Siman 162

(12.) He said that immediately when the cough came upon him — immediately upon his first cough — he knew right away that he would pass on. And immediately he began to speak of his passing — even though Hashem Yisburach in His great kindness performed wondrous great miracles for us, that he lived afterwards for three years and somewhat more. But even so, immediately in the summer of 5567 [1806/7] when the cough came upon him — while he was on the road during his return from the great journey he traveled to Navoritch and Zaslav etc. as mentioned above — and immediately upon his coming home from the aforementioned journey he began to speak of his passing. And he said then that great fears were upon him, and he said that he would have needed sixty warriors, as the Baal Shem Tov z"l had. And he spoke much about this matter. (But I myself did not merit to hear these matters from his holy mouth, for I was not with him — and much of this has been forgotten.) And once he wept on the Sabbath and Rabbi Naftali was with him then. And at that same time he told the tale of the King who had great wars against him — about the matter of the fly and the spider. And he traveled then through the Ukraine as was his custom — always traveling to Tcherin for Shabbat Nachamu. And on the way in the holy congregation of Ladizhin he spoke with our people there, that he is compelled to pass on — and he also spoke with them about the sixty warriors he needs, and that the Baal Shem Tov z"l had sixty warriors. And certainly they will grow and become of his sixty warriors — but they are still youths and tender in years, and the battle is very heavy and strong upon them, and he has no one to lean upon etc. And he spoke of this several more times, and from some of them I heard: that even if he had sixty warriors it would not help him to be healed from his illness. And he said that he wanted to travel to the Land of Israel — meaning, to travel once more to the Land of Israel and to pass on there — but he feared that perhaps he would not be able to get there. And also if he passed on there, no one would come to his grave and they would have no dealings with his grave. And he said in these words [in Yiddish]: "Men vet keiner nit kumen oyf dem kever, men vet nit hoben tzi ton mit dem kever." But if he lay in our land — certainly we would come to his grave to learn and pray there, and it would be for him great delight and pleasure from this. <p>And from that time onwards he spoke greatly about the matter of his passing, and spoke greatly about his grave. And he revealed his view many times in many kinds of language — that people should come to his grave always to say Psalms over his grave and to learn there and to increase prayer and supplications there. And he spoke with many people about this. Also when he came from Lemberg he said that it was good before him to pass on and lie there because of the many righteous great men who lie there. But because of this it was not agreeable to him to pass on there — because there no one of his people would come to his grave. And he said: when one comes to his grave and says a chapter of Psalms with awakening of the heart — it will be great pleasure for him. And he made movements with his body and bones then, hinting that it would be for him a releasing of his bones then in his grave when they say Psalms over his grave. And he spoke further about this matter many times. And afterwards he revealed the Ten Chapters of Psalms [the Tikun HaKlali], and said that whoever comes to his grave and gives a coin to charity and says these Ten Chapters of Psalms — he will stretch himself out lengthwise and breadthwise to help that person, even if he has done what he has done etc. — and he will designate two witnesses over this, as is explained elsewhere [below §225]. And he also spoke much about the matter of Lemberg, and it was understood from his words that what he said was relevant to Yom Kippur — and there is still upon him a great accusation Above and the illness and sufferings he has — and he said: even though my intention was certainly for the sake of Heaven — even so etc. And he told then the incident about the son of the Rabbi of Shpitivkeh who was ill and knew that it was because of a sin he had committed in failing to honor his father — and yet he understood in his heart that he did not repent etc. And he told this against himself — that even though the illness and sufferings are because of the aforementioned matter — even so he does not repent in his heart. And he said that Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak, who is now the Rabbi of Tcherin, had informed him beforehand that the fire would occur. And also in Medvedivkeh there was a fire and Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak was there then and informed me in advance — and Shmuel Yitzchak in gematria equals "fire" as written in the Torah deficiently [Genesis 29]. <p>And also he told an incident about the son of our Rabbi of Shpitivkeh who was ill, and knew that his illness was because of a sin he had committed in failing to honor his father. And even so he understood in his heart that he did not repent etc. And he told this against himself — that even though he knows that his sufferings and illness are because of the aforementioned — even so he does not repent in his heart. <span style="color:#b8a060; font-style:italic;" title="הַשְׁמָטָה — פַּאנְצֶ'ער-א"><And this will be very difficult to fulfill (see Likutay Halchos, Yoreh Deah, Laws of the Worm, §4)></span>