י

And behold, when the opponents [misnagdim] had the permission of the Rav to inform against Moharan"as za'l before the authorities, they went to the city governor, then called the Garadnitshe, and informed against Moharan"as with great accusations. They also told him that people gathered to him from many towns, and they requested that he come to his house on Shabbos Chanukah toward evening — at the time of his recitation of Torah at the third meal [seudah shelishis] — and seize him in arrest, together with all his people from other towns who would be found in his home at that time, along with all the manuscripts of his Torah found in his house. And so the aforementioned governor did. He called soldiers and surrounded Moharan"as's house, so that not even one man could escape; and he also sealed with his seal the entrance to Moharan"as's upper room, where his Torah manuscripts were to be found. And since they did not wish to arrest the townspeople of Breslov itself, they posted a man at the entrance to tell the soldiers who was from other towns — to seize them — and who was from the townspeople of Breslov — not to seize them. The soldiers took the men who had come from other towns and led them off to prison; but Moharan"as himself they did not take into prison at that time, thinking he would certainly not flee. Therefore they left him and did not arrest him.

And behold, on Motza'ei Shabbos Kodesh, when the soldiers left Moharan"as's house, the townspeople of Breslov entered once more to Moharan"as — and found him sitting in wondrous deveikus [cleaving to Hashem], repeating to himself again and again the Mishnah: "The born are to die, the dead are to live — to know and to make known that He..." [Avos 4:22]. He repeated this Mishnah many times with immense feeling and tremendous burning. Afterward, when he returned to himself, he told his people: since the city governor had forgotten to seal the second entrance — the one on the balcony before his upper room, opening outward — they should immediately that very night place a ladder against the balcony and climb up to the upper room and take out all his Torah manuscripts from there. And so they did; and they took all his Torah manuscripts from there. Only a small drawer [shiflad] was forgotten in a hidden place, which also contained some writings — and these were later taken by the non-Jews. Immediately after Shabbos, Moharan"as hastened to flee from his home. He first fled to the nearby village, to the town where one of his people lived, and lingered there about a day or two, hoping that the tumult might nevertheless subside and he might be able to return home. But after inquiry into what was occurring in the city, he understood that he was compelled to flee from Breslov. He first fled from there to Uman, and from Uman to Tcherin, and from Tcherin to Kremenchug — and there he remained until Hashem Yisborach helped, through our friend R' Shmuel Weinberg, to appease the city authorities, who released all the prisoners and also some of the aforementioned manuscripts. And the city governor gave permission to issue a bilet (travel permit) to Moharan"as; and they received the bilet and immediately sent it to Moharan"as in Kremenchug, so that he could return home to Breslov.