Chapter 124

The young men wished to continue separately, sound the shofar, and pray Mussaf in separation as well. I placed myself lengthwise and crosswise—using every possible effort—to ensure that this would under no circumstances occur. “In a multitude of people is the King’s glory”; we must not strengthen the dispute and separation of hearts. Moreover, Shacharis had been confused and my mind had not been clear, and there was no comparison between it and the awakening I experienced inside the chamber, or the immense spiritual vitality and awakening I had felt there on the preceding day, as described at length above.

In sum, I aroused the other members of our fellowship, but the young men stubbornly insisted on sounding the shofar immediately. I did not know what counsel to take, for I was filled with anguish over the matter. Hashem then arranged that R. Asher Zelig—whom I had suspected of inflaming R. Avraham Baruch’s heart and intensifying the dispute—went out into the courtyard and summoned me, R. Tzvi Aryeh, and R. Avraham, may his light shine. He spoke to us about the power of the Adversary, who was dancing among us on such a day. This, he said, was the achna—the serpent said to lie in Rashbi’s cave to guard against the entrance of an unworthy person, and so forth. He urged us intensely to make peace, forgive one another, remain together, and pray Mussaf together, thereby giving satisfaction to the Shechinah and the tzadik.

I supported him, for the proposal was exceedingly proper in my eyes. In sum, we jointly resolved to do this and to wait until they completed Shacharis and the Torah reading. He also told us how happy and pleased he had been on the preceding day to see us wait while R. Avraham taught Torah to the young men during the other minyan’s prayers, and so forth; there had literally been a manifestation of the Shechinah, and so forth.

In sum, we decided that in the meantime we would go to the mikveh before the shofar blasts, in accordance with our custom, and recite the ten chapters, and so forth. R. Asher Zelig would speak with R. Avraham Baruch so that he would cease his abuse, and would also ask him to hasten through the liturgical poems. He did so. I asked R. Asher Zelig’s forgiveness for having suspected him of inflaming the dispute when in the end he was the one who quieted it, and he forgave me. I rejoiced exceedingly, as one who finds great spoil, that the quarrel and division of hearts had been stilled and that we would pray Mussaf in the inner chamber, where I experienced the immense and powerful awakening described above.

By the time we finished quieting the dispute, they had completed the silent Shemoneh Esrei. Their prayer leader still had to repeat the Shemoneh Esrei with the liturgical poems, and they also had to read the Torah and Haftarah. In the meantime we recited the Tikkun HaKlali together with intent, and R. Avraham taught a lesson of Rabbainu, of blessed memory. We went to the mikveh before the shofar blasts, and so forth. I recited the Tikkun HaKlali beside the holy tomb in the inner chamber, together with Rosh Hashanah prayers and hisbodedus.

In the meantime they completed their prayers and the Torah reading, and so forth. Only fifteen minutes were allotted before the shofar blasts, because we had already waited a long time and had completed all our own preparations. Nevertheless, we delayed for half an hour or more in order to wait for those who had not yet arrived. We would not leave them without hearing the sound of the shofar, for where else could they go to hear it, and so forth?

Meanwhile, we performed our own service with awakening and prepared ourselves through teshuvah and prayer beside the holy tomb. When the others arrived they began a portion of the Zohar passage recited before the shofar blasts, and so forth. They then immediately began reciting “For the conductor” with great and immense awakening. Each time the congregation completed the psalm amid noise and powerful awakening, the leader repeated its conclusion with awakening, and so forth. They did this seven times. There followed the verses recited with great awakening, as on the preceding day, with immense and powerful arousal, and so forth. R. Avraham served as makri and Yona as shofar blower. Between the groups of blasts we whispered confession of sins and recited the Yehi Ratzon with the awakening described above. The blasts were exceedingly good and the awakening was immense, especially during the verses and the arousal to teshuvah described above, for our hearts had been broken and crushed by the dispute.

At the conclusion of the shofar blasts, the prayer leader recited “Fortunate is the people who know the shofar’s cry,” “In Your Name they rejoice,” and “For You are the glory of their strength”—the verses said after the blasts—with immense and powerful awakening. He afterward chanted “Fortunate are those who dwell in Your house” in the Uman melody, with exceedingly great awakening, as on the first day.

Although prayers are usually hastened on Friday so that preparations can be made for the holy Shabbos, we had been compelled to wait for the second minyan, as stated above. We were also unwilling to relinquish the awakening to teshuvah and our customary rite. We therefore finished late, completing the service in the same manner as on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, as described above.