Rabbi Nachman of Breslov was born in 5532 (1772) to his father Rabbi Simcha and his mother Feiga, granddaughter of the Baal Shem Tov. He grew up among his grandfather's disciples and drew much from them and their teachings, but he had no definitive teacher and forged his own path. Even as a child, he practiced great self-denial and labored intensely on every aspect of Torah and Divine service. At thirteen, he married Sashia and lived in his father-in-law's house in Husiatyn until 5550 (1790). He became more well-known in the years that followed, when he moved to the village of Medvedevka, where the controversies that would accompany him for years also began. In 5558 (1798), Rabbi Nachman ascended to the Land of Israel, on a journey that included many hardships. He related that his Torah insights following his journey to Israel were incomparably elevated. Shortly after his return, he moved to Breslov, where his disciple Rabbi Nathan became close to him, and from there he relocated to Uman. During that period, he also began telling his allegorical tales, in which he concealed secrets that could not be expressed in any other way. On the 18th of Tishrei 5571 (1810), the third day of Chol HaMoed Sukkot, Rabbi Nachman passed away and was buried in the old cemetery in Uman.
Once, Rebbe Nachman was traveling on the with Rabbi Chaikel. Rebbe Nachman was then in a state of wondrous deveikut (cleaving to God). It seemed to Rabbi Chaikel that Rebbe Nachman was dozing off. A person who was somewhat close to Rebbe Nachman, and was also a relative of Rabbi Chaikel lived on a side road near there. Rabbi Chaikel signaled to the wagon driver to turn to his relative’s home.
It was Rebbe Nachman’s way not to be obstinate about anything, so he pretended as if he didn't know what was happening. He entered the man's house, and when the host saw his illustrious guest, he was greatly moved and greeted him joyfully. Rabbi Chaikel asked him: "Do you have a bit of wine or sweets to serve?" The host replied that his house was empty. Rabbi Chaikel told him: "Go to the nearby inn and bring something." He replied that he had no means to buy anything… Rabbi Chaikel said to him: "Take some object as collateral." So he took his wife's Shabbat candlesticks and brought some liquor and sweets.
As the host poured some liquor for Rebbe Nachman, his children entered. Their clothes were torn and worn. Rabbi Chaikel asked Rebbe Nachman to bestow some abundance upon the man. "I have no abundance for him,” said Rebbe Nachman. “If you wish, you give him abundance."
“Rebbe, I am afraid to bless him in your presence,” Rabbi Chaikel responded.. “Perhaps you will be angry with me for this, and you will say, God forbid, that Chaikel should die, and he will die, God forbid!"
"Do not fear!" said Rebbe Nachman. Rabbi Chaikel asked him three times, and each time Rebbe Nachman replied: "Do not fear, I give you permission!"
Rabbi Chaikel poured water from a vessel onto the floor in the middle of the house, took a rolling pin and smoothed the water, saying "Abundance to the east, abundance to the west, abundance to the south, abundance to the north." Rebbe Nachman raised his kaftan and said to him: "Chaikel, do not give abundance to me."
Afterwards, they took leave of their host and traveled on. As they traveled from there, a group of merchants came, bringing tablecloths, linen, wool, and hides for sale in the city. They asked the host if he had food to sell, and he answered that he had nothing. They told him that they would lend him a sum to go to the city to buy all that was needed, and when they would travel back, they would buy the food from him. "And because you are an honest man, we have no worry about the money." They lent him five silver rubles.
Until that day, the merchants had stayed at the inn by the road, but from then on they began to stop at his home and bought all that they needed from him. They also sold him all that they had: both from the field, such as legumes and grain and flax, and animal hides and poultry and the like, and he sold them in the city and profited and began to enjoy more and more abundance.
Later, he also bought cattle and made butter and cheese, and began to bring milk to sell in the city as well. When he would come to the city, he would also stop to visit Rebbe Nachman. After some time, he became so busy and rushed that he no longer had time to enter Rebbe Nachman’s home. He had to sell merchandise and buy and make calculations, and he was afraid that he would start talking to him and waste his time, or perhaps one of Rebbe Nachman’s disciples would start talking to him.
Rebbe Nachman’s windows faced the market, where one had to pass. Once, when there was a fair in Breslov and he was running quickly to the market to buy and sell, Rebbe Nachman knocked on the window and called him. He was forced to enter, for it is not polite not to enter if he has already been invited in. "Did you look at the heavens today?" Rebbe Nachman asked him.
"No," he replied.
Rebbe Nachman called him to the window and said to him: "Look out the window and tell me what you see."
"I see wagons and horses, and people running here and there," he said.
“Fifty years from now,” said Rebbe Nachman, “there will be a completely different fair, and all that you see will no longer be here. There will be different horses and wagons and merchandise and different people, and I will not be here and you will not be here. Today I ask you: Why are you so hurried and troubled that you don't even have time to look at the heavens?" And he called Rabbi Chaikel, who was in another room, and said to him: "See, Chaikel, what you did with your abundance – he doesn't even have time to look at the heavens!"
Rabbe Nachman's question directs us to contemplate a verse from the book of Ecclesiastes, which we read on Sukkot – the festival of ingathering and abundance: "The spirit of man ascends upward, and the spirit of the beast descends downward to the earth." Why does the spirit of the beast descend downward? What is the difference between it and the spirit of man, which is required to ascend upward?
To trace this difference, let us consider the verse written about Joseph, who opened the storehouses of grain to Egypt to provide food during the years of famine – "And Joseph opened all that was in them, and sold to the Egyptians." The Targum interprets this as an abbreviated phrase: "All [the storehouses] in which [there was grain]." But the early commentators thought that this interpretation omits the main point, and explained that the word "bahem" (in them) is the root of the word "behemah" (beast), meaning "closed." Therefore, the meaning of the verse is that Joseph opened all that was closed.
Indeed, a beast is a closed creature, while a human is required to be an open being. Humans, unlike animals, have intellect, and the sign of this is their ability to develop and be open to innovations: to break through closed circles and situations in thought and reality. But a person who does not look up to heaven is completely closed within the reality of his life. The people he once eagerly greeted become a burden, contentment turns into frantic activity, and the desire to earn a living becomes a drive to accumulate more and more.
Rabbi Nachman, like Joseph, strives to open all that is closed and give each of his chasidim the abundance appropriate for them – one that will open their hearts to the heavens.
However, like wealth, poverty can also close a person within themselves: Once Rebbei Nachman wanted to bless one of his chasidim with wealth, and when he refused, Rebbe Nachman rebuked him: "For lack of a candle worth two pennies, the entire Silent Prayer can be confused!" Indeed, the man remained poor, and once, when he didn't even have a candle to light in the evening, his entire prayer was confused from distress over this.
It seems, then, that it depends mainly on the souls and their nature: there are those who need wealth (according to the Lubavitcher Rebbe – the entire Jewish people in our generation), and there are those who need poverty. However, all of them alike are required to look at the heavens, the upper waters, at the source of material abundance, and remember the purpose behind the pursuit.
