Siman 126

(23.) Our custom was to be with him on Rosh Hashana, on Shabbat Chanuka, and on the Festival of Shavuos — and at these three times we were always with him from the day he established his residence here in Breslov. And he would command and urge to be with him at these three times. And he always said a wonderful Torah at great length at these times. Namely: on Rosh Hashana he would say the Torah between the twilights — between the first and second day — and he would begin at twilight and extend far into the night of the second day of Rosh Hashana. And on Shabbat Chanuka he said the Torah at the Third Meal. And on Shavuos he said it also like Rosh Hashana — between the twilights of the second day of Shavuos — and extended far into the night of the second day. But above all he urged and warned most to be with him on Rosh Hashana. And he said that on Rosh Hashana he wants all of our people to be together as one — not a single person to be absent. And the magnitude of his warning and urging to be with him on Rosh Hashana cannot be estimated — he repeated this warning several times, and said that his entire dealings are Rosh Hashana. Also on the final Rosh Hashana in Uman he spoke with us as well about this — about the virtue of one who merits to be with him on Rosh Hashana — and he said it in these words: "What shall I say to you — there is nothing greater than this" [in Yiddish: "vaz zal ich aich zogn, kein gresiris der fun iz nit do"]. And he said: "And if by other tzaddikim there is not such an obligation to be with them specifically on Rosh Hashana, this raises yet another difficulty against me" [in Yiddish: "iz noch a kushya"] — meaning: he does not want to explain and give the reason, but rather as if to say: without this there are already many difficulties raised against him, and this difficulty too will be added — what he insists on so much to be with him on Rosh Hashana more than all other tzaddikim. For though all people traveled to tzaddikim for Rosh Hashana — not one of them was as insistent or warned as much as he did. And further it is explained elsewhere [#403] regarding what he commanded to make a proclamation etc., and he said then that all who merit to be with him on Rosh Hashana should rejoice greatly: "Eat delicacies" etc. And there were yet another three times a year when he said Torah regularly — namely, he would travel to Tcherin and Tiraovitze once in the winter, and he stayed there for the Three Meals and said Torah twice: namely on Shabbat Shira and on another Sabbath. And also in the summer he would travel there but said Torah only once — in Tcherin on Shabbat Nachamu. In general, these six occasions mentioned above — namely, three times at home and three times on the road — he said Torah regularly. And beyond this he had no fixed schedule for saying Torah. For he did not sit with us at the Third Meal at all — only on those aforementioned Sabbaths. But throughout the year he would sit always at the Third Meal alone in his room. Yet even so, we heard much Torah from him also throughout the year — only there was no fixed time for it. Rather, at whatever time G-d blessed us, we merited to hear from his mouth wondrous Torah. Sometimes on Friday night, and sometimes on the Sabbath morning, and sometimes at the close of Sabbath after havdalah, and sometimes on weekdays. And many times it happened that from within the conversation he was having — for he would converse and talk with us much about worldly matters — and we would speak with him about whatever came to our lips. And afterwards we merited to hear much Torah from him, and the Torah was from the realm of all the conversations we had spoken with him. And this was very common — until we began to recognize with our own eyes that all his conversation is entirely Torah. And every time we bent our ears well to his holy speech, we heard that all his words are wondrous Torah — until we began to write down some of his conversations. But not even one part in a thousand or ten thousand was written down. Fortunate is the time, fortunate is the hour, fortunate is the moment that we merited to stand before him to hear the breath of his holy mouth. Who will give us now such an hour — we would roll thousands of parsaos in the dust in order to merit to come before him to hear the breath of his holy mouth, which surpasses all holiness. (וְעַיֵּן הוֹסָפוֹת סִי' יג)