Siman 101

(21.) Thursday, Vayeylech [between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur], 5570 [1809], here in Breslov. He told us that he had dreamed and he does not know the interpretation. That one man who was of our men had passed away to his world, and he was truly dead — but he [Rabbainu o.b.m.] had not known [of this] until that day. And it seemed to him in the dream that the entire world was standing around him [Rabbainu] and taking leave of him to travel on their way, as is customary after Rosh Hashana. And the aforementioned departed man was also standing there. And he asked him: Why were you not at Rosh Hashana? He answered him: Have I not already passed away to my world? I said to him: For this reason — and is it because a man has passed away that he is not permitted to come for Rosh Hashana? And he was silent. And since several people had spoken with me about faith, I spoke with him about this as well. [And it appears that Rabbainu o.b.m. understood that he had fallen away from faith.] And I said to him: Is there no one in the world but me? If you do not believe in me — draw close to other tzaddikim. Since you still have faith remaining in others — draw close to them. And he said: To whom shall I draw close? And it seemed to me that I showed him: draw close to this one — as if pointing to some well-known person. He answered me: I am far from him. I said to him: Draw close to another one. And I was recounting in his mind all the famous ones — and for all of them he said that he was far from them. I said to him: Since you are far from all of them and have no one to draw close to — it is best for you to remain as you were at the beginning, and return and draw close to me. He answered me: To you? [in a tone of astonishment] — I am very far. And it seemed to me that it was the middle of the day and the sun was standing opposite the head. And he raised himself upward in the air until he rose to the sun. And he went with the sun as it descended downward, lower and lower to the earth, according to the sun's movement — until he descended literally to the ground at the setting of the sun. And he continued further with the sun, until at midnight he came with the sun directly opposite me, from below — for at midnight the sun is opposite the feet of a person, and that which is in the west at daytime is in the east at midnight. And I ran after him and arrived at his level. And since he was going with the sun, and the sun naturally journeys very quickly, he was also running with it very quickly. And I was running after him until I arrived at his level. And I walked with him a bit. And he said: What do you want from me? I said: I want to be with you. He said: You cannot keep up with me. And truly I could not keep up with him and I stopped. And he went further. And then I saw, as it were, that the sun paused and stood still briefly. And then he was standing there beside the sun which had paused. And I said: Since you are standing — wait for me! And I ran after him and arrived where he was. And I said: Since I have reached you — let us go together. But he was not willing, and went on further with the sun, and I could not keep up with him and I stopped again. And we went on further — and then the sun again paused briefly, and again I arrived there. And this was three times. And at the third time, the sun stood still for somewhat longer. And I arrived there and said to him: Let me hold onto you — and I grabbed him. And he shook me off forcefully from him. And I was very pained by this. And I said to him: How can you treat me so badly? It is known what I am, and even still you are shaking me off? He was silent. And from the grief it seemed to me that I fell into the ground until the ground up to my neck. And I began to cry out in the dream in a loud voice. And I awoke from this. And I thought that this was a dream. And I looked and saw that it was still night. And I reasoned: Since I know that I said something in my sleep — perhaps others heard. And I called to my servant and asked him. And he said he had not heard anything. And I returned and lay down, and I dreamed again. And I was in a certain place and there were several of our men there. And I began to speak with them about faith [emunah]. And I elaborated greatly in that conversation, and it entered very deeply into their hearts — for they were in great repentance because of it. And I also wept there from the matter of faith. And the content of this speech on faith that I said there I have forgotten. This is the dream that he told us. And after this he stayed here [in Breslov] with us more than two weeks — for this was close to Rosh Hashana 5570, and he traveled to Uman only after Sukkos.