Saturday, February 10, 2007

The Story Behind the Story, Part 3 (final section)

When the holy Rebbe from Kreminitz returned to his father's house, the holy Magid was sitting at his table, learning Torah, while a Gemara Sanhedrin was laying open on the table. When the holy Zlotchover noticed that his son had come, he asked him, "Mordechai, Were you in Koritz by Reb Pinchas? Don't be afraid. I already know. But tell me what he told you."

His son answered him by telling him that the reason for his sickness is because he is not eating cheese. The holy Magid answered him, "Good. I will accept upon myself to eat cheese. And what else did he tell you?" The holy Rebbe Reb Mordechai began to tell over everything as it happened, that the reason that his father was upset with the Rebbe from Koritz is because he (the Zlotchover) doesn't see his (Reb Pinchas Koritzer's) tefilos. But that he (Reb Pinchas) had dug out a tunnel straight to Hashem for his tefilos, and that he commanded me to request, in his name, that [you] look into the Gemara...

The holy Rebbe Reb Michel got up from his place and said, "Right now I am learning these very ideas. Open before me now is the Gemara Sanhedrin 42! I didn't know that he had already reached a level like that..."

The holy Rebbe from Chernobyl concluded his story [with those words] and said, "Moshe Rebeinu was not "bragging" by saying that he did not eat or drink. Just hte opposite! Moshe was intensly pained that all those days that he remained in Shamayim, those foods and drinks that he did not eat and did not drink did not come to their tikun, because he had not been able to lift them up to their root. And this is what he was saying to the Jewish people: See how precious you are before Hashem; that the water and the break waited for you twice for forty days and forty nights, and did not achieve their tikun... for your sake..."

Trusworthy ones: Become tzadikim together!

This wondorous story teaches us, between the lines, that just as Shamayim is higher than Aretz, so too are the ways and thoughts of the Tzadikim greater than our ways and our thoughts. Which brings us to the words of the holy Rebbe Reb Nachman from Breslov in his Sefer Likutei Moharan (Bachatzotzros, Siman 5 Seif 4): "Believe! That every dispute between perfect Tzadikim is nothing but [a device] to drive away the Sitra Achra... When you hear of disputes between Tzadikim, you should know that [Hashem] has having you hear [this] as a rebuke because you have blemished the "drops" in your brain... And certainly if you hadn't blemished your mind, you would not have heard of the disputes betwen Tzadikim. And that dispute exists only for your sake, in order that you should repent from death to life..."

His great student, the Holy Rebbe Reb Noson from Breslov said about this teaching, in his sefer Chayei Moharan: "This Torah, Batzatzotzros, was taught by [Rebbe Nachman] here on Rosh Hashana 5563 (1803), which was the first Rosh Hashana that he lived here, and that I was close to him.

In addition to the words of Rebbe Nachamn, [Rebbe Noson] adds a tradition from the Breslov Chassdidim, which was told over by the well known Mashpia, Rav Levi Yitzchok Bender, z'tl, in the name of his Rebbe, Rav Avrham ben Rav Nachman from Tolchin, z'tl, who was known for the exactness with which he receved the traditions from his Rebbeim

It was known that the father-in-law of the holy Rebbe Reb Noson, the holy Reb Dovid Tzvi Auerbach, z'tl, what was know as "The Gadol." He, like the misnagdim, was against the path of Chassidus, as opposed to his brother-in-law, the holy Rebbe Reb Nachman Horidenker, z'tl, the student of the Baal Shem Tov. This difference came about as a result of the dispute that existed between the students of the Baal Shem Tov; Namely the holy Rebbe Reb Pinchas Koritzer and the holy Magid Reb Yechiel Michel from Zlotchiv. Sometimes the Tzadik would give his son-in-law a hard time about this, that he would travel to Tzadikim like the Kedushas Levi, the holy Rebbe Reb Lipa from Chemenik, and Rav Shalom Pravitch, and he (Reb Noson's father-in-law)would say to him [tounge in cheek], "I believe in the words of both Tzadikim, and therefore I will not travel to either one!"

When Rav Noson first came to Breslov, this question truly bothered him, regarding the question of disputes between Tzadikim. And then when he heard this Torah (Bachatzotzros), it was like a soothing balm for his soul, because it answered his father-in-law's kasha regarding the behavior of Tzadikim who disagree with one another.

That is the end of the Breslov tradition; Because in seif 4 clarifies to Rav Noson the idea of disputes between Tzadikim. But a little investigation between the lines of this wondorous teaching will reveal to us a part of the story which is not known among Breslov Chassidim; The author of the Likutei Moharan hinted at the beginning of his Maamar, in seif 1, in a wondorous way, to the foundation of the dispute between the Tzadikim from Zlotchiv and Koritz, as it is received in the Belz-Chernobyl tradition:

This is how that Maamar begins, "Every person must say, The whole world was created only because of me. It comes out that when the world is created for my sake, I need to see and investigate at every moment regarding the tikun of the world and filling in what is missing in the world." These words contain an amazing hint about complaint of Rav Pinchas Koritzer against the Magid from Zlotchiv, who had stopped repairing the world and filling in what it was lacking with regard to cheese [by not] lifted it up to it's root.

And in the continuation of that same teaching: "One needs to encloth his tefilah, in order that the angels who stand to the left do not prosecute [against it]..." These words hint, without question, to the holy words of the Koritzer, who said in explaining himself, that he had dug for himself a tunnel straight to Hashem, in order that his tefillos not be touched by angels.

Therefore, the words of the Tzadikim are true, and trustworthy people proclaim them true together, the poor in one place and the rich in another place.
Tangentially, we see in the texts and different versions of the study that the way one can hide his tefilos from these prosecutions is to "encloth the tefilos in stories..."

The wise will hear and add more, to the other stories of Tzadikim, the students of the Baal Shem Tov, for all their generations.

3 comments:

A Simple Jew said...

Thank you SO much for translating this, Dixie Yid!!!

Anonymous said...

Did you mean Rav Levi Yitzchok Bender ZT"L ? (not Bodner)

DixieYid (يهودي جنوبي) said...

Thanks Bob. I checked the original Hebrew and I changed it. I guess when I was reading, I transposed the "nun" and "dalet." Also, I don't know who he is, and I guess if I did, I would have known the real name. Thanks!

-Dixie Yid