אות - ריט

Once he said to someone: I will reveal to you a secret — that there will be great heresy in the world.[402] For from Above, heresy will come into the world as a test. And I know that my people, even without this, will strengthen themselves in faith in truth and will remain standing in their faith. But I am revealing this to you so that they will be strengthened even more when they see that this was spoken of beforehand. And words like these were heard from his holy mouth several times. And he would sigh very deeply over this and said: Oy — how can a small number of people stand against the whole world? And behold, very shortly after his passing, o.b.m., we saw this with our own eyes — that immediately great heresy began to spread in the world the like of which there had never been since earliest times. For although this plague had already begun to sprout in distant lands — the notorious heretics there, as is well known — and they composed evil writings, in particular the newspapers,[403] etc. But the plague had not yet spread to our region until in our days, after his passing, o.b.m., and the passing of other great and holy Tzadikim, o.b.m., the plague of this evil spread also in our region. And already the righteous and upright in these our generations cried out without ceasing and no one listened to them — for their hand grew strong due to our many sins. Oy to us for what has befallen us in these our generations. And through this was brought about the evil decree in our days that was caused through them,[404] oy, what happened to us. And it was fulfilled — because of our many sins — as our master, teacher, and Rabbainu, o.b.m., the awesome one, foretold beforehand through his holy spirit. And they continue to spread at every time. Oy, who knows what will be in the days to come.

And we have already written what he, o.b.m., said[405] — that all our prophets prophesied about this, especially Daniel who said (Daniel 12:10): "Many shall be purified and cleansed and refined" — that all their intention was that in these latter days Israel would be tested and refined in faith — that many would rise up and wish to mislead them from the holy faith, namely the heretics and investigators of our days. And since he already made this known beforehand — that this would be the test — it was fitting to stand firm in the test certainly. Even so it will be a great test to the point where many will stumble greatly. But even so, we write all this so that those who truly desire the truth and the holy faith should know that he, o.b.m., already made all this known to us beforehand — so that it should be a reviving of their soul to strengthen their heart in Hashem and His holy Torah as we received from our fathers, the Sages, o.b.m., in the Gemara and the later decisors. 402. RAK: See above, sections 35 and 126. 403. RAK: The first Hebrew literary journal, put out by enemies of Torah. Printed regularly between 5544–5546, and irregularly until 5571. Their entire purpose was to spread assimilation among Jews.

404. RAK: Possibly referring to the Russian decree of compulsory military service of 5587 and the censorship laws. 405. RAK: See above, section 35.