צד

(And on Sunday of Parshas Emor — while I was in Kushta for nine days at the house of Rabbi Avraham mentioned above — the emissaries from Vilna mentioned above came and stayed at my lodgings. And since the emissaries spent greatly — they took the room from me and gave it to them. And we went up to the upper floor and stayed there two or three days until we boarded the ship on Wednesday of the portion mentioned above. And while we were staying there together — I spoke with them a little — until we began to enter into a slight disputation between Chassidim and opponents. For they were of the great opponents against all Chassidim — as is well known. And I began to speak with them about faith in the Sages. And I thought that at the very least they would have some faith in the Gaon of Vilna — for they were called by his name. But they answered me immediately — and one of them was the primary speaker — and all agreed with him — and answered and said: etc. etc. — faith shall I have in a person? etc. — speaking in this manner. And all agreed with his words. And I began to dispute with him: if so — what is faith in the Sages? But they did not incline their ear to my words at all. And they responded with foolish and worthless words that touched somewhat on heresy. For in truth: one who has no faith in the Sages — his faith in Hashem Blessed be He is also not complete. As is explained in our words many times — and in particular in the Torah Tik'u Tochecha §8 of Likutay Tinyanna. And then I saw clearly the difference between Chassidim and opponents. For I saw that even in their Torah scholar about whom they said he was a great Torah scholar and pious one — even in him they had no faith. And afterward I said to them plainly: I had thought that if you had no faith in the great Tzadikim of the Chassidim — at the very least you had faith in your own Torah scholars. But now I know your level: that you have no faith at all. And also the emissaries mentioned above did not wish to travel by sea — and their intention was to travel overland. And also the very great delay of the road — and the very great anguish of the bouncing and toil that reaches to the soul — to travel on horses for such a long journey among wild men who sometimes strike the rider — and many other countless troubles that one suffers on horse-journey — as I heard in Kushta. Therefore I said: on Hashem let us cast our burden and we shall travel by sea. And may Hashem Blessed be He lead us in peace and bring us quickly to Eretz Yisroel for a good long life and in peace. Amen — so may it be the will.) [Back to the main narrative]: On Friday — Erev Shabbas Kodesh Parshas Shemini — 28 Nissan — the thirteenth of the Counting — in the year 5582 — we boarded the ship for Istanbul — about two hours after midday. That is: at about midday we traveled from the lodgings with all our belongings. And we came to the officials sitting at the shore to guard the border. And there we handed over the ticket to several lords. And they immediately gave their signatures on it according to the law. And the matter took about two hours. And several people accompanied us — those whose hearts my love had touched. And there at the border I took leave of them. And we parted from one another in love, brotherhood, and friendship. And they blessed me with blessings of peace — until I went out the gate to outside the border — beyond which no person is permitted to go out or enter without permission from all the officials mentioned above.

And when I merited to go out the gate to outside the border — joy was placed in my heart. And I walked in joy — I and my dear friend Rabbi Yehuda Eliezer. And we needed to walk on the dock (called gavan) until we would come to our ship. But we did not find our ship immediately. And we wished to ask the Gentiles sitting there on the road. But most of them could not communicate in the languages of our surroundings — for most of them spoke Italian or Ishmaelite — and only a few words of those languages did some of them understand a little. And we began to say: where is the ship of the captain (shipmaster) — Yakap Tadvoivitch? And as we walked a few paces on the dock — they answered and said to us: is that not the sailor (matros) who is going now — he is from the ship of Yakap mentioned above. And it was from Hashem that He provided us at that very hour a sailor from our ship — which was standing at the far end of the dock. In breadth it was about the span of ten ships from our ship. And without this — I do not know how we would have been able to come to our ship.

And then immediately that sailor mentioned above led us through the entire dock. And we passed by many ships of others — until we came to the far edge of the dock. And there he brought us into some adjacent ship — and that too was not our ship. Only he took us through it. And so he led us from ship to ship through several ships. And as we went from ship to ship — in the middle there stood small low boats in which they transport grain from Odessa to the large ship and the like. Therefore we were compelled to descend into some of them — as from an upper floor to the ground. And in some of them there was no ladder or steps — only we were compelled to descend by rope. But from the greatness of my joy and my expansiveness of heart at that time — I had no fear at all of descending by rope from ship to ship on the sea — on a way I had never traveled before. Only I crossed from ship to ship with great alacrity — just as the sailor who led us crossed. And also Rabbi Yehuda Eliezer my companion walked after me. And on one ship he had a little fear. But even so he looked at me and also descended by rope. And so we crossed through several ships with great alacrity — until we came to our ship. And there were only sailors there — for there was no Jew with us the entire way from Odessa to Istanbul — except us two alone — among several Gentile sailors. And when we came to the deck of the ship — and there no one could communicate in the Russian language or any language of our surroundings — we immediately went down to the captain's cabin. [For I had known the place of descent beforehand — from having been in Odessa on some ship standing at the Kherson dock.] And upon entering the cabin — I found there two Gentiles eating the midday meal. But the captain was not among them — for he was on another ship eating with others. And immediately when I entered the cabin — I asked at once: is this the ship of Yakap mentioned above? And it was from Hashem that among them was one who could speak the German tongue a little. And he immediately answered us in German: yes. And received us with a pleasant face. And apparently the captain had already informed them that two Jews would come who had hired his ship to cross. And we began to ask that Gentile who spoke German to give us a small boat to go to the border to receive all our belongings which we had left there in the designated house. He answered: certainly I will give you one — only you must wait a little until the men have finished their eating — for now is their eating time. And we immediately went back up on the ship deck.

And when we came back up on the ship deck — we saw all the sailors sitting and eating. And we walked here and there on the entire ship. For everything was wonders to us — and in particular to Rabbi Yehuda Eliezer who had never been on such a ship. And even I — who had already been on a ship standing at the Kherson dock as mentioned — yet that ship was smaller than these ships. And also there I had not had leisure to look properly — to satisfy my eyes with the entire structure and workmanship of the ship. And we walked on the entire ship in great joy — here and there. And we lingered a little until the German-speaker came up from the cabin. And when we saw they still gave us no boat — we asked him: why were they delaying us? For we were very eager to bring the belongings — since it was Erev Shabbas Kodesh after midday. And he answered: they had not yet finished their eating. And we were compelled to wait a little more.