יח

Behold, I have come to make known something of the testimony given — those men of beliyaal (worthlessness) in whom the Samach Mem had clothed himself, who called themselves by the name of Chassidim and clothed themselves in the garments of Chassidus with long peyos — who testified before the Rav of Savran. And I myself knew one of the chief among them, whose name was Akiva Meirtshe, who was learned in Gemara with commentaries; and he testified before the Rav of Savran that he had seen with his own eyes that Moharan"as ate meat on the Ninth of Av [Tisha BeAv]. However, several years later Hashem Yisborach arranged that the Rav R' Zalman of Medvedivka married a woman in Breslov and after the wedding remained in Breslov, living then at his father-in-law's table. His practice was to engage in pilpul (deep discussion) in learning with the aforementioned Akiva Meirtshe, and therefore acquired a measure of affection; and he once asked him: "How did you open your mouth to say such a strange and false thing before the Savraner?" And the aforementioned Akiva Meirtshe answered him: "Believe me, I would not say a lie, G-d forbid — for truly I saw this. But the Ninth of Av in question fell on Shabbos." And when the Rav of Savran asked him on which day that Tisha BeAv had fallen — [the answer was sufficient, the matter settled].

And I likewise personally knew the man Yitzchak Chana's, who testified before the Rav of Savran that he once entered the home of Moharan"as za'l and found him sitting with a female in his lap. After Moharan"as's passing he admitted before his brother-in-law R' Meir Yehudah that this female had been his granddaughter — an infant of approximately six months, the daughter of his daughter Chana Tzirel. And this man too answered: "And did the Rav of Savran ask me which female it was?" Such and similar lies and wantonness abounded, until they ignited such a machlokes. And one man who was a scholar and among the followers of the Rav of Savran, but who also knew Moharan"as — when the Rav of Savran told him the aforementioned testimony, he could not hold himself back and cried out: "Oif aza mentsh oich" [Upon such a person, too!] — meaning: such is the impulse to victory [midas hanitzachon], that it leads one to believe such lies, for the impulse to win cannot tolerate the truth.