Siman 340

(1.) He said: "The world has not yet tasted me at all. If they were to hear even one Torah discourse that I say — with its melody and its dance — all would be completely nullified in total nullification. Meaning — all the world entirely, even animals and plants and all that exists in the world — all would be annulled with the expiration of the soul from the immensity of the extraordinary and exceedingly wondrous pleasure." And this can be understood — for one who knows melody and dance: from the nature of a melody, the soul of the listener is drawn after the melody and is nullified with the expiration of the soul according to each and every movement of the melody, according to the power of each and every movement of the melody in terms of what power that movement has to break and arouse the soul to draw it after it. All the more so one who can dance — that the dance be exactly aligned with the movement of the melody. For there are movements in each and every limb that pertain to the movements of the melody — that for this movement one needs to nod one's head or to bend oneself, and likewise with other limbs and legs — that one needs to make a movement with one's body and feet exactly aligned with the movements of the melody. <p>And in particular one who plays a melody with words and song — who arranges song and words with the movement of the melody — so that the song and words are aligned with great precision to the melody, and the meter of the song is exactly aligned with the pleasantness of the melody, and also the dance is exactly aligned with the pleasantness of the melody and the meter of the song — for it is all one — when one merits to hear such a melody with song and words and with such a dance, all of which pertain to one another with great precision, for the words — meaning the song, and the melody, and the dance — are literally all one: when one merits to hear this, then one becomes literally annulled in the expiration of the soul from the immensity of the extraordinary pleasure. And this is the greatest pleasure of all pleasures, and there is no greater pleasure than this. And one who has not tasted this does not know pleasure at all. Praiseworthy is the eye that saw this — for even in the World to Come not all merit to hear and see this, only one who labored on the eve of Shabbat etc. And those standing around him cannot and do not know what to do — only they have an expiration of the soul and wondrous longing from the immensity of the pleasure, and he stands in the middle and does as mentioned. (And understand this matter well, for it is impossible to explain it in writing. And one who knows melody and dance can hear a little in his heart of the immense pleasantness of the pleasure and longing mentioned above, literally the expiration of the soul until one becomes completely nullified — and understand.) And also everyone who is closer and more attached to him — all the movements happen to him automatically, as is seen tangibly in the aforementioned parable: whoever is closer to the melody and dance and understands more — all the movements of the melody and dance happen to him automatically because of the greatness of the pleasure. As is seen tangibly — that when a person hears a melody and dance, because of the pleasure that is drawn after the melody, he also makes those movements after it and he also plays and dances a little — for the movements of the melody and dance happen to him automatically. So too when one is more attached to holiness — the more one is close to the Torah and melody and dance, the movements of all the aforementioned holiness also happen to him automatically. All this I heard myself. And in Yiddish I heard that he said in these words: "Zei zoln mich hern ain Torah mit dem nigun in mit ain tants volt di gantze velt ois gegangen" [If they were to hear just one Torah that I say with its melody and dance, all the world entirely would go out in the expiration of the soul]. And he asked again: "Vos hob ich gezagt?" [What did I say?] And the Rabbi Rabbi Nussun of blessed memory answered him as all the aforementioned. And Rabbainu o.b.m. said to him: [Vos maynstu] [What do you think?] — even animals and plants etc., as all mentioned above. <span style="color:#b8a060; font-style:italic;" title="הַשְׁמָטָה — נִגּוּן"><Afterwards I heard in his name that he said on Rosh Hashana: "I have a melody to sing in the Future to Come — this will be the World to Come of all the tzaddikim and the chassidim." And this has a connection to the aforementioned conversation I heard myself. And see the Torah "Tiku Tochecha" [Likutay Tinyana, Torah 8] which he said near his passing — there it speaks of the melody of seventy-two strings etc. And see the Tale of the Seven Beggars in the Legendary Tales.></span>