Coming to the Tzaddik to Know There is None Besides Hashem

"I wish that I would merit to see the light of the clarity of the paths upon which you travel to me..." (Chayei Moharan 291).

When one travels to our Rebbe, one receives fear of Heaven. Our Rebbe said, "I am a treasury of fear of Heaven." From every step one takes traveling to our Rebbe, one receives fear; from every step, an angel is created. From every movement on the path to our Rebbe, angels are created—another angel and another angel. From the journey alone, one merits to receive a great light. For our Rebbe is fire. One travels to our Rebbe, one travels on paths of fire. Our Rebbe is a pillar of fire; our holy Rebbe was entirely a flame of fire for Hashem. He never saw the world, he never heard the world; nothing in the world interested him.

All of a person's work is to search for the true tzaddik, to discover who the true tzaddik is. In every generation, there is a true tzaddik, and the moment a person knows who the true tzaddik is, he can draw down all the healings to the world, all the salvations to the world, for all salvations are in the hands of the tzaddik. Therefore, one must constantly search for the tzaddik, and even when a person already knows that there is Rebbe Nachman, he still does not know what Rebbe Nachman is! All the work from the day a person is born until the day he passes away is to search for the tzaddik. He must know that as much as he has discovered about the tzaddik, he has still discovered nothing. And only when the tzaddik is a new thing to him, and he searches for the tzaddik with all his might, then they will give him more life, and more life. And one must be careful in this, and know that for this he came into the world, for this he was born; everything he learns, everything he does, is only to request and search for the true Rebbe.

A person needs to receive "Nefesh," "Ruach," "Neshamah," "Chayah," and "Yechidah." The Arizal says that through the study of Shas and Poskim, Rishonim and Achronim, one receives the "Nefesh." It may be that you have already received the Nefesh through the study of Torah—this is wonderful, because without Torah there is not even a Nefesh—but you cannot advance. If you do not search for the tzaddik, you cannot receive the "Ruach"; you cannot receive the "Neshamah"; you remain at the same level, because only through the tzaddik is it possible to receive the "Ruach." This is what the Arizal explains, that there are tzaddikim who pass away at a young age because they learned Torah and merited to receive the "Nefesh" but did not search for the tzaddik and remained at that same level (Nefesh), and therefore they had nothing more to do in the world. Therefore, one must always search and request the tzaddik very much, for with him are all the salvations, all the healings, and all the blessings, and he will give you the "Ruach," the "Neshamah," etc. And Reb Noson says that one must go on his hands and feet to request and search for the tzaddik with all his might throughout the whole world, perhaps he will find some word from our Rebbe, for every place where they speak of our Rebbe, one should go on his hands and feet, perhaps now I will receive an awakening, perhaps now I will know who Rebbe Nachman is, perhaps now I will know the power of Rebbe Nachman...

The Rebbe said, "There are two groups of people for whom I have great pity: those who could have drawn close to me and do not draw close, and those who draw close to me and do not fulfill my words. For I know that there will be a time when a person is laid on the ground with his feet toward the door, then he will look at himself well and regret very, very much that he did not merit to draw close to me" (Chayei Moharan - His Journey to the Land of Israel - 354). A person has already drawn close to our Rebbe, has already taken the step, left the nonsense, left all the friends, left all the careers. If you only make a little more effort to fulfill the words of our Rebbe, then you will be able to receive the tikkun (rectification) in its entirety. There is no level that our Rebbe cannot bring you to! For after passing, a person will truly know what a great and immense loss he lost by not listening to our Rebbe.

Whoever knows of our Rebbe and believes in our Rebbe can literally touch our Rebbe. A person arrives in Uman, our Rebbe elevates him to the highest worlds—"Atika Kadisha." In Uman, one is in the highest worlds; with our Rebbe, it is possible to accomplish everything! If one arrives at our Rebbe and does teshuvah (repentance), confession, regret, and a resolution for the future, then one can merit to receive a new Nefesh, a new Ruach, a new Neshamah, a new Chayah, and a new Yechidah. At our Rebbe's on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, there were 600 people in the kibbutz, and our Rebbe received each and every one from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM, meaning each person was with our Rebbe for only one minute! And when one would enter to our Rebbe, he would immediately remember his sins from the day he was born, and he would begin to confess, and streams of tears would burst from his eyes like a river. And when he began to say a few words, our Rebbe would take him outside and tell him to continue the confession outside. Therefore, one must come to our Rebbe and remember everything that has passed over us and shed rivers of tears, and then we will merit to receive new Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, and Yechidah.

When one merits to come to the holy gravesite and prostrate himself on the gravesite, the Rebbe speaks to us, whispers in our ears, encourages us, and hears our cries. People who never cried, suddenly something entered them that caused them to cry; the soul of Moshe, the soul of our holy Rebbe, was incorporated into them when they come to the holy gravesite. People think, "Will I have an awakening? Will I feel something?" These thoughts are a mistake. The matter of Rosh Hashanah is not feelings, and not awakening. Rather, the matter of Rosh Hashanah is only nullification, to reach zero of zeros, to stand on the gravesite, and to pray, to reach the peak of nullification, to feel the light of Ein Sof, to know that there is none else besides Him. There is only Hashem in the world! There is nothing in the world except Him. For all our coming to the gravesite of our holy Rebbe is to coronate Hashem and to know that there is none else besides Him, and therefore we say on Rosh Hashanah, "The King." We did not come to ask for requests, we did not come to receive prizes, but our entire coming to the holy gravesite is to know that "there is none else besides Him"!