Chapter 27

The principal source of our joy endures to this very day, for, Baruch Hashem, we were the ones who first made an opening and a beginning for travel to Hebron. Until then, several years had passed during which no Jewish foot had trodden that road; and Baruch Hashem, from the time we traveled until the end of that year, several thousand Jews had been there, while weeping and prayers were poured out there in their thousands and tens of thousands from then until the present. We brought all this about by making the beginning.

Afterward, the members of our fellowship traveled that road several times, until it became an established route for the many. Had we not made the beginning and travel there not already become customary, who knows whether a Jewish foot would have trodden there even to this day.

The same applies to the beginning we made by traveling to Rachel’s Tomb on the eleventh of Cheshvan, the yahrzeit of Rachel our Mother, as stated above. Several years had likewise passed during which it was closed and barred and was never opened—not on the yahrzeit, not on Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, and not on any Erev Rosh Chodesh—and for several years almost no Jewish foot had trodden there.

Who knows how long this condition would have continued had we not made the beginning by traveling to Rachel’s Tomb on the day of the yahrzeit with immense self-sacrifice, without any guard and without a permit, toward evening, paying the shamash a large sum and traveling by taxi? That journey cost each of us approximately thirty grush, apart from the fear and the immense self-sacrifice described above at length.

We made a complete beginning. From then onward we too traveled that route time after time, likewise with self-sacrifice, paying a large sum to the shamash and for the taxi journeys.

We were there several times by day and several times throughout the entire night, as described above at length, until it became an established route for the many. From then until today, thousands and tens of thousands of people have already traveled there, and many thousands upon thousands of prayers and fervent weeping have been poured out there from then until the present. This year, Baruch Hashem, it was open throughout the entire months of Elul and Tishray, day and night without interruption, etc. Baruch Hashem, it was we who made the complete beginning in this matter through self-sacrifice.

The same applies to the beginning made at Meron, in traveling to the tziyun of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, may his merit protect us, amen. For several years, literally no Jewish foot had trodden there. Only on Lag BaOmer itself did the entire multitude travel together under a large government guard, with several machine guns and artillery pieces; and the entire visit lasted only two hours. They did not permit even one moment more, and apart from those two hours no Jewish foot trod there throughout the entire year.

Baruch Hashem, after Sukkos the members of our fellowship had already made a complete beginning with immense self-sacrifice, paying the shamash a large sum, traveling from Jerusalem, and also making the journey from Safed to Meron. This too cost a great deal, because there was no regular transportation there. We traveled that route many times with immense self-sacrifice and at great expense, and lodged there for several nights amid immense self-sacrifice and fears. The people of Safed were exceedingly afraid, and because of this they have regarded us to this very day as men who were literally and knowingly endangering their lives. Had they not forcibly detained us through the government on the preceding Lag BaOmer, we would already have made the beginning then, etc.

We see that even on this Lag BaOmer not one person came on the night of Lag BaOmer; they merely made a commotion about coming on the day of the lighting. Only several Ashkenazic shamashim who served without pay—our courageous friends—and all the Sephardim for whom we had made such an established route found the courage to be there already for the Shabbos preceding this Lag BaOmer and to kindle the lighting at night, etc.

We, Baruch Hashem, were certainly the cause of this. Had we not repeatedly made the complete beginning, and had the people of Safed not already become ashamed of themselves, even on this Lag BaOmer they would have traveled only under a large guard for two hours, etc. Thus we went time after time until, Baruch Hashem, an established route was created there, although even now the route is not yet fully established.

Likewise, even with regard to walking to the Western Wall, we made the beginning. For a long period that place had not seen the face of a Jew, and who knows how much longer this would have been delayed. Baruch Hashem, we began going there with self-sacrifice, time after time—in the morning, in the evening, and at midnight—until it became an established route for the many. Today Minchah and Maariv are already prayed there every day, and people also walk directly there by way of the batrak [Arab market], along the old route, without interference, Baruch Hashem.

At Shimon HaTzadik in particular, we certainly established the route, for the members of our fellowship never ceased going there, not even during the very worst days, Heaven forbid, and to this day they have spent several entire nights there. Through this, an established route has likewise been created there and remains so to this day.

We likewise sustained the entire Jewish settlement in the Old City. Had the members of our fellowship not held fast there with immense self-sacrifice throughout the worst periods, not a single Jew would have remained there, and it would almost have become like Hebron—desolate and a wilderness of devastation, Heaven forbid. They held fast with all their strength to live precisely there and paid no heed at all to the ninety percent of people whose families had lived there from generation to generation but who uprooted their homes and moved outside the city.

Even Batei Machaseh, known as “Deutscher Platz,” was emptied of residents and then only somewhat refilled by members of our fellowship, until people said that it ought to be called “Breslover Platz.” Baruch Hashem, more than a minyan of members of our fellowship now reside in Batei Machaseh.

I in particular, Baruch Hashem, have a large share in sustaining the Old City settlement, for I moved there on a day worse than all the others—the day on which shots were fired at the automobile traveling to the Old City. People thought that the automobile would no longer travel there and that all transportation there would cease. All the people and rabbis who constituted the surviving remnant still there had already prepared themselves to leave and move outside the city.

But when I made this immense act of self-sacrifice, they did not find the courage to flee outside the city and were ashamed to do so. The entire city was literally astir at seeing someone come to live in the Old City on such a day, and several people told me that I had revived the entire city and that this constituted a great kiddush Hashem, etc. Baruch Hashem, we made all these beginnings; and all of it was through the power of our holy Rabbainu, whose teachings and sacred works gave us strength and courage to overcome every obstacle to all holy matters. Fortunate are we; how good is our portion, that we have fallen to his share and lot.

When the people and the other chasidim heard about our journey to Hebron, they envied us greatly. They too began working on the matter and went to Mr. Kisilov, asking that they also be given a guard and permission to travel to Hebron. The Karlin chasidim, in particular, worked on this with great effort. They were sent away empty-handed, however, for arrangements of this kind could not be made every time, etc.

Mr. Kisilov likewise told us ourselves that such a matter could not be arranged every day. Only on Erev Rosh Chodesh Adar II did several members of our fellowship travel without any guard. There were also three newer men from the Chasidim synagogue in Batei Ungarin. Virtually all the congregants wished to swallow them alive with their words for having endangered themselves so greatly, literally in the category of one who knowingly destroys himself.

Only on Erev Rosh Chodesh Nisan did many members of our fellowship and many additional people already travel, etc. From then onward an established route was created, and people travel there every Erev Rosh Chodesh. All travel is still only on Arab buses, because Jewish buses are afraid to go there.