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And behold, we find that the beginning of the holy Torah is specifically from the sacred narratives. This corresponds to what our Sages of blessed memory taught [Rashi, Bereishis 1:1]: "The Torah need not have begun except from 'This month shall be to you' [the first commandment given to Israel], but rather [it begins with Creation] because of 'He declared to His people the power of His works'" — and so on. And even according to the plain meaning, just as — although the ultimate purpose of Torah study is good deeds — nonetheless "Great is study, for it leads to action" — so too: great are the works of G-d, and great is the power of the narrative portions of the Torah. For beyond the profound wisdom and the secrets of Torah hidden within them, as is amply explained throughout the holy Zohar — beyond all that, even at the plain level they are the very foundation of our holy Torah, because through them the heart of a person is ignited and aroused with flaming, blazing fire [risphei aish shalhevesya] to learn the Torah and to meditate upon it day and night, to fulfill everything written in it, and to believe in all its secrets — those that fall within the category of "the hidden things belong to Hashem our G-d" — when one sees and studies the entire order of the act of Creation and the order of all the generations from Adam to Noach, and from Noach to Avraham, and so on and so forth — until Israel went out from Egypt, ate the manna for forty years, merited receiving the Torah, and entered the Land of Israel — and so on and so on. Through all of this the heart of a person is aroused to study and fulfill the Torah.

And similarly in the Oral Torah we find the same thing, for it contains both halachos and aggados, and our Sages of blessed memory taught in the Sifri, Parshas Eikev: "'And to cleave unto Him' — those who expound hidden meanings said: if you wish to recognize the One by Whose word the world came into being, study Aggadah, for thereby you come to recognize the Holy One Blessed be He and cleave to His ways." And similarly they taught in the Mechilta, Parshas Beshalach: "'And that which is right in His eyes you shall do' — these are the praiseworthy aggados, which are received favorably in the ears of all people." And they said in Tanna d'Vei Eliyahu, chapter 2: "Throughout all the earth has gone forth their line — these are the aggados, which sanctify His great Name therein." And our Sages of blessed memory further greatly extolled the study of the narrative-teachings of the Torah in many places — all because they draw the heart of a person and arouse him to the service of G-d and to the fulfillment of the Torah. And indeed, in every generation the very foundation of Torah study and the fulfillment of Torah, and the preservation of all of Israel's sanctity — all of it rests solely upon the sages of the generation, who are the great Tzadikim of each era. As our Sages of blessed memory derived homiletically in tractate Megillah, folio 11: "'And also even this, when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not reject them, neither did I loathe them' — in the days of the Chaldeans He raised up Daniel for them; 'and I did not loathe them' — in the days of the Greeks He raised up Shimon the Tzaddik for them; 'to destroy them, to break My covenant with them' — He raised up for them Beis Rebbi and the sages of the generations." And similarly our Sages taught [Makkos 22b]: "How foolish are those who rise before a Torah scroll but do not rise before a great Torah scholar!" and so on.

Now, regarding the Tzadikim, the same two aspects mentioned above apply as well — for besides the wondrous Torah novelties that are revealed through them, which bring a person to good deeds and to the fulfillment of the Torah, the sacred stories that are told about them also possess great power to arouse the heart of a person to the service of G-d, to study their Torah novelties, and to fulfill them in truth and wholeheartedness, as G-d wills.

And behold, close to our own generations — in the very footsteps of the Mashiach literally — Hashem Blessed be He had mercy upon us and sent us a savior and a great master: Ir v'Kaddish nachas min Shemayya [a holy and awesome one who descended from Heaven]; Nachal Novaya M'kor Chochmah [a flowing stream, a wellspring of wisdom]; the Light of Lights — and so on — he is our holy Master, the author of the holy books Likutay Moharan, Sipuray Maasiyos, and so forth and so forth. He did wondrous things to illuminate the eyes of all Israel with the novelties of his Torah, his conversations, his stories, and all his holy matters — as is amply explained in his holy books. And he raised up many disciples who were wise men and great Tzadikim. Yet even so — from the immensity of the hiddenness and concealment that was upon him in this world, in the manner of "And G-d saw that the light was good" — to hide it away [Chagiga 12] — even his closest disciples did not merit to know and to grasp even a fraction of a fraction of him, zichrono livracha, to what heights the awesome and exalted level of his holiness and his attainments reached — except for one among his outstanding disciples: he is our teacher, the holy Tzaddik, the Rav Rabbi Nussun, zichrono livracha l'chayei ha'olam ha'ba. About him, Rabbainu zichrono livracha himself testified that he [Reb Nussun] knows and grasps something of the greatness of his level — as is partly explained elsewhere.