where one used to live. But apparently there are things there far deeper, from the root of the soul — something like that, connected to that house.

14:08 And he looked — he told them about Rabbi Aharon of Strashelye, and then he looked at Rebbe Nosson a great deal. This Rabbi Aharon of Strashelye — for whoever doesn't know, he was the student of the Alter Rebbe. He brought out a great many new insights in the Torah of the Baal HaTanya. All the words of the Baal HaTanya — he put in order all the words of the Baal HaTanya. All his Torah, his new insights — he would guard them like diamonds, and see to it that each and every thing was preserved.

14:34 And he would also beautify the words. What does that mean? He would add insights and explain, and bring more proofs and reasonings and so on, showing that this is the view of the Alter Rebbe. And that is why, by the way, some did not like that he added insights of his own to the Rebbe's Torah — that many times he departs from the plain meaning. There were those who did not like it. But really, there are always those who disagree, with every great one — it doesn't matter.

15:00 The Rebbe was very impressed. A holy man like that — he saw that he was bringing out new insights in the Torah of the Alter Rebbe, and it was awesome. So of course he merited honor and esteem from the Alter Rebbe. With this, Rebbe Nachman was hinting to Rebbe Nosson that he would want him to add insights and explain and bring out so, so much, from potential into actuality — all his new insights, everything he said.

15:34 Yes. He's sweet, very. Very, very special Jews. Now... yes. Gan David. So he told a certain story: that the Maggid of Zlotchov drew close to the Baal Shem Tov.

16:04 Well — there is a long story, that the Baal Shem Tov pursued him, because he very much wanted him to come close to him. And once the Maggid of Zlotchov ran away from him; he went into a certain hut and heard the song of the angels, and the Baal Shem Tov was right there in one of the rooms, and came in — well, I'll tell it to you in brief, but I'll try to give more detail. The Baal Shem Tov very much wanted the Maggid of Zlotchov to be his student.

16:29 He loved his soul very, very much — something of an ancient soul — and it was worthwhile for him to be with him, because he would be able, through him, to bring much more into the world. So he pursued him, and one time it happened that while he was traveling on the road, he pursued him into a certain forest, and the Maggid of Zlotchov got stuck in the forest, and the whole forest was full of trees.

16:55 So the Baal Shem Tov, with ruach hakodesh, knows where he is; he arrived too... Suddenly the Maggid of Zlotchov — he had a wagon and horses — and he, with his wagon and horses, is stuck in the heart of the forest; he sees someone across from him with a wagon and horses, also stuck in the heart of the forest. The Baal Shem Tov came over to him and said to him: Do you want to get out of here? And he said to him: Follow me. He understood that it was the Baal Shem Tov, and he did not want to follow him, because he opposed him.

17:23 So the Baal Shem Tov did something, and at once there was a path, and it was possible to get out of the forest. So the Maggid of Zlotchov said to him: Well, my father knows how to do that too — to open a path — I don't need you in order to do that. So the Baal Shem Tov said to him: Fine, stay here; I'm going. He left, and in fact he went out after him — he got out, but he did not continue after the Baal Shem Tov.

17:47 He went to a certain hut, and in that hut there was a householder, a notable, a very rich man, who hosted the Maggid of Zlotchov, and he stayed there; he gave him his finest room. Meanwhile the Baal Shem Tov sees with his ruach hakodesh where he is, arrives at that same house of the rich man, knocks at the house and says to him: Hello, I would like to be your guest. He says: Look, I already have a Rebbe here. If you want, I'll give you another room — come.

18:13 He went into the room — he gave him a room. Now, the Maggid of Zlotchov is in this room, the Baal Shem Tov in this room, and here is where the rich man was. Now, this rich man's wife was about to give birth. So he said: I'll go in to the first Rebbe, who is great — because the Maggid of Zlotchov was like that, he looked like that — royalty; the Baal Shem Tov looked simple. So he goes through the Baal Shem Tov's room to the Maggid of Zlotchov.

18:41 So he comes in to the Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov asks him: Where are you going? He tells him: To the Rebbe in here. What do you need? He tells him: My wife is about to give birth. He tells him: for a salvation, and all that. He says: Well, I want to go in to that Rebbe, inside. He tells him: Fine, go in — but also tell the Rebbe in there that he too needs to come in to me. Fine. He goes inside, into the room of the Maggid of Zlotchov, and along with his request he says to him: Listen, bless my wife that she give birth — and there is a certain Rebbe here, outside the door, in the room, who says that you too need to come to him.

19:17 And he looks — the Maggid of Zlotchov says: Who is that? He looks out into the room — and what does he see? It's that one again, with the wagon and horses, who wants him to come to him. And he did not agree; he went back into the room. So the Baal Shem Tov said to him: Go tell him that today he heard, for the first time in his life, the song of the angels — so he should not be carried away and think it comes from himself; it is only because he is under the same roof as me.

19:43 When he passed that on to him, he was startled. He says: How does he know that? It's true! He had thought he'd attained some level, and he told him: It is not a level. It's that you prayed under the same roof as me — that is why you saw what you saw. So truly, that is how it was — he merited great levels, of such power and kedushah. In short, we won't go on at length. Let's get to the meeting of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Zlotchov: they meet and speak with each other.

20:13 And that first meeting — that is what Rebbe Nachman told Rebbe Nosson: how he takes his hand and looks at him and tells him. He tells him that the Baal Shem Tov was telling the Maggid of Zlotchov a few stories; they were talking, and while he was speaking with him, the Maggid of Zlotchov thought, in his mind: perhaps the Baal Shem Tov is an am ha'aretz, an ignoramus.

20:38 So the Baal Shem Tov takes hold of his hand, right at the thought alone, and said to him: You are the am ha'aretz! The instant he thought that about him, he immediately said to him: You are the am ha'aretz — as though he had spoken, as though it were speech. He only thought it, and he immediately told him: You are the am ha'aretz. That's how he went at him. So at that moment, when he told this, Rebbe Nosson thought that Rebbe Nachman was saying this to him — as if he were the am ha'aretz. Rebbe Nachman caught that, and he says to him: "You are the am ha'aretz" — "It seems to me that right now you are thinking that I am an am ha'aretz."

21:19 That is how they tell it — a word of humor, lighthearted like that. There was surely great joy there in the room; everyone there was happy and laughing; there was such a good atmosphere. And then Rebbe Nosson truly understood that there was something here, not quite what he was used to.

21:47 He decided to acquire his soul, and he wanted to understand that there is a whole path here. He gave over his money, his whole way of life. You know that in Breslov it was forbidden to print books. Breslov was a town, like the other towns — it was a town — and really, Rebbe Nachman, as he is called — he is buried in Uman. So why was he so taken with the town of Breslov — Breslov, Breslov?

22:13 That town was close to Tulchin, near Rabbi Baruch of Medzhibozh, his uncle, who lived there. He was there in that town; he was there in that town on his own. He bound him to be in a town such that he would not come into his district, and he would not be — each one would be in his own kingdom, and they would not come near one another: you be in your place, I in mine. No need to get involved with him — because his way differed from his somewhat, a little different.

22:40 So he sat in his corner, in his own kingdom, and did not deal with him. But he went through a great many persecutions and much suffering there in that town, and from Heaven it came about that he stayed there, and he had a great deal of service of Hashem there. So he really is called Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. When wine was spilled there, he said: We have conquered Breslov. And then he settled there. And indeed, Breslov — it is lev basar, "a heart of flesh." That is in Yechezkel, where it is written: "I will remove... a heart of flesh."

23:06 Lev basar — the letters shin and samech interchange — that is Breslov. Lev basar. And he was greatly moved by this, by this name, and that is how he came to settle there. And where were we? "The printing," he tells me there. Ah, the printing. It was forbidden to print books there.

23:33 Rebbe Nosson — do you know what gift he brought home to his wife? He brings a printing press. Do you know what a printing press is? It's like bringing a tractor into the living room. So his wife comes home and suddenly she sees a tractor, a truck — huge — right in the living room and the kitchen. He tells her: from today, this is with us here in the house. It wasn't like the machines of today, where you have a small printer that prints you a few pages. A huge machine — and you have to dip it in ink, and take it like this — how it dirties everything!

24:14 They would also set forms — forms of the... printing plates. Plates: you take them and set the plates like this, and that is how you print. A labor camp. — Yes, you could call it that. — The whole time, it was like exercise they were doing. — A gym. — Yes, a workout. And that is also why there is a special greatness in books like these, printed on the old presses. Why have I spoken about this so much — about the old printings?

24:46 The Slavita printing, for example: the holy Chozeh said it is as holy as a Torah scroll. Like a Torah scroll. Just today I was learning — I have a Gemara, Bava Basra, from the Slavita printing. I learned from it today — just like that, by Hashgachah pratis. I didn't think I would tell you this; I just remembered it now — exactly by Hashgachah pratis. It truly makes a very great impression. You learn in it a little, and you feel the kedushah on the pages.

25:12 You feel that it is something — it's not... It is as if you step inside that time. You see the letters, you see the book, it is as if you see a whole history, as if you see just that before you — so many eyes, holy ones who learned from it. It is something else. And also the feeling — that you know that each one, each book, was printed really like a handwritten one.

25:38 That is why there is a very great virtue in books that are handwritten. Their side of kedushah is far greater than the books we have, even on the computer, because these books have the law of a handwritten work, which is a greater level. You know — say a book that was printed and has not yet been read from, or a pamphlet that was printed and has not yet been read from: the kedushah has not yet come to rest on it. It needs to be read from once, for it to serve in kedushah. It does not have the law of kedushah until it is read from.

26:08 The old printings, like handwritten works — each one of them became holy from the first moment. From the moment of printing — it is as though it were read from at the very moment of printing. It is another world, and one cannot measure the greatness, the immense virtue of this thing. So he spent all his money and all his might and everything he had, so that there would be revealed, and there would be, the da'as of his master and teacher in the world.

26:44 He gave his very soul, days and nights. And the trait that he instilled in all the students, for the sake of his path, was — Nu? Loyalty. That is the highest foundation in the world, and the path, and the trait, that is the most important and the finest of all the traits.

27:10 A person who has no loyalty, who has lost his loyalty, has nothing more to lose. He has nothing more to lose after loyalty, because loyalty is the most important thing in a person. There is nothing more important than loyalty. And everything begins with loyalty — to the Creator, to friends, to brothers, to parents. Any person who has no loyalty has nothing.

27:35 And truly, he had such loyalty and such self-nullification as never was. One time he chased after Rebbe Nachman — he wanted to see him somewhere — so he traveled from town to town to town to town, and Rebbe Nachman fled from him, and went into some hut. He had fled — he wanted to be in hisbodedus. Until, after several days of travel by wagon, he learned where he was, in the snow, and he traveled to him.

27:59 He found the house, after they told him where he was; he came in to him after several days — knocked on the door and went in, breathing hard, after not seeing him for several days, and he said to him: 'Rebbe, shalom aleichem!' So Rebbe Nachman raised his head from the book and said to him: 'I wish you well — go in peace.' He felt something like shame. He closed the door and said: 'Even though he does this to me...'

28:24 He accepted it with love. Another time he sat with him, inside the room, at the table, to eat. He said to him — he began to shame him, heaping all kinds of humiliations on him. And then he said to him: 'It is the way of the world that when a person is shamed, he cannot eat.' 'How do you keep on eating?' 'You keep on eating!' Rebbe Nachman says to him: 'You just keep going, it seems.' So he said to him: 'Be ashamed! Stop eating!'

28:49 'How do you keep on eating?' So he put down the spoon and was silent. He heard his own disgrace and was silent. That is how it was. Of course, these were tests — he wanted to test his loyalty, how truly genuine he was, and that he wasn't... so he tested him. And so it was many, many times, beyond measure, that he did this, until he truly acquired the level of loyalty, and there was revealed to him what was not revealed to any other student: he merited to receive from him the secrets of the Hidden Book and the Burned Book, secrets and hidden teachings, and the Tikkun HaKlali.

29:27 And what not — what did he not know, and what did he not attain? The secret of the true tzaddik. The hidden things that are in the practices, in what one does — things that are beyond the grasp of human intellect; things that the holy ones of the Most High attained. And he said that he merited awesome levels of kedushah — that he dictated everything to him, from the Sippurei Maasiyos, or the Megillas Setarim, when they traveled in the wagon.

29:53 That was a wonder: he sat with him for the Megillas Setarim, together with Reb Naftali, and he spoke the Megillas Setarim and they wrote; everything he said, they wrote down in brief headings. And by a miracle, they forgot everything afterward. They remembered nothing. All the Sippurei Maasiyos that he told — everything. And the most frightening thing is this: he sat and told them the Sippurei Maasiyos — think what a thing this is — someone tells you a story and holds you in suspense, and then says: 'I am not the one who will continue.'

30:20 'In two months someone will come here, from the shul,' 'at eight o'clock, and he will continue the story.' It is frightening to hear such a thing, isn't it? When he told the story — Rebbe Nosson says — Rebbe Nachman told a story. What story was it? He told of the Seven Beggars, and the last one, the seventh, he did not finish. He said: 'I will not finish it.'

30:45 'Mashiach will continue this story.' 'He will know the secret of the last one;' 'he will continue the last story.' So Rebbe Nosson was shaken; he understood that the things that are here are not for now — these are things that are eternal. These are things that are not for now at all; they are eternal things that must be engraved in the world, so that people will yet speak of them, and there will be Jewish souls who come close to Hashem.

31:12 So he dedicated all of himself, his whole being and all his strength, to thinking how to shine his light and spread this light. And after that came the time when he drew near to him — to Rebbe Nachman. And of course, on that last Shabbos, he was truly — Rebbe Nosson was in a very, very great light, in a very great elevation.

31:40 He dreamed a dream — he had a kind of vision — in which he saw Rebbe Nachman in Heaven, holding a book, in an ascent of the soul. The Hidden Book — he wanted to see it, all the writings. He looked, and he was holding holy writings in his hand. So Rebbe Nosson said to him: 'Come, let us learn this.' Rebbe Nachman said to him: 'To learn this, you will have to come to me.' And then he understood that apparently it would be... he understood something that might be.

32:07 That was it. He became very weak. On Asarah B'Teves — when the opponents had said that they would rejoice on the day he goes — that is: 'On the day I go, you will fast.' And so it was. He passed away right on Asarah B'Teves. He said that the opponents had said: 'We will make a celebration and a feast on the day you go.' So he told them: 'On the day I go, you will fast.'

32:32 That is what he told them, for years. And indeed, at that time — at the very time that he passed away, on Asarah B'Teves — it truly was a fast, and many of them were shaken. Rebbe Nosson — beyond the fact that he made himself into paper, and wrote upon himself all the Torah of his master and teacher — if one wants to see, in history, loyalty between a rav and a student, and of a student to his rav — this was the greatest, the mightiest and the closest bond, the like of which never was. In Chassidus it was an astounding thing — in Chassidus it was an astounding thing. We are talking about generations of right now; it is nothing — 150, 200 years is nothing.

33:18 It is almost Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish — to feel 'either a companion or death' — that is not of our times. And now, here, in our day — to sense, to see giants of the world, tzaddikim, holy ones, people on the highest levels — not 400, 500, 700, 800 years ago; now, really now — to see such a bond of loyalty, such self-nullification, such wisdom and kedushah, such attainments and levels, and the things they attained, such as have not been seen — it is a very great thing. The opponents of Rebbe Nosson — Rebbe Nosson suffered so very much. At his son's wedding they threw knives.

33:59 He had to live as a hunted man because of it. They issued a proclamation against him: that his shechitah is invalid, and that it is forbidden to count him in a minyan. Back then, in its time, it looked like something new, or like something not good. They didn't really understand what was going on with the tefillos — that people go off to pray, or with the tefillos; they didn't really understand. But disputes there always were. It went so far that once, witnesses came to one of the great rabbis of that time — truly a great gaon — several witnesses came and told him, and swore, that they had seen a woman sitting in Rebbe Nosson's lap, and they swore to it.

34:38 It was a very puzzling thing — how could they swear to such a thing? And in the end, when they were questioned, it turned out that it was Rebbe Nosson's granddaughter, who was one year old. So they, as it were — they said it was a woman, fine; 'one year old' — they did not say she was one year old. They left out that bit, 'one year old.' And look — they really swore that it was a woman. That is how far they went in persecuting him. And many times their disgrace came out in public.

35:04 But look at the devotion and the love and the affection that was there — it is beyond all measure; there is nothing like it. On the last night, at the passing of Rebbe Nosson, Rebbe Nosson used some rather extraordinary expressions about himself. For example, before he passed away there was someone there named Reb Zev, and Rebbe Nosson said: 'Do not block his view.'

35:30 'How good it is that he should see me,' 'for he has no greater good than to see me.' How did he put it? He said of this that it is good when one who is with him is seen — when from Heaven they see someone who is with him, that is already good for that person: that you are seen in Heaven. When the Holy One, blessed be He, looks for you and sees you — you are by me, by you. That is the kind of expressions he used — very great ones — about himself. He said — they say that he received... and he said that Rebbe Nachman received Rosh Hashanah, and he said: 'I received Yom Kippur.'

36:02 He said: 'And Hashem said: I have forgiven, as you have spoken.' He used expressions about himself that were very special. He truly was a tzaddik — pure, clean and pure, truly a spring, a spring — truly a mikveh, it really feels like a mikveh. I will tell you the truth: when I come out of the mikveh I feel a special kind of purity, after the mikveh. And when I learn one small page, some small thing from Likutei Halachos, or Sefer HaMiddos — a small passage, some page — I feel a mikveh.

36:33 The very same aspect as the mikveh. I feel it, I really feel it — just like a mikveh, I really feel it. He promised, before he passed away, that one page would be a Tikkun for everything that was and everything that will be. One page. You do not need a lot. One page will be a Tikkun for everything. That is how he put it. And it is not only him — Rebbe Nachman too. He and Rebbe Nachman — Rebbe Nosson — were holy and pure. Once, as they sat in the wagon, Rebbe Nachman said: 'Nachman and Nosson laugh at the whole world.'

37:06 There is much, much more to expand on and to tell — it is beyond measure. And the moment of Rebbe Nachman's passing — he did not believe at all that Rebbe Nachman would ever pass away. And on that night — it was on Sukkos, the 18th of Tishrei — he saw that he was very weak. He sat beside him; he was there next to him in the house, he helped him a little and so on. And in those last hours Rebbe Nachman hardly spoke.

37:36 He spoke... he was very silent, and he would gaze, looking — and he said that in the looks he gave him, in his eyes, he spoke with him more than in all he had managed in all the days of his life — the whole bond between them was in that look he gave him, in the purity that Rebbe Nosson had, from being so utterly nullified and loyal to his master and teacher. He looked so deeply into his eyes — he gave over Torah, and things that could not be spoken by mouth.

38:06 And truly, he did not know that this was in fact his last night with him. 'Had I known — what I would have done that night!' He thought perhaps he was a little weak, and was about to regain his strength. Back then it was not like today, when they know how to diagnose. He was weak; he did not really get stronger, or recover. He did not know that he would suddenly go like that, so quickly — until he went in. He went in, and he said he knows that he is going. That is how it was. He stayed with him, and afterward they changed shifts, and in the morning he came and saw him with the siddur of the Arizal on his knees.

38:37 He was very glad that he saw him with the Four Species that day. He saw — it truly is beyond measure, what one learns just from seeing his master and teacher. After that, Rebbe Nachman asked him to lay him down on the bed. He had become very weak by then — so very weak. And as he was moving him, he said to him: 'Slowly, slowly.' And he said that he learned many things from this: that everything one does must be done calmly, with a settled mind, not to rush, to be calm.

39:03 That is very, very important. And truly, that is how it was. And when the hour came, toward three o'clock, his soul departed, and Rebbe Nachman ascended to the hidden treasuries on high. And they announced to him the news that it had come, and he was shaken that it was happening — just as his soul departed. And he wept and grieved, and did all that he did.

39:32 He was the first who immediately, as soon as the grave was closed — what did he do? He said the Tikkun HaKlali. Right away he said, in the ten kinds of melody, the Tikkun HaKlali, with its hidden secrets. And right away he rose and went and began to shine the Torah of his master and teacher, despite disputes and humiliations. After Rebbe Nachman passed away, opponents rose up against Rebbe Nosson sevenfold, to keep the path of Rebbe Nachman from enduring, and he was in great pain.

40:04 He fought for everything, gave his very soul, and shone his light, and raised up many students, and fought the wars of Hashem. He also put out a book — 'Machnia Zedim' he named it, 'Machnia Zedim' — against all the Maskilim and the criticism that there was at that time. That is another book — a work that he composed against all those apostates, and the things they put out in the Haskalah, against the Torah. He was an immense gaon, a wondrous Torah scholar, as one sees in Likutei Halachos, which holds an explanation of the entire Shulchan Aruch.

40:35 Whoever knows — whoever truly, sincerely wants, in that way, to really understand the Shulchan Aruch — it is simply a commentary and explanation of the whole Shulchan Aruch, from the writings of the Arizal, the Zohar and the Kabbalah, explaining the halachah and its reasons. He simply took the whole Shulchan Aruch — the most closed and sealed matters, eruvei techumin, things that a person cannot connect, cannot understand how they relate.

41:02 He takes eruv techumin and manages to reveal in it G-dliness — so that a person can also understand how this can bring him close to the Holy One, blessed be He. And that is truly how it was. And with this — how do they say — with this little bit of a little bit, finished, but not complete — a little of the little that we merited to tell and to speak of that holy one, this gaon and holy man — for we see that we have truly merited to be in such a generation, that we merited to have had before us such angels, such holy ones, who left us such Torah — and to learn their Torah, and to feel a little of the light.

41:48 Even if a person does not manage every day, or every week — once in a while he reads some small thing, something, and connects to this da'as, to this contemplation, of 'there is no despair in the world at all,' of this hope, of this mighty power that gives a person the ability to come close to Hashem, blessed be He. In Tractate Yevamos, page 97, Rabbi Yochanan said: Torah scholars — a Torah scholar — every Torah scholar in whose name a teaching is said, his lips murmur in the grave. Every Torah scholar in whose name a teaching is said — at once his lips murmur.

42:31 So let us say a little — after we have spoken of him and drawn from him — let us say something, an idea like this, something you will enjoy. And this is the aspect of gifts to the poor, for the abundance of wealth of kedushah... For the abundance of wealth of kedushah is the aspect of boldness of kedushah — the aspect of 'the rich man answers with boldness,' the aspect of 'money answers everything' — 'answers' — and the aspect of voices, which is the aspect of boldness.

43:10 And one must have compassion on the poor man. This means what is written in the teaching mentioned above: that one must have compassion on the flesh of the body, for body and nefesh are the aspect of rich and poor. Here he is explaining, in effect, that the body is the poor man, and the nefesh is the rich man. That is to say, within a person — within the person himself there is already the rich man and the poor man. That is, there is a kind of poor and rich here that is not outside the body — where we see some poor man who comes along.

43:38 The opposite. You — you yourself already are this: your body is the poor man. Poor — how meager it is! What is it? One small blow and it is in the grave. It is nothing. A person falls ill — wretched, meager, he is nothing — utterly poor. So poor! But the nefesh, the inner self — rich! There are such great powers in the neshamah, so much strength in the neshamah, so much kedushah, such great powers, so much spiritual ability to connect to Hashem.

44:04 So that is the rich man. Truly — the inner self is the rich man. So he says: 'And whoever has compassion on others is shown compassion from Heaven.' Just as he has compassion on the poor man and draws down to him abundance and livelihood — which is the aspect of boldness of kedushah, from which is drawn livelihood, in the aspect of 'the might of the rains' — so too he is shown compassion, and he is given da'as, so that he can have compassion on the flesh of his body, to shine into it from all the illuminations and attainments — 'and do not hide yourself from your own flesh' — which is truly the aspect of tzedakah to the poor man.

44:40 And therefore on Purim, when we merit 'everlasting joy' and so on, the aspect of 'everlasting joy upon their heads' — one must shine this illumination into the body, so that the body, too, will know of it. And this is the aspect of gifts to the poor. What are gifts to the poor? That one shines the aspect of the abundance of money — the abundance of money of kedushah — one shines it to all who are far — which is the aspect of boldness of kedushah, as above — to the poor man.

45:07 For the abundance of wealth itself is drawn from the attainment of the Torah, from which all bounty comes. That is to say: wealth of kedushah, this abundance — as I explained — is altogether a level, one that also draws along with it a great deal of Torah and kedushah. So whoever thinks that wealth — the wealth spoken of in the holy books — is lots of numbers and so on, with no spiritual bounty — he is mistaken.

45:38 And he draws this illumination to the poor man. And likewise, the illumination of the Torah and the aspect of boldness of kedushah is drawn from the neshamah to the body: that the neshamah should have compassion on the body, to reveal to it all the illuminations and attainments that it attains, so that the body, too, will know of them, as explained in the teaching. That is to say: when one truly attains wealth of kedushah, it is also an abundance of da'as and kedushah, and such spirituality, that the bodies of the Jewish people — the body receives such attainments and awesome levels, and this raises them from their impurity to a supreme purity.

46:14 How much one must understand the words of the Sages! So, with Hashem's help, may we merit this. I think that the merit of this holy one whom we have mentioned brings salvations — and today is his hilula, which has the power to bring about much good. Let us say this — one may also take wine, to make a berachah. — He began with the nefesh and afterward moved to the neshamah. Is that by chance, or is there some point here?

46:45 No. The nefesh is lower than the neshamah. The nefesh is the lower level; the neshamah is the higher one. Only there are also chayah and yechidah, yes? NaRaNChaY: nefesh, ruach, neshamah and yechidah. But in the nefesh itself, too, we have attainment and levels; one gives a whole stature its Tikkun, and then there is the Tikkun of the stature that corresponds to it. There is nefesh of nefesh, nefesh of ruach, nefesh of neshamah, nefesh of chayah, nefesh of yechidah.

47:12 And there is the Tikkun of the ruach: ruach of nefesh, ruach of neshamah. Here we know how one attains one from the other, among the levels. — Rav, what does that mean? — I am speaking, as it were, of the nefesh. I know. There are those who are at neshamah. I taught this, as it were, in general terms, quickly, like... — But in our days, who would be at yechidah, honored Rav? — That would be...

47:40 Mashiach, certainly. Yechidah is yechidah — an exceedingly great level. — Rav, what did Rabbeinu mean, that a person must believe in himself? To believe in yourself is to know that the Holy One, blessed be He, loves you, and that you must never lose heart, or weaken, or break. Because you see today, in this generation, how many people take their own lives. Why is that? Why does a person take his own life? Why does a person despair?

48:05 Why does a person give up, and say, 'It is not worth it anymore' — his livelihood, things are not good for him... Why does he say all this? Because he does not believe in himself. If a person believed in himself, he would know that the Holy One, blessed be He, loves him, that he has hope, and he has a remedy, and everything will work out for the good, and everything will turn to good, and he can come out of any state, any place and any reality. So what happens is that he would never harm himself.

48:32 Believing in yourself is not just 'believe in yourself' — it is the root of true hope: that you can overcome everything. It is not 'believe in yourself — that you can do it.' Believe in yourself — that you are wanted, that you are close, that you are beloved, that you have the ability to act to overcome everything. And the Holy One, blessed be He, loves us. — Rav, among his own students, was there any? — No, there was not.

49:01 There was always a little, you know — who understood more, who understood less. That there always was. But the main dispute — he suffered from a certain rav who came out against him with trumpets blaring. — Can one really understand what the greatness of such a tzaddik is? What his greatness is? Learn his books. Learn — and you will understand a little.

49:27 A little that holds a great deal.