אות - קסג

One of the Rebbe’s followers from Zlatipolia related the following:

One summer day in Zlatipolia, the Rebbe prayed very early. He sent his daughter, Sarah, to call me. When I came to him, he suggested that we take a stroll together. We soon left the city and found ourselves walking in a grassy meadow.

The Rebbe spoke. “If only you could be worthy to hear the song of this grass. Each blade sings out to God without any ulterior motive, not expecting any reward. It is most wonderful to hear their song and serve God in their midst. Es is zehr gut frum tzu zein tzivishen zei – It is very good to be religious among them.”

We walked a bit farther and came to a mogila , a small mountain, near the city. I asked why we were going there and the Rebbe told me the secret of that mogila . He asked me to come with him. The mountain was hollowed-out like a cave and when we entered it, we could not be seen from the outside.

As soon as we entered the hollow, the Rebbe took a copy of Sha'arey Tzion 271 "Gates of Zion,” a book of devotional prayers compiled by the Kabbalist Rabbi Nathan Nata Hanover, first published in 1662. out of his pocket and began to read. He read it page by page, weeping bitterly all the while.

I was standing there holding the Rebbe’s coat and was amazed at the extent of his weeping. He stayed there for a very long time. When the Rebbe finished, he asked me to go out and check the time. When I looked, the day was almost over and the sun was beginning to set. The Rebbe had been weeping in prayer for an entire long summer day without stopping.

The Rebbe asked me for a light and smoked his pipe for a while. He sat there for some time and then went outside.

The Rebbe said, “A time will come when it will be very difficult to approach me. But now I am in your hands. If you and R' Y.Y. 272 R' Yaakov Yosef of Zlatipolia. His son, Reb Zalman, later married the Rebbe's daughter, Chayah ( Yemey Moharnat #84) and they had one child, named after Rebbe Nachman, who was known as Reb Nachman Chayeles. Reb Zalman passed away young and Chayah remarried to Reb Aharon Zaslavsaki, the grandson of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement). desired it, I could make you into tzaddikim just like myself.”