ח

And one Boruch Dayan positioned himself in the Old beis midrash, and contrived an argument from his own mind, announcing to all the people of the beis midrash that by Moharan"as's command the non-Jew had been sent to bite the pitam from the esrog, and moreover he immediately traveled on purpose to the Rav of Savran and presented this to him as absolute truth. And as our Sages za'l said: "A covenant has been sealed with [the power of] slander," until even David [was not spared from it] etc. [cf. Shabbos 56a; Moed Kattan 18b]. And the Rav of Savran was filled with great fury and rage against Moharan"as and his people — truly to uproot him from the world, and all his people, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

And when Moharan"as heard all the falsehood and the slander which Boruch Dayan had fabricated to ignite machlokes, as we will relate further on, he cursed him that his memory would be uprooted from the world — and so it was. Even though Boruch Dayan at that time had sons and grandsons, in the end, several years after Moharan"as's passing, they were uprooted from the world, and no memory or trace of him remained at all. And Boruch Dayan himself died after only three more years — until the beginning of the year 5598 (1838) — and died a most unusual death, as we will relate further on. [More is missing here — that on Chol HaMoed, Boruch made a great commotion in the city; and Moshe was with the Rav, and when R' Nassan heard of this, he went with R' Nachman of Tultshin to Elke.] [Completed at the end.]

And then, when R' Nassan saw that they had begun to gather together and slander him with baseless evil speech [lashon hara], he was greatly frightened by this. He went to Moshe Hinkes with R' Nachman Tultshin"er and began to tell Moshe Hinkes and his wife of his great distress at the baseless accusation about the pitam. He asked Moshe and his wife to go and do him the favor of refuting this falsehood. And Moshe and his wife answered: "A lie, a lie! They would not make such a baseless accusation against you, G-d forbid." And what Moharan"as said to them they did not believe — because in their hearts there was hatred against him from earlier, on account of the will matter — and therefore they did not wish his words to enter their ears. And Moharan"as left them with a broken heart; and R' Nachman of Tultshin looked at him and saw that his face had greatly changed, but did not understand why, for he did not know that this dispute had developed. But afterward he saw his holy wisdom — for he saw that they had the power to suppress the falsehood; and since he saw that they too hated him, he was greatly frightened. And certainly it was from Hashem that he understood all this at the outset, to precede prayer to trouble [tzarah], until Hashem Yisborach alone helped him.

And on Hoshana Rabbah, toward evening, when the aforementioned Boruch Dayan had begun to multiply his insults — which are not worth enumerating — afterward on Shemini Atzeres, many brazen-faced ones gathered to him, drank at his home before Hakafos (the festive Torah-circling processions), and on the night of Simchas Torah prepared themselves to go to the Hakafos.

The path to the beis midrash went by Moharan"as's house; and when it became known to Moharan"as of the great revelry, drunkenness, and wine-drinking in Boruch Dayan's house, he understood that as they passed by his house they would open their mouths without limit to disgrace and abuse him. He therefore strongly warned his close ones who were in his home that not one of them should go outside to start a fight with these brazen ones.