The Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka

Today, the 2nd of Tammuz, is the day of the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, who was the grandfather of our holy master Rebbe Nachman of Breslov zy"a—and Rebbe Nachman was named after him.

Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka was the outstanding disciple of the holy Baal Shem Tov, who called him “his trusted one.” He merited to be among the first of the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples to ascend to the Land of Israel. In one of the years of the 5520s (1760s), he passed on to his eternal home on the 2nd of Tammuz. He was buried in the ancient cemetery in Tiberias, in the section of the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples. On his tombstone it is written: “Here lies the Rav, the Tzaddik, holy of Hashem, Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, zt"l.”

The Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a wrote, a number of years ago, a prayer to say at his holy gravesite. Here is the complete prayer:

Master of the Universe, Almighty—nothing is beyond You, and no plan is withheld from You. As I stand here beside the holy gravesite of Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, who was bound to Hashem twenty-four hours a day without any distraction at all—who all day and all night would engage in Hisbodedus with supernal cleaving—until he merited to be included within Atika Kadisha, and to draw down into the world the soul of our master Simcha, and afterward the soul of our master Rebbe Nachman ben Feiga, the granddaughter of the Baal Shem Tov.

Please, Compassionate and Gracious Almighty: as I prostrate myself here upon his holy and awe-inspiring gravesite, grant me the merit to receive a spark from his endless soul. And in the merit of this holy spark that will be impregnated within me, may I too merit to be included in You all twenty-four hours, and to cleave to You without any distraction whatsoever. From now on, may the Name Havayah never move from before my eyes, and may the verse be fulfilled in me: “And without you, no man shall lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” May I merit that the Name Havayah guide me and direct me all twenty-four hours. And in the merit of this, may I merit to guard my eyes, and never again to look at any foreign girl, Heaven forbid, nor any foreign woman, Heaven forbid. Rather, may I merit only to learn Gemara—Shas, Talmud—by day and by night without any interruption at all. And in the merit of Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, who merited to draw into the world the soul of Rabbi Simcha and his son Rabbi Nachman, may I too merit to conduct myself always in holiness and purity. May I too merit to draw down holy and pure souls into the world—souls that will bring the complete Geulah—until I merit as well to draw down the soul of our master Rebbe Nachman ben Simcha ben Feiga, who will bring the complete Geulah and build the Beis HaMikdash speedily in our days, in the blink of an eye. Amen, forever and ever.